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Phantom Boy Reviews

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Summary Leo has a secret. A mysterious illness has transformed him into a phantom boy, able to leave the confines of his body and explore the city as a ghostly apparition. While in the hospital, he befriends Alex, a New York City cop injured while attempting to capture a nefarious gangster who has taken control of the city’s power supply, throwi...

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With its vibrant colors muted for a NYC noir aesthetic and every 2D field shaded by roughly textured shadows in constant motion, the frames literally flicker off the screen to leave a lasting impression.

Like other recent French cartoons — ranging from Persopolis to the Kirikou series — this one manages to maintain something personal within a broadly appealing framework: it doesn’t shy away from the dark side of life, and in the end, even allows us to enjoy it.

Phantom Boy has a cute, comic-book vibe to it, a visually pleasing style and a fast pace. It’s fun, for sure.

Felicioli and Gagnol's latest may be trying to do a few too many things at once, given its short length and genial aims. But it's still something distinctive and different in a sea of shiny mirrors, all reflecting the same slick CGI style back at each other.

Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol's superhero story Phantom Boy is no April and the Extraordinary World — but still fine for what it is.

Phantom Boy is frequently beautiful to look at, but the cops-and-robbers angle feels tired and the characters are thinly sketched.

Notably, Phantom Boy treads territory that’s similar to much of Hayao Miyazaki’s work, with a main character seeking the otherworldly in the face of a terrible reality. Missing, though, is the narrative and emotional cohesiveness that would likely have led to Felicioli and Gagnol’s film being a more engaging and memorable work

The supernatural 'eye in the sky'. From the directors of 'A Cat in Paris', but this film set in New York City that narrates the story of a boy with an extraordinary power. If you had liked that film, you probably would like it as well, but a little lesser. Except this is not about the art of theft, but a cop trying to catch a most dangerous criminal. It is so weird to see the New York turned into kind of a province of France as everybody in this speak French, but expected it as it's a French film. A very interesting storyline. The characters were well designed and developed. But most of the film was focused on the boy, the cop and the main villain with a dog's perspective. There's a little part of a reporter as well. So I think it should have been called 'A Dog in New York', but the dog is on the wrong side where the most of the story was narrated from. The theme was not fresh, but the way they used to tell the tale makes all the difference. I mean you can compare it to 'If I Stay' kind of plenty of other films. Except it turned into a crime-thriller. A young boy named Leo, who is hospitalised for the serious illness, has a special power to leave his body and take an invisible form, and come back again safely within some time frame. On the other side an honest cop trying to hunt down a criminal who is threatening the peace of the city gets a backlash after met with an accident. Now the cop and the boy join the hands to thwart the villain's latest attempt to bring disruption. The mission was not planned well, so how they fight the crime and its result brings to an end to the film. "I'm not hungry. It's a shame because my dad's pasta is the best in the world." This is a PG film, that means it's aimed for all the ages. But particularly for the grown ups, there's nothing much to enjoy other than cool presentation. That does not mean for all the grown ups. The sketches and the animation technics were same as the previous film. They tried to reach bigger audience worldwide from the success of their previous film, but seems not achieved that goal. As the film had many great features like the characters and the story, they have fallen short to surpass as an overall film. Even anytime I would pick 'A Cat in Paris' over this, but that does not make this one's a bad film. It kind of looks like the supernatural version of 'Eye in the Sky'. I'm not talking about the actual film, but the concept of drones to watch over the criminal activity. In here the boy acts as the main communication device. He who one day wants to be a cop, helps to solve the crime. I think the end should have been a little better. Especially from the boy's perspective about how his tale ends were very intentional. Perhaps a bit of emotions at the end would have given a better result. I advertise the 2D animations too much on my blog whenever I review them, because they are rapidly fading away art. So my big thanks to those production houses and the filmmakers who still believe in it. If you are an animation film fan, you will enjoy it, no matter you loved it or not at the end. In a simple way to say, it is a fine film for the families with kids aged ten or under. It might look like a typical detective film, but entertaining with a few good moments. So check it out if you get a chance to access it. 7/10

Production Company Folimage, Lunanime, France 3 Cinéma, Canal+, Ciné+, France Télévisions, Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC), Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds, Screen Flanders, Vlaams Agentschap Ondernemen (VLAO), Flanders in Action, Tax Shelter du Gouvernement Fédéral Belge, Région Rhône-Alpes, Ciclic - Région Centre, Département de la Drôme

Release Date Jul 15, 2016

Duration 1 h 24 m

Rating PG

Tagline My name is Leo and I have a secret

Seattle International Film Festival