The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Despite its somewhat clichéd and predictable storyline, Ballerina ­– also known as Leap – is an amiable and an effective French-Canadian animated production which, through the use of its whimsical imagery and infectious energy of its characters, manages to offer some interesting and thoroughly entertaining observations about what it takes to achieve your dreams.

The story is set in 1879 and it is centred on Felicie Milliner (voiced by Fanning); a red-haired orphan living in a small French town who, ever since she could remember, has dreamed of one day making her escape to Paris and becoming a world famous ballerina. Her companion and best-friend, Victor (DeHaan) – a boy who harbours big dreams of becoming a famous inventor one day – understands her and soon accompanies her on a daring escape to the City of Lights.

Making their way into the capital, the two orphans are quick to find their way around with Victor landing a job as an assistant to Gustave Eiffel – an architect who is currently working on erecting the soon-to-be landmark of Paris – while Felicie manages to find her way into taking lessons at the Grand Opera House by preteding to be someone else. Working under a careful and often rigorous guidance from cleaner, and former dancer, Odette (Jepsen), Felicie is hoping to land a role in the upcoming production of The Nutcracker. However, she will need to work hard to improve her dancing skills whilst at the same time, trying to avoid being found out.

Aimed primarily at a young audience, Ballerina is one visually-enticing and colourful treat with the production managing to capture 19th century Paris with great energy and detail. Capturing the essence of dance, ballet in particular, is not always an easy thing to do, especially for an animated feature, but Ballerina manages to do just that. Translating the elegance and grace of ballet with plenty of confidence, the attention to the technical details is stupendous and the end-result is effective and realistic in many ways. However, problems arise with the musical score – a mismatched compilation of contemporary music and pop tunes – which don’t really bring anything to the story as perhaps a classical symphony would. 

In terms of story, the script is relatively simple and straightforward, though its lack of build-up in the beginning does pose as a slight setback; we never really get to know much about their life at the orphanage. Even so, Ballerina is still an enjoyable animated feature which successfully addresses the message of dreams and the hard work it takes in order to achieve them.