I had been waiting to see this film for months, and finally got the chance today. I wasn't disappointed, the animation, backgrounds and music were all superb. It's very easy to like the main character, Tati, and his impeccably good nature. While the film shows off Scotland in warm, humorous tones, there is a real melancholy which starts to set in past the half way point.
Tati picks up a female companion near the start, who after watching the film, Lynsey and I felt she was abusing his good nature for personal gain. Then I read wikipedia, where director Sylvain Chomet has been quoted to say "A young lady actually thinks he's a real magician." This was apparent at the start of the movie, where she expects him to be able to fix a young lad's stuffed bear that had burst at the neck, also the community in which she resides has little to no touch with the outside world. So now it makes more sense, as the money he gives her is always pulled out of the air, and the gifts he bestows are always via magical tricks (and in one case, it was perceived to be magical.) I guess this must have been really obvious, but as I said, there was a moment where I thought that she believed him to be an actual magician, just that later on those thoughts were dispelled.
But anyway, it's an excellent film, probably the only animated one which depicts Scotland both realistically and respectfully.
That is exactly what I thought! I thought through the whole film that she was taking him for a ride and expecting everything to be paid for. The fact that she thinks he's a real magician makes a lot more sense though, and explains better the scene at the taxi cab when he gives up producing the coin from thin air.
ReplyDeleteAnd you are very right, never has there been a more beautiful rendition of Scotland in any animated film I can think of. One of the next Pixar films is apparently set in Scotland, it will be interesting to see their depiction. If they put anywhere as much effort into research as they did Paris in Ratatouille it should be a beautiful film.