Amelie

Rating:
Summary: Ok....it was creative
Review: Amelie starts auspiciously because of it's unique story telling and direction. The movie is interactive between real life and Amelie (main character) imagination. This later expands to the "prince" in the movie. I can appreciate it for this, but those looking for a feel good romantic comedy will not find it here!! Plan on spending most of the movie confused. Amelie decides to help strangers because of her disfunctional way of relating to people personally. Amelie's progress is obviously, and condescendingly, paralleled by the painting of her equally eccentric and strange neighbor. In fact there isn't a normal person in this movie: perhaps a feature that makes the "cute" to most.
The main point of the movie is that Amelie, as odd as she is, can find someone equally odd. Unfortunately the disfunctionality of both 'lovers,' while starting as a cute crush and creative chase, ends as frustratingly after several failed attempts to simply say hello.
In short Amelie's disfunctional nature, and the movies obvious existential overtones, are overstressed to the point that I want to[get sick].

Rating:
Summary: Subtitles? So What?!
Review: Too many people are turned off by subtitles. Well, subtitled or not, this is a film you shouldn't miss. Few films make me actually laugh out loud, but Amelie is at the top of the list. If the Coen brothers made french romantic comedies, this would be the result - a refreshinly bittersweet romantic comedy that is always just slightly left of center. The charming direction and cinematography add to the bitingly funny story of a young woman struggling to reconcile her rich fantasy life with reality, her quest for romance, and the desire to create a beautiful world for those around her. Hollywood would be hard-pressed to make a film that compares to Amelie, so be sure not to miss out on the original.

Rating:
Summary: In a word SUperb
Review: This is what movies strive to be. Magical. Whimsical. Moving. Lovely. Inspiring. Enchanting. Stretch the Limits. Worthy.
This movie is one of the few that has narration throughout, entirely in French, and yet it doesn't diminish the impact of Audrey Tatous performance. She is so devilish and angelic simultaneously that everything about her make you smile.
It is a romance and it is about making life yours by simply doing good.
It is hilarious.
It is enchanting.

Rating:
Summary: What a funny film!
Review: I rented this movie with very low expectations (mainly because of the types of people who recommended it to me), and was completely blown away, at times actually falling off the sofa laughing. The garden gnome incident is priceless! I would place this more in the comedy than the romance department, though I almsot cried when little Amelie lost her fish. I thought the actress who played Amelie was a little creepy, but perfect for the role. The plot was fresh and hysterically funny, and one of the best things about this movie is that it doesn't try too hard. The humor and romance (and sorrow) are all served up so naturally that you barely have time to catch your breath and wipe your eyes before something else is making you crack up. This movie was truly heartwarming, especially the incident with the spinster widow downstairs, whose husband left her. Once or twice the subtitles ran too fast for me to catch up, and I thought the nudity and sex (little though it was) was unecessary. It still didn't detract at all from this suprising and hilarious little French import. Well done!

Rating:
Summary: One of the best french movies made!
Review: I'm learning french so I figured "Amelie" would be a great movie to watch to improve my fluency. It did more than that, it also broadened my horizons as a writer. I didn't know anything so unique was possible. This is a masterpiece! Audrey Toutou's heartfelt performance as a lonely young woman proved that we'll be watching more of her in the next many years. Why did "Amelie" lose the Oscar for Best Foreign Film over the boring "No Man's Land"? Nobody knows.

Rating:
Summary: Quite a Charmer
Review: This is the kind of movie that you just have to smile the whole way through. It's also a film that while not being like the average French film manages to seem quintessentially French/Parisian. The Paris in the film is not the true Paris overidden with the strife of a country and city coming to grips with a poor economy and becoming multi-cultural, but the golden, sun-drenched Paris of old movies, post cards, and honeymoon dreams. The heroine is the 23 year-old lonely cafe waitress who is more at home with her vivid imagination, cultivated over the years to make up for her lack of friends,and stratagems than with people around her. Her good works whether they work(such as the little box of trinkets that starts it all) or whether they flop(like her little matchmaking scheme), they always manage to enchant. Her most amazing stratagem in the whole movie is however the one that could keep her from obtaining the happiness that she has given to others, no matter how briefly. The acting is superb. Audrey Tautou reminded me of another Audrey with her pixie haircut, dark eyes, and heavy eyebrows. She kept Amelie from being an overly cute caricature. All in all a great movie which you'd have to be a curmudgeon to not enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Modern day Matilda mix...
Review: It reminded me of Matilda for some reason!
It's a super cute film full of societal commentaries, magic and charm.

It's interseting how Amelie find a man that is also just like her but in a different way. As a man he tries to fix up people's lives instead of being in a relationship by fixing up photos of people he doesn't know. Amelie does the same by fixing up actual people. It's a sweet story full of magic, love, and innocence.

Highly recommended- a keeper!

Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous
Review: You dont even have to pay attention to what's going on to enjoy this movie. The color in Amelie is gorgeous. In the second DVD the director comments on how he wanted to imitate an particular artist by using reds and greens throughout the whole movie. Every so often you can find glowing blue accents, which make this movie a pleasure to just surrendur your eyes to.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect film!
Review: ...But this delightfull French film totally turned me around on the possiblities of the romantic comedy genre.

The story of Amelie concerns the title character as she sets out to bring happiness to those around her by very subtle and inventive means rather than trying to repair her own solitary life. The film is surprising and creative from start to finish, so I won't spoil the rest of the story as when I first saw the film I had no idea what to expect and don't want to ruin that first time veiwing experience for anyone else. You just don't know what to expect from one scene to the next in this film, as opposed to Hollywood romantic comedies where the stories are cliched and predictable.

Besides the genuinely refreshing originality of Amelie, the film contains an amazing visual style which blends cgi effects into the picture flawlessly and with much great effect and purpose than any of the big budget Hollywood flicks. The music is also great with a main theme which has that really French feel about it. Audrey Tautou is amazing in this film as well, she makes Amelie beleivable and endears her character to the audience in every screen moment. Subtitles work great with this film too as even though I can only speak some basic phrases in French, Audrey Tautou gives Amelie an charming soft impish type voice that would be lost if it was dubbed and but can still be appreciated by anyone who doesn't speak the language. People who refuse to watch subtitled films are losers anway.

...P>The only negative thing I could say about Amelie is that theres a real danger that the geniuses in Hollywood might try to remake it much the same way they remade the brilliant and highly origingal Japanse horror masterpiece 'Ringu' into the silly shallow 'Ring'. Other than that Amelie is a wonderous one of a kind film that doesn't come by very often.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Enchanting!!!!!
Review: I usually don't write reviews about movies because of my lack of time but this one really moved me. Amelie is an excellent work, a story full of sensibility and fantasy. All its components; the crew, the story, the cinematography compound a perfect armony. I bought it and I enjoyed from beginning to end. Really enchanting!!!!