Regrettably, Chomet's directorial and artistic connection to his earlier highly esteemed movie has been used to sell this film. While commercially understandable, I feel that using that connection in this manner borders on being false advertising, for the only commonality that the two films share is the auteur. The charm and the whimsy of "The Triplets of Belleville" as well as its glorious soundtrack are not in evidence in this film with its dark themes and a rather troubling story line.   

In spite of the fact that this movie was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, an award captured by "Toy Story 3," it remains such a bleak and joyless movie that I cannot recommend it. If you wish to revisit the joy of seeing the "Triplets of Belleville," then by all means rent that movie instead of this one. My review of that Chomet film is here:

http://www.catsmeowmoviecritic.com/catsmeowmoviearchives/id24.html

In addition, this film shares the same name with another, much better, movie that was made in 2006 starring Edward Norton as a magician par excellence during the late Nineteenth Century Austria. My review of that outstanding film is here:

http://www.catsmeowmoviecritic.com/id233.html

I admit to being irritated that this movie seems to be trading on the magic of Chomet's earlier film which I love as well as adopting the name of another recent movie which I also love. The creative artistry is here, but little else.

The story is a simple but sad one of a magician who has lived long past his glory days and finds that the public is screaming for rock musicians instead of illusionists, the term used for magicians back in the day. He is a tall, lanky, elderly gent (voice of Jean-Claude Donda) who is marvelous with the many simple tricks that he performs with the exception of his rabbit in the hat trick. It seems that the errant rabbit has ideas other than dancing to his master's tune, so he pops out of the hat and scampers off at the most inopportune moments. He also terrorizes anyone foolish enough to reach into his little hat kingdom by biting their fingers.  

As time goes on and the demand for the illusionist's performances slows even further, his venues degrade from theaters to saloons to dives, eventually forcing him to move to England to ply his trade. There he experiences the same sad results of a meager living at one bar after another where the patrons are more interested in beer, darts, and soccer than they are in legerdemain. However, at one bar he captures the eye and the fancy of Alice (voice of Eilidh Rankin), a naive young girl who is so simple that she believes completely in his magic. 

Convinced that the illusionist can make her life better, Alice follows him on a ferry to his next venue in Edinburg, Scotland, portrayed here at its rainy, dreary industrial worst. Here on the outpost of sophisticated civilization, he makes a meager living at a bar and then crashes at a low rent boarding house filled with former clowns, circus acts, ventriloquists, and other vaudeville misfits. When there he bequeaths the bedroom to Alice while he sleeps on the couch with his errant rabbit.

Theirs is a strange relationship. The illusionist loves Alice for the daughter that he never had and also for her naive faith in his magic. Alice, however, is another story. She is so naive that she believes that his magic is real and should be used for her benefit. She points out frilly items in store windows, and the illusionist, touched by her faith, spends what little money he makes to buy shoes and clothes for her so that she can look her best. She actually thinks that he has created these gifts out of thin air like he has done with the coins that he finds behind the ears of the bar patrons. 

This would be sweet if it weren't so sad and pathetic. It can only be viewed in two ways, neither of them good. Either Alice really is that naive and dumb, or she is a user and a gold digger. The movie presents her as being naive, but I found this to be such a stretch that it destroyed the film for me. Not that the illusionist ever complained, mind you, but this was painful to watch. The movie ends happily for her, not so for him. 80 minutes and rated PG.