Not going to bite you, was thinking along those lines. Although "Antz" and "A Bug's Life" came to mind

Fair enough. I never saw "A Bug's Life" so I couldn't make the comparision.

The movie didn't do quite as well as I thought it would at the box office this weekend...makes me think that people were not as impressed with it?!

I don't think it's in wide release yet. I had to go to the local indie theater to see it. Either way though, word of mouth has been warm at best, especially with the big budget Prestige getting pushed heavily.

I liked it pretty well, although I don't think they needed to explain things quite so much at the end--I may be slow but I'm not a complete idiot.

Actually it did incredibly well considering the number of theaters it was in. It was the #1 per-theater grossing movie in the top 10.

Word of mouth has been great. From boxofficemojo:

Labor Day weekend's most impressive gross, though, ranked fifth. Proving to be a late summer sleeper, The Illusionist summoned an estimated $8 million at 971 venues over the extended weekend, its first nationwide. Like Little Miss Sunshine, the $16 million period drama has maintained a high per theater average with each expansion, suggesting broad appeal and strong word-of-mouth, and, with a $12.1 million gross in 17 days, it has already exceeded the rosiest of expectations prior to opening.

Ohh...I thought this weekend was the wide release since they had mentioned it in the BO numbers, which I thought they only did with wide releases. But this would make more sense to me. Thanks!

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/illusionist/

Right at 75%, which is warm. Heck, even in this thread it's up and down.

Well, as we all know, that's just the critics. And "The Illusionist" also got an 88% cream of the crop on rottentomatoes. I believe the strong word of mouth they are referring to is from the actual movie goers. Who also gave it a B+ on boxofficemojo (so far), and it's currently at 7.6/10 on IMDB.

Except, unlike "Little Miss Sunshine", expect this movie to be blown out of the water when "The Prestige" opens.

Everyone's expecting so much of The Prestige, I can't help but think there's going to be a lot of disappointed viewers.

Hype kills. That said, by the time it comes out in late October, The Illusionist will already be on it's last legs in theaters.

I missed the User ratings on RT. I think the movie deserves some praise. I'll tell that at this moment, if you want a drama, it's the best out right now.

I also agree that the hype machine for the Prestige is probably jading some viewers.

The Illusionist is like David Blaine
The Prestige is like David Copperfield

I prefer David Blaine...

You've seen The Prestige? Neat, wanna give a review?

Rich, sorry I haven't seen The Prestige yet..i was just adding another comparison to the deep impact/armgeddon, bug's life/antz conversation...

Will you people stop comparing Christopher Nolan to David Copperfield and Michael Bay? You're giving me a heart attack.

Maybe the Dark Knight will be the Island meets Armaggedon.

Good one.

OK, we all know "The Prestige" is going to kick ass. I just wish people would stop comparing it to "The Illusionist". Or having it compete against it. I loved "The Illusionist". And I'm sure I'll feel the same about "The Prestige". It's a win/win situation for me

Thanks for the info. I did not realize that there is a difference between what is on the filmstrip and what is projected on the screen.

Unfortunately, they are both movies dealing substantially with magic, thus lending themselves to easy comparisons.

I thought the film had too ho-hum of a pace to it (plus I also guessed the outcome early in the film). The energy level was too understated, with the exception of Rufus Sewell, who's a royal bastiche with no redeemable qualities. Norton is good, but understated as the Illusionist. Biel is not as vacant as she typically is, given her past film credits, and actually connects with Norton in their scenes. Giamatti does his darnedest to be convincing in a role that ultimately undermines his character, but purposefully so. The minor nitpicks have to do with some of the illusional cheats for the film's time period that lower the plausibility of the illusions. It's definitely worth a matinee viewing if you are a fan of actors involved in the film.

I give it 2.75 stars, or a grade of B-.

i disagree, i liked norton understanded-ness. made him seem more real to me. he wanted to make a living by doing what he loved and he did that, IMO. Biel wasn't bad and did connect with Norton as you said. i also like giamatti as the cheif inspector and how his character changed throughout the movie.

overall, i really liked it and can't wait to pick it up on dvd. also makes me really excited for the prestige!

I saw this last night, and I really enjoyed it. I'd read some great reviews beforehand on Rottentomatoes.com, and some bad ones by DVDTalk staff, so I wasn't sure how I'd like it. It really delivered for me, and I'll be getting the DVD when it comes out - for sure.

One of the few times I enjoyed a movie knowing full well how it was going to end (were they seriously thinking people wouldn't figure this out?). Entertaining.... no more, no less.