Coming out in the shadow of the highly feted The Prestige, The Illusionist is the family friendly, chick flick, incarnation of the period magical mystery tale. It is almost impossible to comment on the latter without making comparisons to the dark and brutal former.Both star leading actors of their generation - Christian Bale in The Prestige and Edward Norton here - paired with beautiful leading ladies (Scarlett Johansson in the latter and Jessica 'Blade 3, Texas Chainsaw Massacre' Biel) in period tales of feuding illusionists.
The Illusionist, however, pits Norton's Eisenheim against Austria's Crown Prince Leopold and his secret police, in a duel of wits for the affections of Eisenstein's childhood sweetheart, Duchess Sophie von Teschen (Biel).
Rufus Sewell is wonderfully sinister as the Crown Prince and Paul Giamatti is the perfect foil for the clever Eisenstein as the hardworking Chief Inspector charged, by the Prince, with bringing the illusionist down.
The romance between Eisenstein and the Duchess is charming and believable. And while the central murder mystery is smart and sassy, with lots of magical flourishes, it's far more pedestrian and not so 'mind-boggling' as The Prestige.
A hurried sequence in the final gasps of the movie explains much, but an awful lot is still left hanging. With The Prestige, there is no doubt how the various shenanigans were pulled off by the time the credits roll, but The Illusionist uses much of its smoke and mirrors to make us forget that it's not telling us everything ... which some people may prefer!
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