FrogGlace
In other words,this film is a surreal ride.
Janae Milner
Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.
Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin
The movie really just wants to entertain people.
zee
If the point of any narrative work of art is to make me sympathize with the human problems of a character, this movie is a failure . The story is of a child who killed his brother accidentally, and there is plenty to sympathize with there, it may seem. A family torn apart, a tragedy that goes unnamed, the guilt and loneliness, etc.But this tragedy is here played almost for laughs with a bizarre fabulist kind of treatment, and so I never believe in any of it, and I'm left not giving a crap that some kid has died, because I can't believe that the kid is real. Nor is anything real. I leave thinking either I'm a terrible person for not caring that a kid has died... Or I choose a more comfortable feeling and that is to think that the director /writer /everyone involved in this is a soulless or cruel idiot. Yes, it is only a movie, but books and movies are supposed to make me believe for their duration and to illuminate the human experience. This does none of that. It felt like an insult to me and a masturbatory exercise by the filmmaker, whose work I will avoid henceforth.
Reno Rangan
The film was produced by three countries from three different continents, carved by one of my favoutire French directors that talks of a prodigy child. An English language film set in the American soil. If you had liked his films, then you would like this one as well. Like all his films, it was visually fantastic and it was his first digital 3D project. One of the underrated film of the recent time. A road adventure and a coming-of-age film that neatly rendered especially for the family and children film fans.More like it was a kid version of 'Amelie' and now I realise why the author picked this particular foreign filmmaker for the cinematic translation. This is not some kid's summer vacation tale or the school related stuff, but a rural kid and his weird family. They're united by family, but divided by their field of interest. Born in such family, the film focused his life and mostly the fighting of his loneliness.It was based on the book about a 12 year old boy T.S. Spivet who lives on a ranch in the Rockies with his family. He's a scientific research enthusiastic and so one day he receives an unusual call from the Washington DC that he had won a prestigious award for his invention. After a sudden tragedy in the house he set to travel by his own to the other side of the country. The adventure begins as he hitchhike to his destination where he learns many things."The amazing thing about water drops, is that they always take the path of least resistance. For humans, it's exactly the opposite."The kid was brilliant, it was his perspective story. In one of the scenes when he gets hurt, that felt like it was real. His co-stars supported him all the way, but not as a game changer. You might agree with me that it is not a great story, somewhat familiar too, but the film topic is inspiring like how an atypical family cooperates during the bad times that compared with their negligence to each other at one point before. There are a few fun moments, but also gets emotional at the final part.The train journey had lots of effects on the narration, because I'd seen a road movie, but this is a very rare, especially it gives us some glimpse over awesome landscapes of different part of the country. Like I said, the cinematography was the best part of the film followed by many others. In the end, I was very satisfied for it is being somewhat simple with having an extraordinary boy character. Because, you know, genius boy means usually the writers goes for an extra mile to make him shine with his brain powers to perhaps face the bad guys or the bad situations for which the audience sets to go awe.Really very sad that it was not as popular as 'Hugo' where everyone who saw it comparing with, especially for the digital 3D visuals. That tells how much the people are addicted to Hollywood and of course marketing was not upto the standards as against the film's standard. In fact, it took me two years to learn such film is exist. So I definitely recommend it to all. If you have not seen it yet, just do it, you might like it, surely you would enjoy it.8/10
Pete-230
Jeunet must have really ticked someone off for this film to be treated so poorly. Granted, the shifts in tone might have posed a few marketing challenges, but nothing that couldn't be finessed. Like some of his other films, "Spivet" contrasts moments of whimsy and love with darker emotions, though in this case the latter are dialed back to keep it within family-friendly bounds. The title character is a prodigy, but he's not a smart-aleck or annoying, and the young actor plays his melancholy and homesickness convincingly. I was glad they didn't portray his journey as only a grand, exciting adventure - they made it clear that he was often lonely and scared, as a ten-year-old on his own would be. Cast is fine from top to bottom. Characters are brightly-defined but not cartoonish, and Jeunet keeps the actors at just the right balance between colorful and overbroad. Technically a marvel (and I didn't see it in 3D!) Ravishing photography, costumes, locations, and sets. Touching, lovely to look at, well played, well balanced. Just right to enjoy with your tweener or older who's beginning to sense the depth and complexity of the adult world around them.
nando1301-1
This is a beautiful film, in many ways. It reminded me a lot of Amélie Poulain, Jeunet's big hit in the States. This time, however, his caricaturesque characters are not in faraway France, but rather right here in America. Perhaps this one reason why some people did not like the film: it is always easier to appreciate caricatures of others, rather than of yourself. And when the film touches on delicate subjects like giving guns to children and exploiting child talent for an adult's own fame and profit, it strikes a couple of nerves...Jeunet's style in this film also reminds me of Wes Anderson, especially in Grand Budapest Hotel and in Moonlight Kingdom. Was Jeunet the original inspiration for Anderson? Not sure who came first, but their storytelling style is similar. Granted, not everybody likes Anderson's films. I do, and I think that if you liked Grand Budapest Hotel you will probably enjoy T. S. Spivet as well.The cinematography is superb and the soundtrack also. The script moves along at a nice pace and keeps you rooting for the main character from beginning to end. The young kid is amazing! The interesting thing is that he was basically "playing himself"... in real life he is quite the prodigy, quite like the character in the story.And yes, Jeunet does prove that it is possible to use 3D technology to produce a film of better quality than toy-truck and super-hero garbage!However, be warned: this is not really a "family movie" in the sense of a typical Disney film. This is definitely a film for grownups, with many layers of profoundness in almost every scene. Not to be taken lightly. Your typical teen-age audience (or people with a teen-age mentality) will probably prefer the next Iron Dude flick.
