The Prestige and The Illusionist

Why can’t Hollywood studios hide the fact that they copy each other a little better? Quite often, it seems that an executive from studio Y gets wind of what studio X is doing and demands that his studio come up with something bigger and better.

There are many examples of movie studios copying each other over the last decade: Armageddon and Deep Impact, Madagascar and The Wild, Mission to Mars and Red Planet, A Bug's Life and Antz. The list could go on and on. Usually these movies are released within a month or two of each other, making it even harder not to suspect copying, which usually leaves me to try to figure out which of the two concepts came first.

So, what’s bringing on this particular rant? The Prestige and The Illusionist. Both are period movies about magicians, both came out within 2 months of each other, and both have twisting plots told in the forms of flashbacks. I can’t help but compare them.

I saw The Illusionist when it was released in the theater. When the titles first appeared on the screen, I noticed how they looked a little shaky and thought it seemed strange. I quickly realized that it was all part of the overall style of the movie that I soon grew to love. The movie was made to appear like a silent movie, with washed-out, almost sepia toned color and subtle shutter flickers and iris wipes that hearken back to the primitive technology of movie making in the early 20th century silent movie era.

This old-fashioned style was also reflected in the designs of the costumes, sets, hair and make-up. Even the dialogue seemed to be stylized to fit more into the time, but never in an over-the-top, melodramatic way.


The story is essentially a love triangle between Eisenheim the Illusionist, played by Edward Norton (Fight Club), Sophie, Played by Jessica Biel (Stealth), and Crown Prince Leopold, Played by Rufus Sewel (Tristan and Isolde). The flashbacks are framed by the recollection of Inspector Uhl, played by Paul Giamatti (Sideways), who is enlisted to investigate Eisenheim once the Crown Prince develops suspicions of him at a performance.

There are plot twists in this movie that center around one question: does Eisenheim have supernatural powers or not? Once we learn the truth of this, all of the film’s other questions are also answered. So while there are no earth-shattering surprises, it’s still an intriguing mystery that you don’t truly know the answer of until the very end.

I saw the next film, The Prestige, on DVD recently. Written and directed by Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins), this movie appears to take place in the same period of time, but unlike The Illusionist, the filmmaking is rather straightforward. It is about two magicians played by Christian Bale (Batman Begins) and Hugh Jackman (X-Men) who at one time were friends, but through an accident have become bitter rivals, each trying to outdo the other.

The Prestige also stars the ubiquitous Scarlet Johansson (The Island, In Good Company, Match Point, The Black Dahlia, Lost in Translation, etc, etc, etc…) in a role that introduces a possible love triangle that turns out to be nothing more than a mildly effective plot device.


While The Prestige was an entertaining movie, I was disappointed that I was able to guess the two big secrets long before they were officially revealed in the movie. In fact, the very last shot of the film was undoubtedly supposed to be a shocking surprise, but it was exactly what I was expecting to see.

Between these two movies, I’d have to say that the best one was The Illusionist. The Prestige really let me down by destroying the illusion of the final trick by introducing technology more akin to Star Trek than performance magic. In watching a movie about magicians, or in watching a real magician like David Copperfield, part of the thrill is seeing something that seems impossible, but knowing it’s ultimately an illusion that leaves you wondering how in the world it was done—which is ultimately what we go see movies for, isn’t it?

Now if the movie studios could only do a better job at creating an illusion that they’re not copying each other, then we might be getting somewhere.

Movie Review: Howl's Moving Castle

The only Japanese animation that I’ve seen is Star Blazers, back when I was a kid. I really enjoyed it, but I think the advent of Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh and Digimon turned me off of the whole genre.

Earlier this year, however, I saw the trailer for Howl's Moving Castle, and I had to re-watch it two or three times just to take it all in. Every second of it seemed like a work of art. I had also heard some positive things about the movie that made me want to see it.

Well, after searching for it at my local video store and seeing that their one copy was always rented, I grew desperate and went ahead and bought it and watched it with my 8-year-old daughter.

In short, I loved it. I loved just about every moment of it! Every frame of this movie could be framed as a work of art. I’ve never seen a traditionally animated movie with backgrounds that had so much depth and realism as this one.

And the story was great too! It’s a story that could be compared to the fantasy of The Wizard of Oz, with it’s unique characters and surreal vistas. There are a few moments where it’s very clear that many people will interpret what they are seeing very differently.

Howl's Moving Castle is a fantasy about a young girl name Sophie who has an encounter with a mysterious wizard named Howl. Sophie is soon transformed into a 90-year-old woman by the jealous Witch of the Waste. Knowing that she can't stay in her home in her transformed state, Sophie sets out on a journey to find some way to break the spell and return herself to normal. What follows is a wonderful adventure.

There were only two things that distracted me initially in this movie. The first was that I didn’t think there was enough of a relationship built between Sophie and Howl at the beginning of the movie. I wished I could have seen more of Sophie before she was transformed, and maybe have seen that there was more of an emotional connection between the two of them.

The second was a technical animation issue. In traditional animation (Disney feature stuff) there is usually one drawing for every two frames of film, which is called animating “on twos.” In CGI animation, it’s usually one new image for every frame of film, or “on ones” which gives the animation a much more fluid look. I was expecting at least “twos” in this feature film, but it was clear at the beginning to me, that this movie must have been animated on “threes” or “fours” which made the movements a little distractingly choppy. I quickly got used to it though and didn’t mind it as much.

Pixar directors Pete Docter and John Lasseter and Disney were in charge of creating the English language translation and dub for this release and the voice cast features such notable actors as Lauren Bacall (Key Largo), Christian Bale (Batman Begins), Jean Simmons (Spartacus—no Bryan, not the one from KISS), and Blythe Danner (Meet the Parents). Never once during this movie did I experience the “Godzilla effect” where their mouths are saying something their voices weren’t.

I don’t believe I’ve ever left an animated movie with such a feeling of wonder as I did with this one. I really want to watch it again to relive the majesty of it and to see if there’s anything that I can understand in a new way from it all.

I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys animated films as a viable source of entertainment and story telling. This is not a comedy—though it does have its funny parts. It is a fantasy with a more cinematic than cartoony feel to it.

By the way, as one of the biggest signs that my daughter liked it, she immediately wanted to play it with me pretending that I was Howl and she was Sophie. She was even doing a British accent. She also kept asking me if she could watch it again, and again…

Now my homework assignment is to check out other Studio Ghibli productions such as Spirited Away, Nausicaa, and Princess Mononoke. Any suggestions?