I have never been much of a fan of Jean-Pierre Jeunet. I find his films a bit too twee. At least with previous releases like Delicatessen and Amelie, they were interesting and fun, although never bowled over, but this film has very little to interest the viewer other than some nice visuals.
T.S Spivet (Kyle Catlett) is a young child prodigy who invents the perpetual motion engine. After a call from the Smithsonian museum claiming that he has won a major Baird prize, T.S leaves his humble ranch and journeys to New York to collect the prize. Over his journey, he ponders his eccentric family. His mother Dr Claire (Helena Bonham Carter) who studies insects is distant from her husband who is a cowboy. Also, he ponders the accidental death of his brother which he may or may not have been involved with and wonders if his dad cares about him.
When he arrives, he gets his prize and people start to exploit the fact he is a child. The artifice and manufactured emotions of television is explored not very well and the wonders of science and the potential of such a revolutionary invention is not really looked into. For a bright and quirky film, it really is dull and essentially nothing much happens. I think Jeunet spent too much time making the film look good. I read the writers said they could potentially have a hard time making Spivet's journey interesting as it does take up most of the film, but according to them, it turned out not to be the case. Oh how wrong they were!
See my Film Review Blog - www.projectionistreview.wordpress.com
T.S Spivet (Kyle Catlett) is a young child prodigy who invents the perpetual motion engine. After a call from the Smithsonian museum claiming that he has won a major Baird prize, T.S leaves his humble ranch and journeys to New York to collect the prize. Over his journey, he ponders his eccentric family. His mother Dr Claire (Helena Bonham Carter) who studies insects is distant from her husband who is a cowboy. Also, he ponders the accidental death of his brother which he may or may not have been involved with and wonders if his dad cares about him.
When he arrives, he gets his prize and people start to exploit the fact he is a child. The artifice and manufactured emotions of television is explored not very well and the wonders of science and the potential of such a revolutionary invention is not really looked into. For a bright and quirky film, it really is dull and essentially nothing much happens. I think Jeunet spent too much time making the film look good. I read the writers said they could potentially have a hard time making Spivet's journey interesting as it does take up most of the film, but according to them, it turned out not to be the case. Oh how wrong they were!
See my Film Review Blog - www.projectionistreview.wordpress.com