The Invisible Boy (2014) User Reviews

Watchable

[Ladiloque · 5/10 · 31 March 2022]

Despite a couple of brillant scenes (for the one in the girls' locker room, no adjective is good enough) and a plot that may work for a less serious/adult take on the supehero genre (just because today there are adults that take superheroes seriously) the script, acting and scenographies all feel not very polished and immersive.

Even considering the obvious budget limitations - hence the professional but very basic action scenes and direction - the movie decides to follow the route of the traditional superhero tropes and doesn't capitalize on what could have made it shine: comedy.

Still some good entertainment for families with kids U15.

Quirky Italian teen superhero movie

[wrxsti54 · 7/10 · 29 March 2022]

The movie revolves around shy blond 13 year old Michele (Ludovico Girardello) from Trieste in Italy who gets bullied at school and struggles to get the girl he has a crush on to notice or like him. After purchasing a cheap Chinese 'superhero' outfit and after an embarrassing incident at a Halloween party, he wishes his outfit made him invisible and presto, he is!

But he's only invisible some of the time and he retains his form only when fully clothed with a scarf around his face but he must be naked to be fully invisible. He gets revenge on his bullies and indulges in any early adolescent boy's fantasy (hiding unseen in the girl's locker room) but his invisibility wanes as he's hiding under a towel and his exposure by the shocked girls means his policewoman mother (Valeria Golino) has to save him from certain suspension at school but also to wonder what is going on with her boy.

Turns out she's only his adopted mother, he's the offspring of Russian parents, part of a small group of Chernobyl affected victims who got special powers from the radiation and they give Michele up but he inherits the power of invisibility. His real father Andreij (Cristo Jivkov) finds him and tells him what really happened and gives him a special Superman type suit that he can wear under clothes that enables him to be invisible with a hand stroke so as to not catch a cold wandering around naked in the northern Italian winter.

Russian operatives who run the radiation affected special group are kidnapping Michele's school friends including Stella (Noa Zata) his crush, for experiments and he teams up with his father and uses his special power to eventually rescue his friends and grateful Stella becomes his girlfriend!

It's a lovely movie with beautiful architecture and quirky Italian cultural touches throughout (like no US movie maker would have a 13 year old boy naked on screen) and generally good acting, especially from the novice teen actors. The exact same cast was used 3 years later for a sequel called The Invisible Boy Part 2 and Girardello went on to be a prominent young Italian male model for obvious reasons.

Weak story, terrible acting.

[pestelocolga · 3/10 · 5 December 2018]

If you are not an italian native speaker and you are deaf you may not notice it, but acting is overall just terrible. I had to zero the audio and put subtitles just to be able to bear it till the end. The story is also pretty banal. If you want to see an italian superhero watch Jeeg.

Oh wow, look at all the fake reviews

[lenwenzellw · 1/10 · 17 December 2022]

First off, this film is a turkey. I started hearing gobbling sounds way before thanksgiving. All jokes aside about bad film, one of the first signs of a bogus review is when the reviewer gushes about the director, story, acting without details. Perhaps the first sign of this is an extraordinary high review, usually above 8. The only films that deserve this kind of high score are typically works of art. Does this film meet those criteria? Then after seeing the flood of high reviews, (Usually shortly after its release) Its usually pretty easy to see the signs of manipulated review scores. Of course the directors and staff of such a production are deserving of nothing but scorn.

The story was terrible, the translation clumsy, as well as the acting often seemed to be mismatched to what was the story was about. Truthfully was unable to force myself to watch the entire film, as I started to feel it was a waste of time.

FUN take on the superhero genre

[annromeo · 10/10 · 2 June 2015]

A delight in every way, The Invisible Boy is a terrific spin on the superhero movie. Fun acting, clever storyline, with a wink and a nod to various classics (Batman, Superman, the Harry Potter series, among others), Invisible Boy is a great intro to the world of foreign films to young teens on up. The story is also set up for sequels--one can't help but feel this may be up for a US remake--a shame, as the charm and freshness will probably be lost in translation. And do sit through the credits--clever outtakes from the filming are included to answer the question: how did they do that? For fans of Robert Rodriguez's kids movies.

Bad acting

[paolodefy · 4/10 · 29 July 2020]

I can't believe how bad is this acting in this movie. And how silly the plot. Poor Salvatores, you used to be such a good director...

Very bad acting

[francyt · 4/10 · 7 January 2021]

So boring, terrible story, terrible acting, 4/10 is an honest valutation

Terrible story, terrible acting

[giulia-damico99 · 1/10 · 7 December 2019]

The acting was just awful. I couldn't even bear it till the end, I had to stop watching the movie. The overall story had potential but was definitely developed by incompetent writers.

Italy have superheroes too

[morrisfinito · 10/10 · 27 April 2018]

An entertaining movie about a superhero origin: Michele is an ordinary boy but one day during a party with his classmate discover the ability to become invisible. From there he finds that there are enemys in the shadow ready to capture him but also discover new friends and allies. Fun, well written and directed, it's a little enjoyable movie!

