Rating: 
Summary: Magnifique!
Review: What can I say - this film is a delectable treat. When the lights came up in the theatre, I walked outside, and truly considered wheedling my way into the next sold-out show.
Even on the day after, I am still thinking of the stories, understories, images, and utterly charming sequences that compose this film, and I find myself giggling - with a heart that suddenly has wings. It sounds corny and unbelievable, but it is true.
I visited Paris this summer and "Amelie" was playing there - one of my good friends who lives in Paris, told me then that the film was completely fantastic and a must-see. I took her word for it, and have not been disappointed in the slightest. In fact, I wrote to thank her this morning for recommending such a wonderful way to spend two hours. I have now taken it on myself to call and email many friends to recommend the film in turn.
The story is magical, the cinematography is absolutely gorgeous, and the whimsical elements make you bubble with laughter. It seems like an odd pairing, but Jeunet's meticulous, and usually dark visual detail works perfectly with this airy adventure. From the beautiful city-scapes, the the wonderful close-ups of the characters, the art direction seduces the viewer into complete submission, and you will probably never want to be released.
From the first moments you catch your breath, and when you leave again you feel like you just learned how to breathe.
Rating:
Summary: Best film ever!
Review: The best film I have ever seen! Audrey Tautou is adorable --- and those big brown eyes! The French know how to make genius films. American writers can only write a comedy using "toilet humor" . . . they need to spend time studying the French filmmakers. Maybe then can they make FILMS instead of MOVIES!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: I really needed to see this movie. I noticed as I was leaving the theater that I had a smile on my face. It was such a sweet movie. The best I've seen in years.
Rating:
Summary: La Beauté pure et simple
Review: I write that review in English in fact that I am French. Why? Because I hope all American people from this planet will see that movie. Personaly, I saw it 4 times.
Amelie is not just a woman, it is all a way of thinking. Optimism, love, respect, generosity, humor, sensibility, beauty, art, everything. By this, we see that there is a simple way to find happiness, in the simple things of life. The actors are all, all wonderful, playing easily with their eyes, face, to make us, in the audience, feel their emotions.
In one scene, Amélie confess that she likes seeing the faces of all the people in a movie theater, just to see their expressions. And we see, in the same time, the faces of the audience where she is. I am sure, totally sure that all the people who saw that movie had the same smiles that we see in the audience inside the movie that she sees.
USA, go to see it, it will put a breeze, a touch of Grace inside your heart. And you will have, on those hard days, the motivation to change the world around you. Because Amélie will change you for sure.
Enjoy! C'est un film merveilleux!
Rating: 
Summary: I don't see the reason for the fuss...
Review: (...)The story begins by recounting the simultaneous occurrences at the moment when Amelie (Audrey Tautou in what is barely allowed to be a performance) was conceived. This fascination with coincidence continues throughout, and seems to be cribbed, like the film's updates on the state of the weather from PT Anderson's Magnolia, and really neither seems to add anything to the film. We get to see Amelie grow up in the film's frenzied opening moments, and the combination of many short scenes accompanied by voiceover narration feels like early Godard or Truffaut's Jules and Jim (which Amelie attends a screening of). Still, this grows tiresome in a way that their films didn't. When every shot is meant to amaze, none do. Once the film settles down on the adult Amelie in 1997, she seems relatively well adjusted even though she lost her mother at an early age and she didn't get enough hugs from her father. She engages in casual sex and seems rather content and unquestioning in life. Once she hears news of Princess Diana's death on television, however, she seems to regress into a childlike state. She seems to be stunned by the announcement of that tragedy, and her attentions become diverted immediately upon hearing it by a small tin box filled with children's toys that she finds. She becomes obsessed with the toys, and with finding their owner, and is able to literally shut the news of the princess' death off once she finds them. It's almost as if she reverts to being the girl that she was before her mother was killed. She seems to recreate herself as a princess in order to deny the loss of Diana. Suddenly, she needs more than just sex. She needs Romance, Love, and Justice... all with a capital letters! Her views of the world regress until they have a childlike simplicity. She begins playing tricks again on those that are mean, as she did when she was a child. She seems to become repulsed by sex without love (she tries to block it out when it rears his head by turning on a cappuccino machine or by hanging up a phone). The man that she becomes attracted to is presented as a phallic nightmare. He works in a sex shop(...). Although Amelie is not a virgin, she sure acts like one in his presence. He catches Amelie's eye, but she is unable to approach him. She ends up creating a series of coy games to lure him to her. She has problems relating to other people, and initially communicates with them through notes, film clips, or her own imagination. She begins to apply her principles to the world around her. She becomes consumed by her childlike idealism, and is petulant when the world does not bend to her ideals. This transformation is interesting, but the film flubs badly when it wants us to approve of it. Of course, Amelie is optimistic, and that's great, but she is also detached from any rational understanding of the world. Her idealization of her mate results in a one-sided relationship that doesn't seem to function on any mature, adult level. Her never-ending winsomeness seems to ignore the world around her, and the film never calls her bluff. It's infuriating. This fanciful film ultimately failed to engage me since it was not about any perception of reality that I could relate to. The world of Amelie has no politics. It has no issues. It only has an exaggerated sense of quirkiness and a pea-(...)The film's suggestion that maturity is founded on cynicism is ludicrous and worthy of a Robin Williams movie or Pay it Forward (which at least had Helen Hunt's acting -- Tautou is overdirected and barely gets to deliver more than two consecutive lines here). Amelie, which feels much more similar in tone and style to Hollywood productions than most French ones, isn't far from Williams' tearjerkers in terms of quality.
