It should have been better

Rating: 6/10 (10 September 2006)

The Illusionist could have been a much, much better movie. For starters, why are the producers passing off Prague as Vienna? The freshly painted signs in German gave them away. If you're going to make a movie in which Vienna is the central character, please use the real thing, none of this Toronto-passing-for-New-York business. Second, Edward Norton's decent performance is sullied by Paul Giamatti's hammy performance (left over from Cinderella Man, albeit with an Austrian accent.) The movie had potential but instead we got a half-hearted effort. Unless you are itching to see a movie and have no other choices, wait for video on this one.