The Congress, 2013 Ari Folman
By Ali Tenenbaum
Robin Wright plays herself(ish) in this hybrid animated/live action scifi movie. She’s an aging actress who agrees to sell her digital identity in order to remain forever young. Classic Hollywood tale: great concept, not-so-great execution.
Ms. Wright playing a semi-fictional version of herself is unnecessarily confusing. Her autistic kite-flying son's character is undeveloped and one-dimensional. The dialogue is stilted in an attempt to be scifi-esque, and the hyperbolic lament on the future of Hollywood is cliché. On the plus side, the idea is very cool and yes please continue to make animated films that appeal to adults! But directors and writers please work on fleshing out a story, and work on your pacing too because it was kind of boring - which is CRAZY for a movie this creative and original.
Grandma could watch it, if she was on a date with a teenage grandchild who might like it (but may also be texting in slow moments).
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