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Ballerina

✭ ✭   Read critic reviews

France, Canada · 2016
1h 29m
Director Eric Summer, Éric Warin
Starring Elle Fanning, Dane DeHaan, Carly Rae Jepsen, Maddie Ziegler
Genre Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family

Paris, 1879: An orphan girl who dreams of becoming a ballerina flees her rural Brittany to head to the big city. Once there, she pretends to be somebody else, and finagles her way into the position of a student at the Grand Opera house. This is a charming, peppy, heartwarming film about following your heart.

Stream Ballerina

What are people saying?

What are critics saying?

63

Washington Post by

Anyone who’s ever dreamed of tutus, tights and toe shoes will likely get a kick out of Leap!

60

Variety by Guy Lodge

An unabashed wish-fulfilment fantasy that sweetly checks off every conceivable follow-your-heart cliché.

42

The A.V. Club by Jesse Hassenger

Rather than inspiring some kind of connection between disparate eras, Leap! uses pop music as a quick fix for kids who might be bored by ballet or orphans.

40

New York Daily News by Joe Dziemianowicz

All three screenwriters either forgot or didn’t care that their heroine is 11. Even worse is when Félicie ends up dancing on tables in a bar — as in, a bar — “Coyote Ugly”-style. What? It’s not easy to take a message about taking leaps of faith from a movie that too often has two left feet.

57

IGN by Josh Lasser

As heartwarming as the story in Leap! can sometimes be, and as strong as the relationship is between Félicie and Odette, her actions can make it difficult to cheer for her as wholeheartedly as the film intends.

50

Slant Magazine by Keith Watson

The film’s careful attention to detail in the animation is continuously undermined by a formulaic plot and anxious pandering to contemporary sensibilities.

50

Movie Nation by Roger Moore

It’s not a leap to call “Leap!” perfectly watchable, if entirely too dull for the very young — especially the hyper-active.

50

Boston Globe by Tom Russo

As an orphan who dreams of joining the Paris Opera Ballet in the animated feature Leap!, Elle Fanning really hears it about the artistry and precision required to become a prima ballerina. The makers of this cheery but subpar confection probably should have been taking notes in addition to scripting them.

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