Charming and entertaining

Rating: 7/10 (1 January 2008)

Anybody who has read the user comments on "The Illusionist", will probably notice that its a love-hate affair. To some it is thoroughly uninspired, boring and predictable - to the others its entertaining, smart and enjoyable.
This entirely depends on your state of mind when you start watching "The Illusionist": if you willingly place yourself in the position of Eisenheim's audience, letting his hypnotic personality lead you (as well as Norton's exceptional acting), you are sure to enjoy the movie, to the full extent. However if you always look for mistakes, and approach every moment with the disbelief of a critic, ultimately you will spoil the major twists and end up feeling that the movie is nothing special.
The Illusionist's best trait is that it isn't too ambitious for its own good. It attempts a love story, mixed with mystery and a sprinkle of the supernatural - and it succeeds in all of these things. Told with a fairy tale like quality, without any political, pseudo-philosophical or other today usual, movie "baggage", it aims to entertain in the purest sense of the word.
"The Illusionist" has very few characters, but they are all very well realized. Norton as usual steals the show, given his enormous talent, and effort he puts into each role. Paul Giamatti, and Jessica Biel surprised me with the quality of their acting, given that my opinion of them wasn't really high. However, they did their roles well, and I will look in on their films in the future.
Other notable high points of the movie are: excellent cinematography, fantastic music and a decidedly "old school" approach to movie making that pours out of "The Illusionist", which would have been nothing special in Hollywood a few decades ago, but today is entirely refreshing (especially the lack of any "usual baggage").
The verdict? Watch it. Its worth it. Should I buy it? I would also say its worth the money.