DVD

"L'illusionniste"'s Alice, a small, blunt-cut-brown-haired young girl with dark clothes and an apron, washes a white shirt in a lake while it rains. Image via empireonline.com. Alice, now an adult woman, looks out the window at the rain from a brightly-lit room. She is wearing a fancy, short-sleeved blue dress with a white collar and has her white glove-clad hands folded. Image via 3.bp.blogspot.com. Best Animated Feature Film nominee L'illusionniste (The Illusionist) came out on DVD in the USA last week. I looked forward to seeing it, given that I enjoyed Sylvain Chomet's Belleville Rendezvous (The Triplets of Belleville)—who can forget that loaded, graceful scene where the men turn into monkeys?—and plenty of critics gave L'illusionniste their stamps of approval. Ten minutes in, though, I was annoyed, and by the credits, I was hopping angry. Chomet's latest has enough gender-based weirdness to rival any Disney movie.

Discussion of princess stories, the significance of naming, boy band mockery, Manic Pixie Dream Daughters, and possessive father/lover figures after the jump!

L'illusionniste Fails to Work its Magic

Tuning In: Daria on DVD

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