Phantom Boy

(6) comments

• 
  happytrigger-64-390517October 18, 2015Reply

  after Une Vie De Chat, another inventing cartoon by Felicioli and Gagnol.

  *** This review may contain spoilers ***

• 
  sharkfinsoupJuly 23, 2016Reply

  A Wonderfully Good French Animation feature

  *** This review may contain spoilers ***

• 
  Stuart WhyteOctober 15, 2016Reply

  very engaging kids film with natural warmth and jeopardy

  Our young family watched Phantom Boy today at the London Film Festival
  and really enjoyed the experience. The film has been dubbed into
  English and the dialogue runs smoothly – doing most of the
  story-telling in a nuanced, personable and fluid way.

  It unfolds as a, perhaps slightly old fashioned, detective story. Leo’s
  ability to travel out of his body is a very useful device to access
  remote places and to eavesdrop on others actions to help the story
  along. This also acts an intermediary or buffer to the film’s action,
  helping to flag up wrong-doing, violence and other risks in a mediated
  manner, which works well for young viewers.

  There are hints of the seriousness of Leo’s Illness via the private
  worries of his parents, some physical violence and threatening use of
  guns but the emotional challenge is not overwhelming and the narrative
  pace carries you through.

  Both our kids said they would want to see the film again and it will
  probably become a DVD favourite at home, for some time to come. The
  animated style is more hand-drawn in appearance and not as glossy or
  heavily automated as major studio animated films can be. This give a
  certain lightness of touch and warmth to what would otherwise be rather
  gritty, noir-ish city backdrops.

  My only criticism would be the speed with which the story was
  established and characters introduced. A few minutes more focusing on
  Leo’s arrival at hospital and the discovery and use of his special
  powers would have pleased me.

• 
  Reno RanganJanuary 4, 2017Reply

  The supernatural ‘eye in the sky’.

  From the directors of ‘A Cat in Paris’, but this film set in New York
  City that narrates the story of a boy with an extraordinary power. If
  you had liked that film, you probably would like it as well, but a
  little lesser. Except this is not about the art of theft, but a cop
  trying to catch a most dangerous criminal. It is so weird to see the
  New York turned into kind of a province of France as everybody in this
  speak French, but expected it as it’s a French film.

  A very interesting storyline. The characters were well designed and
  developed. But most of the film was focused on the boy, the cop and the
  main villain with a dog’s perspective. There’s a little part of a
  reporter as well. So I think it should have been called ‘A Dog in New
  York’, but the dog is on the wrong side where the most of the story was
  narrated from. The theme was not fresh, but the way they used to tell
  the tale makes all the difference. I mean you can compare it to ‘If I
  Stay’ kind of plenty of other films. Except it turned into a
  crime-thriller.

  A young boy named Leo, who is hospitalised for the serious illness, has
  a special power to leave his body and take an invisible form, and come
  back again safely within some time frame. On the other side an honest
  cop trying to hunt down a criminal who is threatening the peace of the
  city gets a backlash after met with an accident. Now the cop and the
  boy join the hands to thwart the villain’s latest attempt to bring
  disruption. The mission was not planned well, so how they fight the
  crime and its result brings to an end to the film.

  ”I’m not hungry. It’s a shame because my dad’s pasta is the best in the
  world.”

  This is a PG film, that means it’s aimed for all the ages. But
  particularly for the grown ups, there’s nothing much to enjoy other
  than cool presentation. That does not mean for all the grown ups. The
  sketches and the animation technics were same as the previous film.
  They tried to reach bigger audience worldwide from the success of their
  previous film, but seems not achieved that goal. As the film had many
  great features like the characters and the story, they have fallen
  short to surpass as an overall film. Even anytime I would pick ‘A Cat
  in Paris’ over this, but that does not make this one’s a bad film.

  It kind of looks like the supernatural version of ‘Eye in the Sky’. I’m
  not talking about the actual film, but the concept of drones to watch
  over the criminal activity. In here the boy acts as the main
  communication device. He who one day wants to be a cop, helps to solve
  the crime. I think the end should have been a little better. Especially
  from the boy’s perspective about how his tale ends were very
  intentional. Perhaps a bit of emotions at the end would have given a
  better result.

  I advertise the 2D animations too much on my blog whenever I review
  them, because they are rapidly fading away art. So my big thanks to
  those production houses and the filmmakers who still believe in it. If
  you are an animation film fan, you will enjoy it, no matter you loved
  it or not at the end. In a simple way to say, it is a fine film for the
  families with kids aged ten or under. It might look like a typical
  detective film, but entertaining with a few good moments. So check it
  out if you get a chance to access it.

  7/10

• 
  A_Different_DrummerJanuary 7, 2017Reply

  On the existential nature of animation

  In respect to the country of origin — and this review was not planned
  in advance — I want to talk about the existential nature of animated
  movies.

  In the modern age, clear trends are in place. In Japan, which has
  become the home base for an entire universe of animation (known as
  anime) we have a wide variety of animation styles all of which have one
  thing in common — depth. Japanese anime is the closest thing I have
  found to a true alternate universe. Ten minutes in a good Japanese
  anime, you begin to see the characters as almost real and their reality
  becomes your reality. Japanese anime is an extraordinary experience.

  Western animation (leaving aside the superhero films, which are unique
  in their own way and follow their own rules) is best exemplified by the
  work of the Disney studio, Pixar and the occasionally brilliant
  independent project such as for example the mind-boggling LITTLE PRINCE
  2015.

  What western animation offers, beyond a great story, is a zeal to
  express the characters to a degree not possible in live action. It is
  as if, in western animation, characters are ”injected” with more
  personality than could be possible in real life. The number of major
  awards currently going to ”voice actors” in the west reflects this
  trend.

  Which brings to Phantom Boy.

  The story is odd. It is essentially a paranormal tale based on the
  notion of Astral Travel. (You can get a crash course in this by
  watching the new Dr. Strange).

  The paranormal tale is mixed with a typical crime story — cops and
  robbers being much more popular in France than in other cultures — and
  the whole thing is served up to the viewer in a very unique and stilted
  animation style.

  And now we get to the crux of the review.

  Watching Phantom Boy, I could not help but notice that (with the sole
  exception of the character of the baby sister) not one character in the
  film had the ”oversized” personality we have come to associate with
  animation. In fact, most of the characters had either ”toned down”
  personalities (the cop and the boy) or, worse, ”unpleasant”
  personalities, ie, characters who were not much fun to watch or listen
  to (the arch-villain and even his dog).

  (And yes, I speak French, so I did not miss any nuance in the dialog).

  Which raises the question, if you are going to negate the very quality
  that makes animation fun in the first place, why use it at all? My
  review — and fans of the producers will not agree I know — is that
  this film is more irritating than entertaining because of the fact that
  most of the characters (except the little sister) are either dull as
  toast or deliberately written as annoying. The story would have been
  more interesting as live action, all things considered.

  The ending is sweet and that is the nicest thing I can say about the
  film.

  Not recommended.

• 
  mazarikaApril 2, 2017Reply

  Phantom Boy Review

  Phantom Boy is a great animated film to watch. It is a moving and
  emotional story about what a true hero really is. The characters are
  amazing in this film,the animation is gorgeous, and I like the film’s
  noir crime thriller tone. Personally, I liked Jean-Loup Felicioli’s
  other film, ”A Cat In Paris”, but this film is quite the feature. It is
  a film that I highly recommend for fans of ”A Cat In Paris”

  Story= 8.6/10

  Characters= 9.5/10

  Animation= 9.2/10

  Tone= 8.6/10

  Value= 8.4/10

  TOTAL: 44.3/50 = 89%