MovieChat Forums > L'illusionniste (2011) Discussion > Have any of you watched it with children...

Have any of you watched it with children?

posted 14 years ago by ferretkat
5 replies | jump to latest

I just watched The Illusionist with my sister and young nephew. We weren't really sure what to expect except that it was about a magician and my sister liked the animation style. We all really enjoyed it. My sister and I were impressed with how much my nephew enjoyed it. At age 3, my nephew is an experienced theater-goer (both my sister and brother-in-law work at the local children's theater and have taken him to many plays) and has seen a ton of Pixar and Disney movies as well as video versions of picture books. He was engaged throughout and commented about the trains (his current obsession) and anything to do with the rabbit. And he described Alice as a "princess" when she had the pretty dress. My sister was impressed that he stayed engaged without the fast pace and song-and-dance numbers he usually sees in films and is eagerly waiting to hear what he shares about the film to other people. Have any of you watched The Illusionist with young children? How did they respond to it?

Exact science, Mr. Angier, is not an exact science.

[–] An_Animator 14 years ago

No I haven't because it's not a children's movie. It's not inappropriate or anything but I don't think young kids would really enjoy it that much.

-----
Local fighter for animator's rights.
"An animator is an actor with a pencil (or a mouse!)."

[–] rendrag-2 14 years ago

I just watched it with my 9 yr old twin sons. They enjoyed it. Here and there we'd have a brief convo about what we felt was the importance of a certain scene. They didn't quite get the ending, it is heavy subject matter. However I am glad we watched it. I heard them discussing what the meaning of it might be as they prepared for bed.

The mark of good storytelling: provoke thought.

I thought it was great that I had more patience. Turns out... I just don't give a sh!t

[–] ebeltmann 14 years ago

This morning I watched the movie with my 6-year-old daughter. She certainly did not grasp its major themes, but she still enjoyed it, especially the magic and some of the charming visual ideas (for example, she laughed when the Girl thought it was snowing outside). When it was over, she exclaimed, with some disappointment, "But I wanted to see her get married!"

My daughter enjoys the usual movies like TANGLED, yes, but she's also just as likely to ask for Buster Keaton, Miyazaki, RUMBA, or THE RED BALLOON. There's no reason a child has to be shielded from B&W, foreign languages, or unconventional styles--in fact, children are often more likely to accept varied works, since they don't have any prejudices yet. For parents, the trick is to make sure they never develop any prejudices!

ferretkat: If your nephew is into trains, give Buster Keaton's silent comedy THE GENERAL a try. My son is also three, and also obsessed with trains, and he asks for that movie almost every day. (He also loves Thomas the Tank Engine.)

[–] ferretkat 14 years ago

Yeah, little kids may not totally get the film, but there are plenty of things to hold their interest. It may be the kind of film kids can grown into, like when they're little they love the bunny, and as they get older they gain more understanding of the relationship between the magician and the girl, perhaps first identifying with the girl then with the magician.

The General, you say? I'll have to find that one! He's seen all kinds of train movies. My sister has brought home lots of informational videos about trains, which my nephew absolutely loves!

He's mad as a box of frogs!

[–] Mog-Dude-Kupo 14 years ago

I watched it with my 10 year old brother. He enjoyed the animation style and laughed at several of the scenes (he's a Beatles fan, so he thought the Britoons were very funny), but overall he didn't enjoy the movie because he found the ending too depressing.

With younger children (3-7 or something), I imagine that much of the film's heavier content will be over their heads. For very young children, it's probably just a very beautiful cartoon filled with quirky characters. Although my brother is quite intelligent for his age, I think he missed some of the film's darker moments (I don't think he caught, for example, that the clown was about to hang himself before being given the soup), though he was (and I think most children his age would be) very sad when Jacques abandons the rabbit. That scene made me cry, too - just like the Fox and the Hound!

Even though it made him sad, and he says that he didn't like it, I think he did enjoy most of the movie and I think it was a worthwhile experience for him to have seen it.