The life of a boy superhero

[cekadah · 8/10 · 9 May 2016]

Director: Gabriele Salvatores and Writers: Alessandro Fabbri, Ludovica Rampoldi have created the imagination of a young boy wanting to be a superhero just at that transition from being a child to a maturing teen.

Michele, the boy superhero gets his wish via a costume that makes him invisible and off he goes to save the children kidnapped by the Russian to complete their scientific experiment! Was it all real or just in the boys imagination? I say this because at the end of the story everyone is made to forget the powers of the invisible boy, the powers of the kidnapped children, and the events in saving the children. But Michele gets the attention of the girl he has fallen for! That's what he wanted in the beginning.

This is a fun and sweet fantasy movie that is entertaining and suspenseful. The plot is full of good and evil characters that keep the action going.

italian superhero gem

[ops-52535 · 9/10 · 3 July 2019]

This is what i call sensational, and fascinating stuff, and how its manufactured are just brilliant, the invisible boy is a must see for everyone that seeks mystery with a childs mind and walking the thin red line of great comedy.

the grumpy old man recommends this as one of the nicest ''gemini''like flicks ever made

An Italian Superhero!

[TharsheyN · 8/10 · 17 July 2023]

The Invisible Boy as it's known in English is a Italian movie about a boy who can turn invisible among other powers. Powers he inherited from his parents who got them from a nuclear accident. The storyline is actually pretty decent as it follows Michele who is unaware of his abilities and is living his life like a normal boy. However with the onset of his abilities and the sinister "Division" after him things are about to change.

The casting is actually perfect I'd say even though they're all Italian actors and actresses and unknown to me. Ludovico Girardello plays Michele, The Invisible Boy and does a really great job at it for his age. Noa Zatta plays Stella, The girl that Michele likes. She is very beautiful which certainly doesn't hurt and does a wonderful job as well at bringing her character to life on screen. Assil Kandil Plays Candela, the daughter of the maid/helper and Michele's friend, she is just the most adorable and is a lovely supporting character. The rest of the cast like Michele's mum etc are all good to.

The VFX and SFX is where the movie shows it's limited budget. The special effects are not exactly spectacular or amazing but to be fair they are still decent for the budget the movie had and they don't take away from the film.

Overall a 8/10 from me, Interesting story, lovely cast and good VFX and SFX. Also wished that there was a continuation and turns out there is a sequel so will be watching that next!

Best in italian

[berndglasstetter · 10/10 · 27 March 2023]

As with many films, translations and dubbed versions are a big problem when seeing them. I had the opportunity to see this film in Italian, first as Amazon in Germany only offers it in Italian and second I speak it fluently.

Bad reviews lament on the bad acting. In the original language there is no bad acting. So it might be that the dubbing ruined some of the experience.

I personally had a lot of fun watching this film. First of all because with Valeria Golino one of my childhood stars was in the film. At the time I saw her for the first time in Rain Man I had no idea she was an italian actor. It was with "Il ragazzo invisibile" that I realised it.

The acting was rather good, considering that it was the first acting job of Ludovico Girardello (the invisible boy) and Noa Zatta (his love interest). Ludovico is likeable as it is possible to connect with his fears and trauma being bullied. Being able to disappear into thin air fits his personality at the beginning of the movie and makes the transition to a stronger self towards the end believable. He has a character-arc which so many teenagers have, just in a shorter time.

The origin of the Specials is an interesting and not more or less credible than any other superhero-take.

Considering the low budget the certainly had, the special effects are good, the scenes are nicely filmed and the low budget is never visible.

Overall a good european production. It's a shame it was only in cinemas in Italy. I would love to see how it would have performed with a dubbed version in Germany. There is a sequel which I am hopefully able to see soon.

movie italiano underrated

[erminahotmail · 8/10 · 4 December 2023]

Well rarely is a good Italian film found and thank God this film If this film really succeeded this time unlike the other superhero films this is not based on any comic and I also want to warn you that I am Italian and I I tell you that to meI rarely find a good Italian film Because today's films always do the same things i.e. Comedy and drama but this time we have a superhero film parrying the terrible Puma man in 1980 but this time this invisible boys managed to make me much more I'm very pleased thenI liked the type Gabriele Salvatore made. The story is very nice. Ah, I must also warn you that I haven't seen the American dubbing because I've heard a lot of reviews that say the dubbing is horrendous. But if you agree with this just hear the languageoriginal with subtitles So the programs this video Michele He was truly a wonderful programmer then the acting was okay but except for those with the younger actors however the only thing I didn't like at all is when he uses his powers of invisibility i.e. When he entersinside the Women's locker room This is truly a scandalous thing not even perhaps a Japanese manga and anime if any of you have seen this film I advise you to catch up Because sometimes even we Italians can make good films I mean this was a beautiful start from a relaunch of a new Italian genre to conclude with an 8+ rating.