Was meant to be beautiful, but hit slightly astray

Rating: 8/10 (20 April 2012)

You could imagine from the name, from the director and producer and from the trailer that this film is going to be an extravaganza of marvel and beauty. Indeed, it is a movie about finding purpose, about old mechanical machines, books and movies, about happy endings. It should have been a wonderful film and, in part, it mostly was. But I can't help feel that it missed its target. The images were not as wondrous as they were meant to be, the child actors were not terribly easy to empathise with and the reactions of characters in the film were pretty weird to begin with. It all left me in the "uncanny valley" when you know something is off, but you can't just put your finger on it.
That doesn't mean the story was not interesting, the budget high and the interpretation good. It starred Ben Kingsley and Christopher Lee, for crying out loud, and it was about one of the oldest and greatest film makers of all time. The movie was close to great. Just close.