I'm used to viewer ratings being inflated on IMDb. So used to it, that I tend to take them with a grain of salt. And THE INVISIBLE should be regarded as the poster child for inflation.
I write this review not to reinforce the lower tier ones this movie has received, but to warn unsuspecting viewers. Stay away. Stay far away. This is a movie that is inept on so many levels that I was literally stunned.
Let's start with the script, which has already been dissected here in detail. These kids were such cardboard figures that their dialog was laugh inducing. Every sequence featured some ridiculously over the top line, as if the viewers needed to be pummeled into "believing" in these stereotypes. My favorite moment? The poetry reading that is supposed to demonstrate how the main character's gentle soul is somehow transcendent. He's nervous to read it in front of his high school class, but the teacher insists (hoping to wipe away the memory of a peer's previous adolescent work). Relucatantly, he begins to read. The music swells. We know the kids are digging it, because they stop talking and lean forward. The music swells some more as classmate after classmate are won over by his genius. It's a pivotal moment in the film, as it demonstrates for the first time the conflict between Nick and his distant mother - how he wants to go to writing school in London, but is thwarted by a mother who (seemingly) doesn't believe in his talent.
What's the problem? Did anyone who gave this movie a good review actually listen to the drivel that came out? Nick's "poetic brilliance" sounded like bad emo band lyrics. And the crime becomes that his poetry is revisited throughout the film, each time becoming more annoying. More laughable. By the time he was reading the lines over his mother's shoulder, everyone in the room with me was in stitches.
It's hard to believe that the director penned BATMAN RETURNS. You'd think he's have an ear for realistic dialog. Instead, he seemed intent on proving he could use every camera move known to man to breathe life into this cliché-riddled excuse for a story. Witness the opening shot. It's like Orson Welles dropped by.
The lesson? When all else fails - when logic is thrown to the four winds and even a five minute crane shot is not enough - don't despair. Just fill very transition in the film's second half with painful emo music. Have each emotion underlined by brain numbing lyrics the equal of the brain numbing script.
Sorry to be so harsh. If this was an independent picture I might have given it a couple stars for the cinematography and acting. But this was a major Hollywood production with major Hollywood money. All we are left with is commercial exploitation: the producers seem to have bet that the preteen audience would be too self absorbed to recognize the clichés and bad execution. Given some of the reviews here, maybe they were right.
I write this review not to reinforce the lower tier ones this movie has received, but to warn unsuspecting viewers. Stay away. Stay far away. This is a movie that is inept on so many levels that I was literally stunned.
Let's start with the script, which has already been dissected here in detail. These kids were such cardboard figures that their dialog was laugh inducing. Every sequence featured some ridiculously over the top line, as if the viewers needed to be pummeled into "believing" in these stereotypes. My favorite moment? The poetry reading that is supposed to demonstrate how the main character's gentle soul is somehow transcendent. He's nervous to read it in front of his high school class, but the teacher insists (hoping to wipe away the memory of a peer's previous adolescent work). Relucatantly, he begins to read. The music swells. We know the kids are digging it, because they stop talking and lean forward. The music swells some more as classmate after classmate are won over by his genius. It's a pivotal moment in the film, as it demonstrates for the first time the conflict between Nick and his distant mother - how he wants to go to writing school in London, but is thwarted by a mother who (seemingly) doesn't believe in his talent.
What's the problem? Did anyone who gave this movie a good review actually listen to the drivel that came out? Nick's "poetic brilliance" sounded like bad emo band lyrics. And the crime becomes that his poetry is revisited throughout the film, each time becoming more annoying. More laughable. By the time he was reading the lines over his mother's shoulder, everyone in the room with me was in stitches.
It's hard to believe that the director penned BATMAN RETURNS. You'd think he's have an ear for realistic dialog. Instead, he seemed intent on proving he could use every camera move known to man to breathe life into this cliché-riddled excuse for a story. Witness the opening shot. It's like Orson Welles dropped by.
The lesson? When all else fails - when logic is thrown to the four winds and even a five minute crane shot is not enough - don't despair. Just fill very transition in the film's second half with painful emo music. Have each emotion underlined by brain numbing lyrics the equal of the brain numbing script.
Sorry to be so harsh. If this was an independent picture I might have given it a couple stars for the cinematography and acting. But this was a major Hollywood production with major Hollywood money. All we are left with is commercial exploitation: the producers seem to have bet that the preteen audience would be too self absorbed to recognize the clichés and bad execution. Given some of the reviews here, maybe they were right.