A charming, bittersweet movie about the decline of the Music Hall in Europe which the author Jacques Tati knew so well and lovingly tells this story with a heart rending pathos. I am a professional magician, so this hits home as I know well the movements the character makes with the hands and appreciate the animators' detail. However, you don't have to be a professional illusionist to have your heart ripped out by the mastery of this brilliantly told and directed movie. It is NOT for children at all. At the first screening I saw kids ages 7 to 12 running about the theatre bored by the adult themes of despair, melancholia and sheer alcoholism, if not the ever-present, detailed depictions of attempted suicide. I would recommend this movie to anyone who appreciates great story telling in a medium that is used with skill and decisive direction. I give this my highest rating, I paid to see it twice in the theatre because the power of the story commands attention to the big screen.

Lovely to look at. The mood is bittersweet. The larger lesson about acceptance of life's changes and agonies and compensations is presented very gently. Oddly, the audience was very quiet with minimal laughter at the whimsical humor. I plan to see it again and again.

The story was so beautifully told through delicate pictures and great music.

We loved this movie, but there are parts at the end that are a little rough. Very sweet and sad. Animation is beautiful.

The Illusionist has very little of the hilarity, perversity and mad glee of The Triplets of Belleville. But it is astonishing in its own right. Of course the animation is masterful, but its also deeply nuanced, with several things of interest happening at the same time, and the tiniest details of characters' attitudes and actions slipping across the screen. The story is deeply melancholy, a love song to a magical world of performance and understated, personal craftsmanship. I wasn't prepared to watch such a world die before my eyes on the screen.