Vincent Wong

A visual delight, the magical steampunk production design is a spectacle to behold (in fact I’m totally in love with the sets, gadgets, marionette-inspired storytelling, and the costumes). The cast is strong, characters compelling, and the musical numbers by John Legend are memorable and catchy. The choreography has an energy not seen since The Greatest Showman, and the entire film has a sense of whimsy like the greatest moments of Doctor Who. The robot in the film is a little campy, almost a caricature of Disney’s WALL-E, but that’s probably okay for a kid’s movie. The background characters such as the dance trio are hilarious. The entire thing has shades of something deeper, with elements of The Tempest’s Prospero, Miranda, and Caliban, with the simplest of messages: having confidence in oneself to make the impossible possible.