'Leap!' Movie Review

Hello, fellow moviegoers!
   Leap! is directed by Eric Summer, and Eric Warin, and it features the voice talents of Elle Fanning, Dane DeHaan, Mel Brooks, and Kate McKinnon. It tells the story of two orphans from France. When they run away to Paris to chase their dreams, they quickly discover that chasing their dreams might be more difficult than they think. The film primarily follows the girl Felicie, and her journey to become a dancer at the Grand Opera house.

   I went into this movie knowing almost nothing about it. I knew that it was an animated film that took place in the 1800s, but that’s it. I hadn’t even seen a trailer. I was pleasantly surprised by the film that I got. Leap! is a feel-good movie that will leave you in a really good mood after seeing it. Is it an amazing movie? No, but it is one that I think most people can really enjoy.
   The best word to describe the experience of seeing this film is “pleasant”. From start to finish, the film was a heartwarming tale of two kids chasing their dreams. You really get connected with these characters, and in turn, you are emotionally invested in the movie as a whole. When these characters are living their lives, your heart really connects to them. You are happy when they succeed, and you’re sad when they fail.
   Speaking of which, it was nice that not everything in this movie worked out exactly the way we hoped it would. We often see films, specifically animated films, where everything goes according to plan. There may be one or two bumps along the road, but overall, it was pretty smooth sailing. That was not the case in Leap!. This film was brave enough to have its characters fail. These characters really go through some rough patches, and it’s believable when they do. They seem like actual people living their life, which is quite a feat for an animated film such as this.
   This film does suffer from something that most kids movies do, and that’s poor dialogue. I’m not saying that all of the dialogue was bad, but on occasion, it became extremely predictable and cliché. That is probably tied along with a few of the characters being the typical animated movie caricatures. There was one point in the film where I literally had to resist the urge to laugh because the dialogue was so poorly written.
   The quality of the animation in this film was very good. The whole film was beautiful to look at. From the character models to the landscape of Paris, everything in this film was animated very well. It made the film even more interesting to watch. Visually, everything was a pleasure to look at, so watching the film became a much more pleasant experience than it already was.
   At the end of the day, Leap! was actually pretty good. It felt like a Pixar animated short, except it was an hour and a half long instead of fifteen minutes. The film features a lot of really good and positive messages for kids, though it also shows that sometimes things don’t work out how you want them to. The film was animated very well, and from the moment it starts it was interesting to look at. The dialogue can be pretty bad at times, although the pleasant quality of the story being told makes up for that. Leap! was a pleasant little film that I would certainly recommend.
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7/10

   So what did you think of Leap!? How would you compare it to other animated films like it? Let me know by commenting on this post! Also, if you enjoyed this review, share it on Facebook and Twitter. It really helps! Don’t forget, I post every Monday and Friday, so check back then for more movie reviews and other miscellaneous movie thoughts!
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