SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Kirpianuscus good animation. or religious film. original characters. and seductive lesson about art. it has different sides. but it remains a beautiful show. not only for the wonderful art, for the wise mixture of love, tension, mystery and crumbs of history, for references to literature and history, for the final meeting or for the status of parable. but for its admirable manner to translate emotions and realities and desires. for the game of events and for the need of certitude of characters. for idealism. and for the grace of details. a film who remains different. for the science to explore old things in the inspired light. nothing more. only a story, a trip and a revelation. few characters. and the questions. short, one of stories who remains seductive for the art to reuse old problems in the right style.

Armand a beautiful film. not complex script. not extraordinary story. but the memory of colors, the lovely simplicity, the freshness warm flavor of childhood, the emotions who are mixture of old images, adventure spirit, religious lesson and philosophical crumbs is like a kind of music. the result - an useful meeting. seductive, refreshing, delicate, a not ordinary animation who represents more than entertainment, a window to a splendid universe. the sense of well known world, the game of colors, the animation as a kind of delicate invitation to self discover are virtues of a film with not high ambitions but for this reason admirable way to remember the basic fundamental things.

Tad Pole . . . painter has been done previously, with Italian playwright Luigi Pirandello's SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR. "French" has always stood out as an imitative culture. The language is so much like English that French politicians pass laws as to how many "English" words can migrate onto French screens annually (just as Americans try to limit the influx of "guest workers"). "French cuisine" is virtually interchangeable with Italian cooking, and most French composers simply copy what the German, English, and Italians have done a few decades earlier. France has lost all its important wars because its armies are always equipped with the weapons of yesteryear. When a French person such as Madame Curie actually stumbles upon something new, such as radiation, they can't comprehend it. All Curie's original notes are too radioactive to be handled even today, and hundreds of Frenchwomen including Curie family members died from licking the little paint brushes they used to make the numbers on watches glow in the dark. (While the French were decorating time pieces, America beat Germany to using radioactivity to power and dominate the world!) This cartoon, THE PAINTING, is delightful enough to merit a rating of 8 (from 10). However, this film--which grossed slightly more than $11,000 in America--also is derivative and French (which is pretty much saying the same thing).

rsj624 --WARNING: There are some spoilers ahead for those who haven't seen the film, so just a heads up. In order to accurately review this film, it may be necessary to talk about some key moments.--As most films of it's nature go, The Painting's immortality will lie in it's infinite lore, but most likely remain obscure to the masses for quite some time. Movies like this one never fade away forever, and someday it's genuine charm will be rediscovered and heralded as a masterpiece, but for now, it is a modest piece about social classes and the desire to be accepted into the world you are a part of.In the Painting, three types of individuals exist. The Toupins, who are completed works, the Pafinis, which have spots here and there that remain unfinished, and Reufs, which remain in sketch form and barely brushed out beyond mere outlines. The film is a portrayal of social standards and class warfare in it's most predictable and overdone manner, but most interesting is it's abandonment of it's confined world and use of other paintings to provide a bigger canvas, and help it's vision of a larger universe to convey it's message of relativity.It's preachy no doubt, but these frequent forays into other paintings not only give the film a much needed whimsical quality, but also a break from the heavy handed nature of it's narrative. There is no denying how beautiful of a film it is, and it goes without saying I'm sure, but thankfully the substance behind all the events taking place gives enough to chew on and the films premise, although short, is rewarding, albeit predictable by the end.If anything, the character's could've been a little deeper, but this seems nit-picky for such an enjoyable film. Recommended for anyone who appreciates artistic ingenuity in film and a quality animated adventure.