Rating: 
Summary: excellent!
Review: It's an excellent movie, the approach to our lives of the real
world is no doubt wonderful and unique. The music is the best
I have ever heard in movies. And this movie truly provides a
way for us to forget about the subjective and objective divisions
in daily reality.
Rating:
Summary: Inspirational
Review: Amelie is nothing short of remarkable. Words cannot say or speak to the level of emotion that this film conveys. The film is centered around a young woman who, in her childhood, experienced almost no physical or emotional contact. Upon discovering a hidden treasure of someone else's young memories, Amelie had found her epiphany and unlocked her meaning in life: to bring joy to others. However, Amelie's route to doing so must be at her own expense. She cannot know the joy of someone expressing emotion to her, she had the past to keep that from happening. She must effect joy on those from a distance, bringing a cornucopia of amusing and elaborately plotted situations that were remotely devised without anyone discovering her. However, when given her own chance for happeniness, when discovering that the man she loves wants to know her, she is unable to do it. Here, the film shows a young woman with tremendous heart, yet tremendous anxiety. This heroine also has the ability to touch the heart of the viewer. Yes, through the magic of television, she makes the viewer cheer for her as she cheers for others. The film is pure genius. Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: Recollecting childhood.
Review: Amelie is best understood in terms of Romanticism. The movie embraces the imagination. The viewer finds himself reliving his childhood. The sounds of popping bubble-wrap, of rain on water, of marbles flooding pavement, are heard as though for the first time. The movie penetrates our senses--eyes, ears, tongues, skins--and rekindles our memories (much of this accomplished through dazzling cinematographic techniques which defamiliarize reality). A previous reviewer calls Amelie (the character) a simple girl. This is true. Because Amelie experieced no childhood, she retains a kind of innocense. Her imagination persists in her adulthood despite the mechanistic existence of adult life. Despite this, she isn't able to share her world with those around her. She makes a decision: to remind people of their childhoods, to remind them what it's like to play. (It is through this act of giving that she is able to receive. . .) Lastly, the viewer finds himself able to play. The world, even if for a moment, becomes something new, colorful, resonant, open to imagination. Perhaps the reader finds this review too sweet to the taste. Delete these words. Watch the film. Write a cloying review of your own.
Rating:
Summary: Better than good, Amelie is beautiful
Review: There are a lot of movies in this world that I would call good, or even great, but very few that I would call beautiful. Amelie is beautiful. The cinematography has a painter's touch, as the colors seem more vibrant and warm than in life; and yet the settings never struck me as being artificial. The characters are also crafted with a similar flair; even minor characters seem like portraits having unexpected familiarity... The soundtrack to the movie complements the action and the characters, and is a work of art in itself. The only negative aspect of the DVD (at least on mine, I bought it elsewhere) is that one can't view French subtitles, only English or Spanish. The French would be helpful for anyone interested in learning French... But that is a minor detail.
Rating:
Summary: Original Film Making at its Best. *****
Review: French films, while often excellent, are something of an acquired taste and some of the essence can get lost in the translation (both cultural and linguistic). This film, however, transcends such difficulties and is immensely enjoyable and heart-warming. While like many other French films this is very whimsical, it is so well performed and directed that only the very hardest hearted would not find the charm of this film irresistable. Part of the reason for this is down to the remarkable central performance of Audrey Tautou as "Amelie". Her entire performance seems to be more mimed than acted and seems to do without dialogue to a great degree. This works well due to her excellent acting abilities as well as some outstanding direction. The plot is based around an unashamedly romantic story concerning our heroine; the acting skill and direction give this film a quirkyness and zest which really set it apart. I enjoyed this film immensely and felt enriched from having watched it. Definitely one of the filmic highlights of the past year and very highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Want to know the truth?
Review: This movie is STRAINING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot stand Hollywood pictures, btw, and only watch movies by auteurs, but this is just asking too much of my patience. Obviously clever and "pretty", but who cares when the movie is just devoid of any emotional impact! That must've have been the worst love story ever hyped up. I mean, Amelie just seemed like a fantasy of the director- stunningly beautiful and not aware of it, delicate, pure, non-threatening, with the mind of a child, I mean, c'mon! Way too fluffy, absurd, and pointless. I must have watched this movie in 3 or 4 installments and could not care less about these two stupid people getting together.
