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'Ballerina' entertaining, visually beautiful, but lacks focus
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A still from "Ballerina." (Quad Productions, Caramel Film and Main Journey/File)
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eautiful animation and strong-willed yet naive characters are the perfect formula to steal an audience's heart. One of the latest films that tries to attract viewers with such a strategy is the French-Canadian 3D-animation film Ballerina.
Directed by Eric Summer and Éric Warin, the movie tells the story of a poor orphan Félicie, voiced by Elle Fanning, and her ambition to become a dancer. To reach her dream, Félicie escapes from an orphanage in rural Brittany in France and hops on a train to Paris. With help from her loyal friend-slash-suitor Victor, Félicie moves closer to her dream, but not before tackling some challenges along the way.
An unfortunate incident occurs and Félicie is left roaming around the French capital alone. Fate brings her to the Paris Opera, where she encounters the building's caretaker-slash-former ballerina Odette (Carly Rae Jepsen). Félicie then works to help Odette and meets Camille Le Haut and her evil mother Regine Le Haut. Camille is an aspiring ballerina who is waiting for a letter to enter a prestigious ballet school. An incident happens between Félicie and Camille. In anger, Félicie takes the letter and goes to the Paris Opera by impersonating Camille.
(Read also: Underrated Disney animated movies you should watch)
As a strong-willed yet amateur dancer, Félicie charms her instructor with her burning passion. To hone her skills, Félicie trains under the guidance of Odette. Toward the end of the movie, the school finds out about Félicie's true identity and she ends up having to compete with Camille to keep her place in the school.
The movie was entertaining and the jokes were refreshing. The highlight of the movie was the dance choreographer. The animated dance movements, created using motion capture of Paris Opera Ballet stars Aurélie Dupont and Jérémie Bélingard, were executed beautifully.
However, the plot loses its focus in the middle of the film. Though it is an entertaining feel-good movie, the story moved too fast and was too packed with plotlines, something that will make audiences feel like they are watching Cinderella, Black Swan and Step Up all in one movie. (kes)
