Yet more undemanding, hammy hokum. But enjoy - why not?

Rating: 5/10 (8 November 2008)

Read other IMDb member comments here and yet again they seem to go to extremes. The fact is that The Illusionist is not brilliant but not bad either. On the downside, it is all rather hammy, from the cod German accents to the impeccably clean Viennese streets which remain in a pristine condition despite the many horses travelling the city streets, from the convenient meetings to the several jarring modernisms (in the stuffy world of Austro-Hungarian royalty, the Duchess would never have been allowed to be alone with the Prince). And yet who cares? On the upside the Illusionist is an old piece of hokum which will entertain you for a while and is better than many other films. If I were picky, I would also remark that in The Illusionist is a far better and far more interesting film waiting to be made, but in the meantime all we have is this. You might probably catch it on TV one of these nights. Toss a coin - heads you watch, tails you don't. Oh, what the hell. As long as you don't expect art or some such high-falutin tosh, you'll be reasonably entertained. And Ed Norton is always worth the price of admission, even in such middle-brow hokum as this. Oddly the film seems to have been summed up in the rather ludicrous disguise the illusionist adopts right at the end of the film when he catches his train. And why does he tip off the police inspector as to what he has done if not only to give the film it's final twist. Oh well, who cares. I don't.