Leap! is a late summer entry that doesn’t provide anything really memorable for its 89 minute run time. Instead, it follows a trend of animated movies that has only mediocre animation, uninteresting voiceover work and a story that is harmless and predictable from beginning to end.
It features the voices of Elle Fanning and Dane DeHaan as two orphans in the 1880s who want to escape their dull and depressing life and head off to Paris to fulfill their dreams. Fanning voices Felicie, a hopeful ballerina and DeHann is Victor, an aspiring inventor. They manage to escape the orphanage they live in and make it to Paris, but their welcome is anything but that.
Felicie stumbles upon a school for ballerinas and tries desperately to showcase her talent and passion, but her trainers won’t make it easy on her especially since one new recruit is cut every day. As for Victor, he keeps coming up with crazy new inventions such as wings to fly which will no doubt come in handy later.
There isn’t a whole lot to say about Leap! that you won’t see or find in a lot of other second-rate animated films. Some of the music incorporated in the film is quite catchy, but other scenes leave us feeling with a “been there, done that” quality and the climax of the film feels clunky and slapped together without any kind of purpose.
If you love yet another movie to show your kids on how to never give up on their dreams, then this is the movie for you. Personally, if I want a film that tells me to reach for the stars with my dreams, I’ll go watch La La Land again.
This is a late summer entry that will be amazing if anyone remembers it’s still playing in theaters by its second weekend.
Grade: C
(Rated PG for some impolite humor and action.)
