Voices of Elle Fanning, Nat Wolfe, Carly Rae Jepson, and Kate McKinnon
Directed by Eric Sumner and Eric Warin
Music and Lyrics by various
We head up north to Canada and back to Europe for our next review. This charming tale of a young girl who dreams of being a ballerina in 1880's Paris was a surprise hit when it came out, despite its low-budget origins. How worthy is this of that around-the-world release? Let's begin at an orphanage in the French countryside of the 1880's and find out...
The Story: Felicie (Fanning) dreams of being a ballerina more than anything. Her mother had been a dancer, and there's a ballerina in the music box she left her. She escapes the orphanage with her best friend Victor (Wolfe), who wants to be an inventor. They end up in Paris, where he becomes the apprentice of Gustav Effel, the creator of the Effel Tower and the Statue of Liberty. She's taken in by Odette (Jepson), a cleaner for the Paris Opera Ballet, who stops the school's janior
The building is owned by Regine Le Haut (McKinnon), a wealthy and ambitious woman who also runs a popular local restaurant. Her daughter Camille (Maddie Zigler) is as obnoxious and spoiled as her mother. She taunts Felicie and breaks her treasured music box. In retaliation, Felicie intercepts her invitation to the Paris Opera Ballet and joins the school. Her lack of training shows, and the dance master Merante (Terrance Scammel) disapproves of her clumsiness.
Merante is auditioning girls for Clara in The Nutcracker and will eliminate a girl a day until he finds her. Odette, herself a former dancer, trains Odette until she can pass muster in Merante's class. Victor and Merante are impressed...until first Camille and Regine figure out what Felicite did, and then Felicite goes out on a date with handsome Rudi (Tamir Kapelian) and neglects her training for a major audition. Regine sends her back to the orphanage. Felicite, however, still loves to dance. With the help of Monsieur Lueteau (Mel Brooks), the head of the orphanage, Victor, and Camille, she returns to Paris to prove that being a dancer means more than knowing the steps. It means being passionate for your work, and loving what you do.
The Animation: The character designs sometimes look a little awkward or scary, but the backgrounds are lush and detailed. This won an Annie Award for production design, and it richly deserved it. Paris is a world of light and shadow, from the baroque details of the Paris Opera House to the shabby, crumbling, ivy-covered orphanage. The dance steps are rendered quite well, too, especially that big dance-off between Felicite and Camille near the end.
The Song and Dance: Charming follow-your-dreams tale is anchored by Fanning as the adorably feisty Felcite and Jepson as the tragic Odette, who teaches Felicite how to truly reach for her goal. Wolfe has his funny moments in the American dubbing I saw as Felicite's cute best friend who is enamored of her and the wings he's built. As mentioned, the production design is well-done, with its gorgeous Paris and country orphanage, and the dance is beautifully rendered.
The Numbers: We open over the credits with a glimpse of the orphanage, set to "You Know It's About You" as Felicite prepares to escape and encourages Victor to join her. She watches a prima ballerina dance to "Swan Lake" on the stage of the Paris Opera House and is entranced by her grace. It also plays when she's watching Camille rehearse. Felicite is looking for her "Rainbow" when she bluffs her way into the school and tries to avoid showing how inexperienced she is. "Be Somebody" is her first class. She doesn't do great, but there's a girl who does worse and is eliminated. Rudi shows off his own skill when he does a quick series of pirouettes to "The Russian Dance" from The Nutcracker.
Felicite becomes "Unstoppable" as Odette helps her practice and she becomes better and better. It takes "Blood, Sweat, and Tears" to do well in Merante's class and with Odette's teaching. She dances the "Shannon Reel" at the bar, swinging with such wild abandon that even Merante approves, but her attempt at the "Waltz of the Flowers" after a night out with Rudi doesn't go so well. "Suitcase" shows her training on her own at the orphanage as she regains her spirit, and Lueteau realizes how passionate she is about dancing. Camille and Felicite have a dance-off to show who is more "Confident"...and proves who has the real love for dance to the whole school. The movie ends with Jepson's "Cut to the Feeling" as Felicite finally gets the chance to dance with the ballerina she idolized in the beginning.
What I Don't Like: First of all, when was this set again? It's totally historically inaccurate for the 1880's. The Statue of Liberty wouldn't have been greenish at that point. She was still a coppery brown. Of the costumes, only some of the men's suits and Regine's green gown look anywhere near accurate for the time. Felicite's vest and shorts are more 2010 than 1880. The Nutcracker wasn't written until 1892, and it didn't become popular until the 1940's - and it doesn't include a scene where Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy dance in the snow. Even Lueteau's motorcycle wouldn't exist until 1885.
Second, the story is a mountain of cliches that start slow and end ridiculously. Some of the big set pieces, like Lueteau chasing Victor and Felicte in the opening and the finale with Regine on the Statue of Liberty are more annoying and out-of-place than exciting. We don't find out what happened to Regine after she gets stuck in the statue's scaffolding, either, or to Camille. Regine going crazy like that makes no sense and likely only happened to give the movie a big action scene. Felicite herself is no prize, either. She's darn lucky she wasn't expelled for her attempt at identity fraud, and dream or no dream, she can be downright obnoxious at times.
The Big Finale: For all the wonky history and general weirdness, this is still worth checking out if you or your daughter are ballet fans or are looking for an action musical for 8 to 12 year old girls.
Home Media: Easily found on every format. The Canadian version usually turns up on disc, while the re-edited Weinstein version is free on Tubi.
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