Rating:
Summary: Who Cares if the Film doesn't Portray Reality
Review: I've been reading some reviews for this film and I really don't care for how unrealistic this film is said to be. Yes...life is not like the movies, but can we not have the movies take our mundane lives and artistically manipulate it into something more? One French reviewer said that it did not portray Paris in the way it was at all. I don't think that really was the point of the movie, nor to portray the most intelligent protagonist. Amelie is a simple girl. There is nothing wrong with that. The world consists of more than just intellectuals. We already know what the world is like...what reality puts forth. Why would we have to sit through a movie that shows all of that if we can just step outside our door? I believe that movies are a form of escape...artistic expression...a way to give form to our dreams. I don't believe we should make all our movies with our heads in the clouds, but it's good that once in awhile, someone can create something not out of pragmatism but just pure, simple human emotion and fantasy. The movie was not meant to be a documentary. Everyone nowadays flocks to the blockbuster hits...action films...films with provocative actresses and promiscuity...or even the downright hardcore films that portray reality right down to its extreme complexities (Requiem For a Dream, FIght Club, which i do like). It's a nice change to watch a simple film that focuses on artistic imagery and musical score rather than fast paced plot and sexually, superficially stimulating fidgeting with bad actors. I feel that this movie shows how we forget about the simple things we all can afford in life...how we forget how refreshing and liberating those simple things can be.
Rating:
Summary: Offbeat neat movie, for all us oddballs
Review: MOVIE FOR ALL US MISFITS:
What I particularly liked about this movie was that it was about the people that don't quite fit in. The people that are marginalized for some reason or another. We all have aspects of this at different times, but we don't realize how much it can draw us together. AMILIE DECIDES TO OPEN UP HER LIFE MORE:
Amelie is a young woman with an odd and somewhat tragic upbringing. She decides at some point in time to start living her life a bit more risky and it pays off.
She learns more about the people around her that before were just stories. Then she takes it upon her self to try to right some of the injustices she sees. A MYSTERY IS SOLVED:
While reaching out she comes upon a mystery and then spends a good portion of the rest of the movie trying to figure it out. When she does, many more things fall into place. REALLY QUITE FUNNY:
There are some very funny scenes and you can empathize with Amelie and some of her pursuits. The story of the traveling gnome cracks me up. You'll have to see the movie to get that. A SPOT OF FRENCH CULTURE:
As an American watching a French movie, I found the different kind of humor and feel to the movie appealing. I think it is a good idea to understand other cultures and what better way through their humor. I'm sure this is not a "true" French movie, but one that is very Americanized, as it was generally available. However, with subtitles and a different soundtrack than I'm used to, it was a smidgen of a different culture. A very good movie, it reminds me of some of the older 1950s black and white romantic comedies. Tame and sweet.
Rating: 
Summary: 'Clean'... to the dirt - stay away from this...
Review: See, I'm a French guy, I live in Paris and I know quite well about the area where this movie was shot. It's a poor, dirty area, with plenty of bums and rats, it's not at all like it is showed in the film. So don't get abused. This movie is just a postcard on celluloid, this is valuable only for the tourists. Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who before this "Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain" (the French title), had directed some pretty 'noir' and sordid movies like "Delicatessen", "The City of the lost Children" and "Alien 4", completely changed his vision for this film; he even changed his director of photography! For a single young girl, for her big eyes and her haircut in the Louise Brooks style only, he cleaned up the 18th district of Paris. Here, no rain, no bad weather, no clouds in the sky, no traffic jam, no pollution, no garbage bins, no dirt on the sidewalks, in the gutters and in railway and metro stations... which may be acceptable. But when he puts away all the poor elements - the Black and Arabian people, and the bums -, and gives to Jamel Debbouze (an Arabian comic, very well-known in France) a character with a typical French name - Lucien -, then we have the right to scream with fury and ask for the filmmaker to be on court martial. Maybe it's only a movie, and you can tell me this, but I think there's still some respect to be shown for the location and the people. But this is not the most disgusting look of the film. No, what can easily make you throw up is the emptiness of the treatment, there's no message at all, the story is ridiculous and unsignificant, and Amelie and Nino excepted, the characters don't evoluate, don't progress, they just keep turning around and around in closed spaces they practically never get out from. Amelie herself is quite irritating, she's not very intelligent, doesn't have any of the grace that all the medias gave her, and her stupid games and her way of minding the others' business are desperating. How can you be interested in such a character? The special effects are honeyed and add to the boring and too long aspect of the film, where nothing happens from the beginning to the ending. This movie, which received five Academy Award nominations, would have deserved the one for sugar. Mathieu Kassovitz, a shocker director, disappoints his fans with this sweethearted character, a little lost. Dominique Pinon ("The City of the lost Children", "Alien 4") and Isabelle Nanty are very good, so is the ending, but it's not enough. The reasons of the success of this film are that it tells a fairy-tale in a real place, and portrays an ideal world, where everything is white, clean and neat, and in the end everything is always OK. We may be skeptical about this... In any case this movie is the proof that we can make any ... believable with a good dose of 'Chantilly' cream, when we see how successful and highrated it is...
Rating:
Summary: A must see.
Review: It's a definitely Jean-Pierre Jeunet film. You can tell by the film tone. However, the story is not like he's done before. You will see the sweeter side of him. A must see in 2001.
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