Immortel

I'm not sure how this movie got into my queue and delivered to me over other movies I need to catch up. Probably because it's an unique European, i.e. French, CG animation. Well, it was, for 75% of time. Well done for the period--two years ago, when it was made. It almost looked like Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within. The movie is based on the director's original graphic novel, which I saw the book when I was in Paris, with haunting and evocative images. Yes, the French makes beautiful stuff, but the story is not. No matter how much you want to like it, the story is dense, the characters are denser, and the drama is non-existent. (Why does this Egyptian god is dying and trying to impregnate the heroine? Drop me a line if you know.) You can tell the movie is going nowhere within 10 minutes of its running time. Unfortunately the DVD didn't come with a subtitle or English caption, but I got through the movie fine by fast-forwarding it, just admiring visual directions. The animators did superb job. The set designers did great job as well, but the direction sucked. Just because you are great illustrator doesn't make you a great storyteller, although you can sell yourself and your creation based on purely on look. (To be fair, the actors do it all the time!)

Sure, I might be a spoiled Hollywood junkie, but like beautiful illustrations, great stories know no bound. I felt depressed by the fact that all the great visual and talent was wasted in serving this self-absorbed story, but fortunately, the Colbert Report came on right after the movie ended. (Yes! USA! USA! USA!)

Let it be a lesson to all storytellers of all mediums that it's not easy to weave a fantasy/epic/myth out of pretty pictures alone. Regardless of how cool your ancient god looks.