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'Leap' falls short of animated hope
Whats in with Justin
leap
One of the main characters invents wings that he and his love interest later use to fly to safety. - photo by Studio photo

"Leap!" is a late summer entry that doesn’t provide anything really memorable for its 89-minute runtime. Instead, it follows a trend of animated movies that have 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 can’t say about a lot of other second-rate animated films. Some of the music incorporated in the film is quite catchy, but many scenes leave us feeling with a "been there, done that" quality. And the climax feels clunky and slapped together without any kind of purpose.

If you love yet another movie to show your kids 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.

Hall is a syndicated columnist in South Georgia.

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