Rating:
Summary: Le fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain
Review: Many people have referred to this moving as a gem. It is, I must say, uplifting and cinematically gorgeous. The opening sequence alone is beautiful. The plot itself, while traditional -- lonely person falls in love -- while not full of the typical "twists and turns," is sparkling with creativity. All of the characters are well-developed and enticing. Some of the delights include: the garden gnome Amelie steals from her father's house and sends on trips to other countries to convince the widower that he needs to see the world; Mathieu Kassovitz's character, who collects ruined pictures from the photo booths around Paris (the fact that he works both at a porn shop and the Foire du Trone, a fair that does have the run-down, slightly dangerous feeling of Coney Island is also funny); the pair that work at the local fruit stand -- the evil boss whom Amelie winds up playing a number of pranks on in a delightfully amusing scene; and his employee, the sweet-but-stupid boy who loves the fruit. Probably the most interesting and most crucial relationship in the movie is the one that develops between Amelie, a girl who is charming but shy and ultimately slightly frightened to really be in the world, and the "glass man," the old painter who lives in her building. It is ultimately through the old man that Amelie comes to realize that she must seize life; simulaneously, she tries to do the same for him. I have mentioned a couple of brilliant parts of the plot, but there are many more. (The circumstances surrounding Amelie's mother's death are hilarious, as is the reason that Amelie was not allowed to go to school as a child. The people at the cafe are all full of life as well. In fact, the character development is probably one of the most compelling things about the film.) Being from France, I suppose I am obliged to say that I am glad that a non-Hollywood movie has captured America's attention -- in Seattle, where I was living last year, the movie played for 6 months at the same movie theater. It is ultimately a romantic dramedy -- not wholly comedic, because it is also profoundly touching (the type of movie people say changed their life, even when it probably didn't). Audrey Tautou is a soon-to-be-legend in France, but let's not forget Mathieu Kassovitz, who's character is also fabulous. Tautou is wide-eyed, mysterious, and coquette. Kassovitz plays his role in a subdued manner that makes the romance between the two all the more wonderfully serendipitous.
Rating:
Summary: Such a Great Movie!
Review: I've just seen this movie last night, and I would like to say
three things about this movie Amelie. 1. It made me reflect on communication and unique ways of
expressing oneself. 2. It made me reflect on "instant" culture. Instant food,
last minute phone calls, one night stand type of instant
relationship and so on. This movie is like the 180 on the
Instant Culture. 3. Not a Money Will Solve All the Production Problems attitude.
So much care has gone into the sets and costumes. As you can
expect from French peeps, it's about Styles. Amazing visual stimulation. I could have gone on and on, but it's just better to see it for yourself! =o)
Rating:
Summary: Amelie
Review: ...strange hobbies of all the characters in the movies. it's interesting when U see something you definite will miss or ignor in your daily life, but the director will show you in a different perspective. i liked Audrey Tautou, she's so sweet & smart and full of energy. she always like put her hand into a beans bag, collect small piece of rock, a naughty daughter, daydream in her own world, draw arrows on the ground to get her dream man's attention... the special effects are so "to the point". love the execution, the characters, the art direction, every little moment of this movie. the director tells you a sweet sweet love story in a different way. don't miss it.
Rating:
Summary: Restores My Faith in Humanity
Review: We live in cynical, ironic and jaded times. I really believe if enough people saw this, that would change. I can guarantee that you will not walk out of this movie looking at anything the same way. This movie is truly refreshing and SHE WILL change your life.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful
Review: This is really the movie of the year: unique, wonderful story, great actors - perfect. U will feel better afterwards! And u want to see it again; a blockbuster in Europe!
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