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The Inventor

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The Inventor

Name: The Inventor
Director: Jim Capobianco
Genre: Adventure, Animation, Family, Comedy, Children's
Released: 2023
Duration: 1 h 39 min
Cast: Stephen Fry, Marion Cotillard, Daisy Ridley, Matt Berry, Gauthier Battoue

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Adventure
Animation

2023
Jim Capobianco
99 mins
PG

Summary

Animated historical adventure featuring the voices of Stephen Fry and Marion Cotillard. In 16th-century Rome, Leonardo da Vinci's scientific experiments upset the pope, and he finds himself in exile, heading to the court of France's Francis I. Once installed in France, however, Da Vinci finds himself with plenty of opportunities to continue his controversial work...

IMDB

Review

A star rating of 3 out of 5.

Terry Staunton

The last few years in the life of Leonardo da Vinci are recounted through a mix of stop motion and more traditional 2D animation in this fact-filled adventure with a healthy dose of humour. The Renaissance painter, engineer and all-round genius falls foul of the Papal Court in Italy when his probing into the human condition contradicts religious teachings, so he escapes to France to build an "Ideal City" for the monarchy. As the metropolis begins to take shape, he also performs clandestine experiments on cadavers, in his ongoing search for the soul. The boffin-like tones of Stephen Fry are perfect for Da Vinci, heading a high-calibre voice cast that includes Daisy Ridley, Marion Cotillard and Matt Berry (whose Pope Leo X is cut from the same cloth as the oddball company boss he played in TV's The IT Crowd). There's a charming old-school element to the animation, the character design reminiscent of vintage Magic Roundabout, but the history lesson aspects of the narrative are perhaps a little too advanced for younger viewers.

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5.8/10