Michael Scott

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Leap!

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Movie: :2stars:
Video: :4stars:
Audio: :4stars:
Extras: :2stars:
Final Score: :3stars:



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Movie

Movies like Leap! have become a dime a dozen these days. The time when animated films were so prohibitively expensive to make are long gone, and now just about anyone can cobble together a decent looking CGI animated picture for a small sum of money. I had decent hopes for Leap! after seeing names like Mel Brooks, Elle Fanning (who’s not as good as her big sister, but still turning out to be a decent actress), Kate McKinnon, and Dane DeHaan at the helm. It didn’t hurt to hear that the adorably cute Carly Rae Jepsen was billed all over the place as being in the film. Unfortunately the movie languished in film hell for over a year, originally meant to be released in theaters under the title Ballerina during the summer of 2016, but was then taken back to the drawing board and re-edited for international release before getting a limited theatrical showing this year and coming to DVD/Blu-ray and Digital a scant few months later.

The first words uttered in the film is “Bye Bye Orphanage!” as young Felicie (Elle Fanning) and Victor (Dane DeHaan who sounds unrecognizable) decide its time to hightail it out of the strict French orphanage they’ve been growing up in. Escaping by the skins of their teeth, Felicie and Victor head off to Paris, the city of magic, to make their dreams come true. Victor desperately wants to become a famous inventor (which he tries to make true by apprenticing himself to the creator of the Stature of Liberty), while Felicie dreams of only one thing. Becoming a dancer. However, you don’t get into the biggest ballet school in France just on hopes and dreams. While attempting to wheedle her way into the most prestigious school, she comes into contact with a poor cleaning woman named Odette (Carly Rae Jepsen), who takes the orphan girl under her wing and gives her a roof to stay under in exchange for helping her clean.

However, Felicie still just wants to DANCE, so she ends up stealing the identity of Odette’s employer’s daughter (a snotty rich Parisian played by Kate McKinnon) and gets her way IN to the Paris ballet academy. The only thing is, the little orphan can’t dance worth beans. And that’s where Odette comes in. It seems that the limping cleaning woman has a few secrets of her own. She used to be the single best dancer at the entire academy before suffering a severe accident that left her crippled. But while she’s been humiliated in her career, and left out in the cold (quite literally it seems), Odette still has more knowledge about dance in her head than most people will ever know. Teaching Felicie becomes both women’s passions, and soon the little girl that no one thought could ever make it is getting closer and closer to their respective dreams.
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Leap! is your classic tale of dreams and making them come true. Fairy tales are based of that simple premise, and the movie copies those elements with plodding precision. Unfortunately, the lack of creativity and a distinct feeling of too many cooks in the kitchen, leaves the viewer with this sinking sensation that there was a lot left on the cutting room floor, and maybe a few too many edits and cuts along the way during its filmic purgatory the last year. Pieces just feel disjointed and flawed, with scenes crammed right into each other without much in the way of fluidity. Not to mention REALLY bad dialog that feels more juvenile and cliched than you could possible imagine. The term “cliched” really rings true for a vast majority of the film, as every cliché in the book is trotted out on display. Victor and Felicie are star crossed lovers that end up together (in a child like way of course being that they’re only 11 in the film), Odette gets her final happiness in the end, Felicie gets to dance in just a few short weeks of training (even Luke Skywalker wasn’t THIS good after Yoda’s teachings!), the villain gets her comeuppance, and everyone lives happily ever after. The end.

Elle does a good job with Felicie, but her “odd” voice feels strangely out of place. Dane does well with the limited nature of Victor (and he’s completely unrecognizable here, as he doesn’t have that dark and brooding “emo” voice he usually has), but Carly Rae Jepsen actually steals the show as Odette. There is a warmth and energy to her voice that brings emotion to the simple character, and the poppy songs of hers throughout the film are actually quite invigorating during the dances. It’s not a horrible film by any stretch of the imagination, but it IS so harshly flawed that it doesn’t seem to be much more than children’s entertainment and nothing more.




Rating:

Rated PG for some impolite humor, and action



Video: :4stars:
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While I can’t give a 100% definitive rating on the video due to the ever changing nature of digital delivery, and the bandwidth fluctuations, I can say that the VUDU presentation of Leap! is quite good, showing off minimal artifacting and problems. Like many Lionsgate films, the picture is shiny and clean, following that “very good, but not GREAT” pattern that they seem to follow. Colors are warm and bright, with a decent amount of detail from the slightly dated animation style. Lines are clean, and facial details vivid, with the most nuanced bits coming from clothing, or the little pool of water that Odette uses to teach Felicie how to land properly. Blacks are inky and deep, but I did notice they tended to be washed out JUST a bit (though that could be something relegated to my VUDU copy rather than source related).





Audio: :4stars:
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The 5.1 Dolby Digital + track follows in the footsteps of the video. It’s vibrant and pulsating with energy, and the poppy songs that flow through the film have your toe tapping with a smile on the face. Like most of these kids comedies, the track is a bit front heavy for a majority of the time, and it really doesn’t liven up except during the musical numbers. The final adventure with Victor and his “pigeon wings” is the most dynamic portion of the film, with the woosh of flying through the air, and the music pulsing through all 6 channels with oomph. LFE is mild, but does add some weight to the ominous slamming of doors, and roaring of a motorcycle, but the big boost to the low end comes in once again during the musical numbers.
.





Extras: :2stars:
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"In the Recording Booth with Kate McKinnon, Nat Wolff, and Maddie Ziegler" Featurette
Behind-the-Scenes Video Gallery










Final Score: :3stars:


Leap! is sadly a case of too many cooks in the kitchen, and a hacked up international production that just ends up falling flat on its face (much like Felicie does at the beginning of the film). The movie tries so hard to be a modern classic, and has a LOT of heart going in, but tepid voice acting, weak writing, and an editing job that looks like someone put a bit too much Ritalin in the coffee before they did the job, leaves me with a bit of a cold feeling after all is said and done. Elle Fanning is fine as is Carly Rae Jepson (who actually steals the show, as limited comfort as that might bring), and the movie itself isn’t abysmal. It just won’t bring much joy except to a few young children dancing along to the pop songs throughout the film. While this review is digital in nature, the film also has a DVD and Blu-ray release coming out on the 21st as well, for those of us who prefer physical media.




Technical Specifications:

Starring: Elle Fanning, Dane DeHaan, Carly Rae Jepson
Directed by: Eric Summer, Eric Warin
Written by: Eric Summer, Eric Warin
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital +
Studio: Lionsgate
Rated: PG
Runtime: 90 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: November 21st, 2017







Recommendation: Skip It

 

tripplej

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Thanks for the review. Per your recommendation, I will skip it. :)
 

Todd Anderson

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Yup. Solid skip on this one.
 
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