"The Illusionist," Sylvain Chomet's sentimental animated film about a fading vaudeville magician and the young runaway who comes under his wing, is a parable worth viewing, especially in these troubled times. For while it is a film about magic and the illusion that tricks can create, before the curtain falls it will reveal something very different: that the sense of control we seek to maintain in our lives, and the idea that we can make everything right for our loved ones, may be the biggest illusions of all.
"The Illusionist" is resolutely not a children's film. Although there's nothing inappropriate for younger viewers, its themes of impermanence, the passing of time and the winter of youth's dreams will hit older viewers with much more impact.
Chomet, who was robbed of an Oscar this year by the formulaic and plastic-hearted sequel "Toy Story 3," based his film on an old script by deadpan French comedian Jacques Tati, written in the late 1950s, but shelved by Tati because he felt it was too personal, too bittersweet, too much not what the public expected of him. (And "The Illusionist is very much about the fickle tastes of the public.)