Leap [Blu-ray]

DVD Wholesale Quick Overview:

Leap! for me, was a gambled watch. I never heard of it (or if I did, I forgot) until I randomly spotted it in the Amazon store looking for music/ballet themed films. It looked pretty enough, so why not? When it finally arrived, I was very surprised at how much I did enjoy it. From the setting to even the story itself.

[NO SPOILERS]

Content Notes for Parents: Absolutely nothing really offensive in terms of sex, violence, and crude language.

Canadian/US note: Something needs to be made clear, though to avoid confusion. Leap! is actually the USA repackaging of the French/Canadian “Balerina” film. Are there any differences? Well, I have only seen the American version, so I can’t personally speak on that. But, I did do some reading up on the issue about the “Americanizing” of the film. On the one hand, you have one camp that condemn it profusely and paint this as a total travesty. On the other hand, you have the other side that has seen both and say that the Americanizing only changed 3 or 4 lines, plus added depth to otherwise minor (and miniscule) characters (including the Mom…witch adds to the main protagonist’s depth by extension). The very last line of the film was also very much seen as a huge improvement. Still, the key difference, though is that the American version does change some of the dubbing cast. So, go ahead and take this information as you will, and I hope it helps you make a more informed decision.

My thoughts:
The thing about this film is, if you are looking for something “unique”, then you won’t find it here. This is another perseverance/follow-your–dream kind of film. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, the story flows well and was rather enjoyable. The pace was fast, but satisfying…and I did find myself enjoying the characters in general. The visuals are simply stunning as well. I generally loved the song choices, too. They used a mix of classical, but also some pop based songs. Concerning the pop, I do appreciate that the majority of it was focused on the softer and more “wintry” kind of sound rather than completely going down the “true-pop” sound. It helped to keep the atmosphere consistent while putting out attractive songs for a younger audience (though older folks can appreciate it, too). It was just the last song (the seque to the credits one) that wasn’t to my taste in terms of flow.

Themes: I already alluded to the perseverance/dreams theme. However, digging a little more, I really enjoyed that it didn’t follow a completely straight path about it. It raised several issues about the performing arts world…especially the aspect of identity which serves as the foundation of the whole film. Through out the whole film, she says she wants to be a dancer because that is “her dream”. But in the end, that reason was not, in fact, a true reason that lasts. Any musician, dancer, etc that has been at their craft for a fair amount of time. knows this simple truth…that it takes something much deeper than an “it’s-my-dream” reason to build something sincerely beautiful.

All in All:
This film will be staying in my collection and I’m sure I’ll be watching it many times when I need an inspiring pick me up. Solid story, enjoyable characters, and a surprisingly good exploration on the arts…especially considering this was intended for those of a younger audience. The extras, are neat as well, and I love that they utilized some of the leading ballerina’s as reference points in building the animation and telling the story.

– Hope this helps

I have three young daughters, all of which want to be dancers. This movie gets 5 stars from them. The animation is very good and the main character is absolutely adorable.

As an adult, I will say the movie was very enjoyable. A lot was total fantastical ridiculousness, some bad plot, some unexplained things but if you just ignore some of that and focus on the fun, it was mostly just a sweet movie.

There is definitely a bit of the “if you just have heart, you too can master a skill that takes years and years of dedication and practice in just a few short days” lesson, but I don’t care. There is no hidden message. Nothing political. Just a movie about a sweet little girl that wants to become a dancer in Paris. I’m sure I’m going to be forced to watch it 25 more times.

-Christian M.

The story idea is your basic underdog makes it big. The concept was good, and the animation was actually pretty well done (though there are several parts where the dialog was just dubbed over the French lip motion so not all the words match the face, but in the important parts, they did make the change to English word mouthing. ) there were a lot of characters underdeveloped, and Victor seemed a little too ridiculous except for a couple of moments in the beginning and toward the end. The evil mother was extremely underdeveloped, with no backstory at all to give her actions any meaning, so at the end when she’s chasing the main character, it just seems very forced. And the cute love story between the former dancer and the ballet director could have been a saving grace, but again, just not developed. On the plus side, my little girls really don’t care about all that. They love the fun music and the dancing, and twirl along as they watch. And since it’s really for them, that’s good enough for me.

-Sara Wright

DVD Wholesale Main Features:

Actors: Elle Fanning, Nat Wolff, Maddie Ziegler, Mel Brooks, Carly Rae Jepsen
Directors: Eric Summer, Eric Warin
Format: AC-3, Color, DTS Surround Sound, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Language: English
Region: Region A/1
Number of discs: 2
Rated: PG Parental Guidance Suggested
Studio: LIONSGATE
DVD Release Date: November 21, 2017
Run Time: 89 minutes
ASIN: B075FLJ8HL