Not all the hype is true.

Rating: 7/10 (16 June 2012)

Unless you've been living in hole, you'll be very aware of The Artist. The principal issues that have been widely reported are as follows: It is a black and white silent French film about the silent Hollywood era, a fading star and a rising starlet, there's a cute dog, it is winning just about every award going and is hysterical, absolutely amazing and the must-see movie of the year.
Not all of that is true, however. George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is Hollywoodland's biggest heartthrob but the arrival of the talkies ends his career as the starlet he helped launch, Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo) rises to prominence. He sulks and wallows in his self-pity, the big bad studio boss (John Goodman) sacks him and it becomes entirely predictable there on. Oh, and the dog has two tricks that it repeats ad nauseam.
Yes, it is black and white. Yes, it is largely silent other than the music, a few moments of audio brilliance and the two French students who talked incessantly behind me. Yes, there were a few forced laughs when the Jack Russell did its thing but it felt as though the minority who did laugh felt as though they were supposed to. Yes, it is winning the majority of the awards, it swept the BAFTAs and is likely to do the same at the Oscars.
But, no, it is not brilliant. I don't think it will even rank inside the top ten at the end of the year, bearing in mind we're only in February and it is already ranked lower than Tabloid, Shame, The Woman in Black and The Descendants in my chart. In 1997 Titanic swept the Oscars, taking eleven in total. It wasn't long before reason overtook hype and the world realized LA Confidential and Mrs Brown had been robbed. I'll give it two years before the world realizes the same is true this year of The Descendants and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy.
There are some lovely touches, particularly when sound is introduced, and the stylized look of the film is perfectly crafted. There are some fine actors present, performing in a melodramatic style of the period, and the smiles and music make it thoroughly engaging but nice legs, a good dance and a wink at the camera do not a great film make.
The Artist is good, nice, sweet, light and entertaining but that counts for little when the hype promises excellence, greatness and ground-breaking perfection.
And if you want truly entertaining non-humans, The Muppets is a far better option.
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