Very entertaining with some originality

Rating: 10/10 (31 May 2013)

Just caught the film on Friday opening weekend. To sum it up in one word is "entertaining". It has the special affects you would expect from ILM behind the scenes. While a few plot mechanism may seem familiar, there is enough original content and spin that it will keep your attention throughout. It has light humor throughout which keeps the experience light hearted. The strong points are the script, acting, directing, cinematography, and visual affects. Yes, it is about stage magicians, but movie magic is used to keep the illusion alive and not actual stage theatrics. The only noticeable weak point is it has potential to be a little bit better in execution of some of the plot twist and it keeps a few important details a little too subtle for one viewing for some viewers.
It is a story driven film and not so much a character driven story. There is enough character development to make sense but not balanced enough to feel as engaged to every character. You will understand the characters but may not root for them as much as I'd like. Morgan Freeman certainly holds the screen well and his lines keep people up to speed if they miss something. His character is something of an in movie narrator, but done well from a writing and acting perspective. Jessie Eisenburg's character is also entertaining and engaging as one of the Four Horsemen (the name of the magical stage performers).
It has multiple plot twist, some big and some small. These keep you engaged and trying to guess the next move or explain what just happened. A good film to watch with friends and talk about afterwards.
It has a good mass appeal and has only a little cussing (3 words I can remember), violence (from car chases), or intense scenes (magic tricks gone wrong where possible bodily harm is implied but not seen) to not keep the younger viewers away. The plot twist may be too complicated for non-teenager youth. Overall it is very entertaining.