A chameleon of a film that borrows from Director Jean-Pierre Jeunets's adored filming bag of tricks but brings little fortitude by the films' conclusion. I am a huge fan of this director due to Amelie and A Very Long Engagement. Some of his other films, City Of Lost Children and the dark comedy Delicatessen, have left less of an indelible mark, but stayed inside their domain of post apocalyptic times. I bring these up as his last two, Micmacs, and The Young and Prestigious T.S. Spivet, certainly are related in their and-weapon statements but those messages are blooming in a comedic setting. Micmacs was irony that worked, but Spivet lost it's edge along the way. The former driven as "righting a wrong" and in Spivet, by finally talking about gun violence, even accidental, needed a reaction to T.S's story other than silly betrayal on live TV. As much as I want to love these movies, I am left unable to blend the message in the context of comedy. For me it was a futile attempt to mix oil and water. Both movies' messages get out through ironic media twists (humor) but the T.S. story feels too sad to leave up to a comedic actress playing a self important museum director. We wanted to care about T. S. but he's a rather stiff character and the young actor did not glow. The movie feels like it's going in a straight direction, like on his map of the United Staes. Once in Washington, the movies' strength, what's going on in T.S's mind, becomes something else. You can never allow for one actor or character to ruin your cin-experience, you can't ignore the sore thumb.
