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dhampyresaI took my mom to see Ballerina this afternoon. I enjoyed it greatly! It gives great Paris and Félicie is adorable.
I saw it in VF (French ub), because I was under the impression this was the original version. It is not, which actually made me feel better about some nitpicky stuff.
Nitpicky stuff: The reason I thought the French was the original was that Félicie and Victor are from Brittany and I thought it extremely unlikely that a non-French animation studio would involve Brittany in a movie.
- The kids are specifically from the Quimper orphanage (it says so on the front door) and there's a cliff overlooking the sea near the orphanage and fields with menhirs in it -- it is a collection of clichés -- and I'm not saying Brittany doesn't have cliffs, or even cliffs that are as gorgeous as the ones in this movie (seriously, A++ cliff game), but Quimper isn't on the sea. It's near the sea, because it's Britany, how could it not, but it's not on a cliff by the sea and neither are there menhirs all about. But I guess since it's a building all on its own I can pretend it's an actual place.
- It bugged me that the kids didn't speak Breton/spoke French. They should really be speaking Breton, given the givens (Quimper, end of 19th century). Then I realised that I could just assume that it was Translation Convention and they did indeed speak Breton to each other and Breton-accented French to everyone else -- it's not like I'd be able to tell. I have always beeen entirely unable to hear the Breton accent. It literally sounds the same as the Parisian accent to me; idk why, since I can hear, say, the Toulousain accent perfectly fine.
- On a similar note, I was quite disppointed that nobody wore breton costumes. WHY. Breton costumes look amazing. On the other hand, pretty sure nobody in the nineteenth century had denim shorts so I guess cotume accuracy wasn't a big focus.
Somehow I feel a lot better about all of these knowing that the original dub isn't in French.
ANYWAY. I enjoyed it a lot. I know the above is long, but mostly it boils down to: I wish the kids being breton had been more than set dressing (this is very unlikely to bug anyone who isn't me, but it's my movie review and I'll mention it if I want to). Other than that it was great.
I would probably have enjoyed it even more if it had followed the "disenfranchised kid incorporates the ~dance of her people~ into classical/ballet dancing" plotline a lot of dance movies seem to have, but see above about the kids being breton not exactly having much of an impact on the plot -- wait, not true. Félicie does have a great dancing scene in a breton bar, I suppose.
The animation was SUPER PRETTY. The Paris scenery is really well done -- the Opéra Garnier looks great and true to life. The dancing is awesome as well. Honestly, the entire movie could have been Félicie dancing on Parisian roofs and I would have loved it.
Hell, it could have been Félicie dancing on all sorts of roofs and I'd have loved it.
I really appreciated that it was 100% Félicie's story and that Victor was basically there for moral support (he has a crush on her, but there's nothing explicit/requited on her part -- tbh, by the end of the movie I shipped her with Camille). Félicie is 1000000% here for ballet and nothing else.
I also appreciated that it showed just how much fucking hard work ballet is.
The plot was mostly predictable/what I thought it'd be, but it did take a few unexpected detours to get there.
I loved the mentor and mentee relationship between Odette and Félicie. Félicie has SO MUCH MERIT practicing ballet in leather shoes (I'm pretty sure they were hobnailed, too).
My absolute favourite part is the Félicie/Camille ballet battle -- it's a dance battle WITH BALLET. (Special shoutout toescritoireazul , the first part of said ballet battle is set to Demi Lovato's Confident.)
Overall, definitely reccomended.
I saw it in VF (French ub), because I was under the impression this was the original version. It is not, which actually made me feel better about some nitpicky stuff.
Nitpicky stuff: The reason I thought the French was the original was that Félicie and Victor are from Brittany and I thought it extremely unlikely that a non-French animation studio would involve Brittany in a movie.
- The kids are specifically from the Quimper orphanage (it says so on the front door) and there's a cliff overlooking the sea near the orphanage and fields with menhirs in it -- it is a collection of clichés -- and I'm not saying Brittany doesn't have cliffs, or even cliffs that are as gorgeous as the ones in this movie (seriously, A++ cliff game), but Quimper isn't on the sea. It's near the sea, because it's Britany, how could it not, but it's not on a cliff by the sea and neither are there menhirs all about. But I guess since it's a building all on its own I can pretend it's an actual place.
- It bugged me that the kids didn't speak Breton/spoke French. They should really be speaking Breton, given the givens (Quimper, end of 19th century). Then I realised that I could just assume that it was Translation Convention and they did indeed speak Breton to each other and Breton-accented French to everyone else -- it's not like I'd be able to tell. I have always beeen entirely unable to hear the Breton accent. It literally sounds the same as the Parisian accent to me; idk why, since I can hear, say, the Toulousain accent perfectly fine.
- On a similar note, I was quite disppointed that nobody wore breton costumes. WHY. Breton costumes look amazing. On the other hand, pretty sure nobody in the nineteenth century had denim shorts so I guess cotume accuracy wasn't a big focus.
Somehow I feel a lot better about all of these knowing that the original dub isn't in French.
ANYWAY. I enjoyed it a lot. I know the above is long, but mostly it boils down to: I wish the kids being breton had been more than set dressing (this is very unlikely to bug anyone who isn't me, but it's my movie review and I'll mention it if I want to). Other than that it was great.
I would probably have enjoyed it even more if it had followed the "disenfranchised kid incorporates the ~dance of her people~ into classical/ballet dancing" plotline a lot of dance movies seem to have, but see above about the kids being breton not exactly having much of an impact on the plot -- wait, not true. Félicie does have a great dancing scene in a breton bar, I suppose.
The animation was SUPER PRETTY. The Paris scenery is really well done -- the Opéra Garnier looks great and true to life. The dancing is awesome as well. Honestly, the entire movie could have been Félicie dancing on Parisian roofs and I would have loved it.
Hell, it could have been Félicie dancing on all sorts of roofs and I'd have loved it.
I really appreciated that it was 100% Félicie's story and that Victor was basically there for moral support (he has a crush on her, but there's nothing explicit/requited on her part -- tbh, by the end of the movie I shipped her with Camille). Félicie is 1000000% here for ballet and nothing else.
I also appreciated that it showed just how much fucking hard work ballet is.
The plot was mostly predictable/what I thought it'd be, but it did take a few unexpected detours to get there.
I loved the mentor and mentee relationship between Odette and Félicie. Félicie has SO MUCH MERIT practicing ballet in leather shoes (I'm pretty sure they were hobnailed, too).
My absolute favourite part is the Félicie/Camille ballet battle -- it's a dance battle WITH BALLET. (Special shoutout to
escritoireazul , the first part of said ballet battle is set to Demi Lovato's Confident.)Overall, definitely reccomended.
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Date: 2017-01-23 07:44 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-01-23 10:39 pm (UTC)