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Simply Perfect

Pretty Good

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

With an inherently traditional, however nearly perfectly executed plot, and a visual style that justly deserves the attributes "fantastic" and "mythical", Strings is a very singular experience. Be it the dark, allegorical story, the fleshed-out characters or the technical sophistication, the movie is a necessary viewing for fans of fantasy and animation movies.Overall 7/10 My full review here: https://goo.gl/6uzPyr

In a world of marionettes- the king of a great kingdom writes to his son, giving him the throne, asking him to find peace with their mortal enemies and warning against the evil of the king's brother. The king then commits suicide by cutting his head string. Unfortunately the king's act was discovered by his evil brother and the suicide is rearranged as a murder, the perpetrator members of the very enemy the king had wanted to find peace with. The Brother then sets in motion a vile plan to kill his nephew and seize the throne for himself.So begins one of the most unique films I've ever seen. Sure there have been puppet films before, but none that I've seen that have ever embraced their limitations so well that they turn them into an asset. Yes you see the strings, actually the strings are even more noticeable then they would be in a real live puppet show (and yes the characters are very aware that they have strings). The reasoning is two fold, first it creates a wonderful visual motif at times with shots using the strings to create beautiful images such as emphasizing a rain storm or the bars of a prison. The strings also are used symbolically to allude to how we are all connected, how we are often on a leash and how there may be forces (god/puppeteers) above us. Its amazing.The best thing is that it's a great story. This is grand fantasy or grand adventure of the highest order. What happens is very human as we are forced to confront what we are told is the truth which often turns out not to be the case. It's a story of greed and hope, how your worst enemy can be your best friend, and how the sins of the fathers need not be visited on the sons. There is real pain and real danger. If this were a novel it would be a classic of the genre. Trust me I sat on the floor of my living room doing some sorting, totally and completely enraptured by what was going on because even when I wasn't looking up I was listening to a well acted (Derek Jacobi as the villain) and fantastically written story. It's the type of tale you'd curl up with on a cold winter's night before going to bed.Yea, I liked the film.If you want to see a great adventure, a great story, see this movie. Please don not let the fact that its marionettes keep you from seeing it. This is not for kids, or rather too small ones, since there is death and darkness, and a plot that maybe hard for them to follow. It's a kick in the head and there's a chance, at the end that maybe it will even cause a tear to run down your cheek.See it if you get the chance.

Why? Just Why? This is the worst film I have ever seen. To put this in context, earlier in the same week I sat through Doom. Nothing has been better for The Rock's reputation as a serious actor.The plot...no, I can't even begin. Just WHY?OK, I'm a few lines short. . Either the script writer or its translator should be hunted down. I went to see this on the basis that puppet films are an oddity, and may bring something interesting to the cinema. About half way through, realisation finally battered its way through my numbed brain that this was just a bad film with puppets as a gimmick to gain funding. Half the time the strings are referred to, the rest they are conveniently forgotten. I mean, how do you hide BENEATH people when you have strings attached to your head at one end and heaven at the other? And the pseudo-religious element would make even George Lucas curl into a ball and vomit in disgust. If you want to see good puppetry, watch Being John Malkovich. And remember, "I promised to use this hand for Good!" "YAAAY!"

I hadn't heard anything about this (Danish!) movie until a friend brought over a DVD he'd ordered from Thailand, of all places! (Available from www.ethaicd.com.) Four of us watched it and agreed that it was interesting, unique and original, but also rather dull. The story is a stereotypical (but very decent) fantasy fairy-tale, with the very interesting added element of the "stringed puppet reality". It worked very well, with a quite serious and emotional story a bit reminiscent of Gormenghast - all immensely well produced. But it wasn't engaging enough to maintain that much enthusiasm in the viewer. It was a bit too dark to be for children, and somewhat too, I dunno, uninvolving to be for grown-ups. I appreciate it as an honest, very competently produced fantasy movie with a detailed and good-looking but also quite crude and limited universe.I do think it would be more engaging on the big screen than on a TV screen, because I was slightly bored through much of it. Granted, I was a bit tired when we watched it, and this is not a movie one should watch while tired. But it was a very interesting experience.7 out of 10.