REVIEW: Leap!By Quinn OxleyAugust 26, 2017I would write down my real, genuine response to Leap!, but it would look exactly like my recent “Dear Children’s Media Makers” post. But, never one to re-tread old paths, I’ll simply sum up my emotional reaction with a quote from The Incredibles: “I’m not happy, Bob. Not happy.”

Felicie (Elle Fanning) and Victor (Nat Wolff, but also for some reason listed as Dane DeHaan on IMDb) may have come from humble beginnings in the Brittany orphanage, but upon their escape, they set about making their dreams come true. As Felicie practices her craft and inspires a down-and-out cleaning lady, Odette (Carl-me Rae-be Jepsen), she learns a valuable lesson about… what’s really important, I guess. Family. Dancing. Something.

Yes, I will start by saying that the estrogen inside me responded to some kind of charm that I found in this movie. Not because the characters were inherently likable or there was any semblance of clever humor or anything of that sort. There was no subtlety, no real nuance or break from the formula. I suppose I was enamored with the adorably romantic idea of an orphan in Paris with the dream of contributing to the arts.

But like I said, there’s no real substance. Elle Fanning does the best with what she’s got; Nat Wolff takes the film as seriously as it should be taken, but still has a good time. And Mel Brooks makes a surprising appearance for all of maybe seven lines. But the entire rest of the cast seems to understand that this film isn’t doing anything for its audience and voice-acts accordingly. And I don’t blame them.

Another interesting observation: the characters’ mouths don’t match up with their words. This would make sense if it were a dubbed film, seeing as it’s a French-Canadian production, but it’s obvious enough that the animators were going for English and failed miserably to get each mouth to function.

Is it good, though?

No. Better than The Emoji Movie, but pretty much on par with the animation that we’ve gotten this year.

Rating: 3/10

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