VIFF '10 Review: 'Ugly Duckling' An Uninspired Rehash Of A Dated Fairy Tale

What a pleasure it is to see stop motion animation coming back into favor. Yes, we love computer-animated films (at least when done right, typically by Pixar) and all the slick images the medium allows. But often something is lost with all those digital ones and zeros. Something old-school cell animation and the tactile, painstaking process of stop motion can only provide. There's a charm to looking up at the screen and knowing the characters and sets really exist, and have to be manipulated to create emotion and movement. It's a representation of cinema in its purest form; they are, after all, called motion pictures for a reason.

Having said that, and being a huge fan of this again-burgeoning art form (thanks in part to Wes Anderson's wonderful "Fantastic Mr. Fox" from last year), it pains this writer to report back on the utter unremarkableness of the French and Russian co-production "The Ugly Duckling." The film, which adheres closely, too closely we'd argue, to the original fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, is directed by Garri Bardin. It's getting a fairly big push here at VIFF, listed as a special presentation, but it's simply not deserving.

One of the main issues with the film is its faithfulness to the source material, a fairy tale that, after going through the beats again for the first time since I was very young, is kind of...stupid. Its moral and narrative thrust is too dated -- too simple -- for today's world. You no doubt remember the story: duck is born amongst a bunch of other birds in a community (here it's a fenced in bird-town on a hill), he looks nothing like the others, is repeatedly picked on despite his unwavering love for his faux family (the egg is found outside of the town walls by a rooster), and is subsequently ostracized. Many times!

The story is a metaphor for inner beauty, and how there's something pretty in all of us. OK, fine. But it's more so about fear and insulation. After the titular duck is kicked out of town the first time, he naturally is scared of the outside world, as most of us are initially when presented with something new. Several times, the duckling learns how dangerous it is out there. One of the things this film gets right is its sense of danger, and it doesn't skimp on the truth of a bird's existence -- such as being shot by hunters -- which is good and rare for a kids film. But instead of learning from these experiences, the damn duck can only think to run back home to the colossal assholes who gave him the boot already.

When the duckling gets a glimpse of beautiful, exciting new things in the outside world -- he longs to join the flying 'V' of swans in the sky -- it motivates him to learn to fly, but only so that in the end he can essentially point the finger back at his old town; a sort-of nah-nah-na-nah-nah back at them. This is infantile stuff, but children (there were many at the screening) would be better served if the story took a turn towards a more mature decision. Wouldn't the better ending be that the ugly duckling, now grown into a beautiful swan, simply moves on with his new family, aware of the larger picture and grander world out there, thus ultimately forgetting the horrible place he grew up? Nope, instead we're supposed to cheer when he one-ups his old community. It's the equivalent of the high school nerd, constantly picked on for being different, who grows up to be a huge success, but can only think to come back to the high school reunion to shove all that in the face of his hateful peers. By then, shouldn't you have moved on to bigger and better things? Is this the kind of lesson kids should learn?

Other analogies come to mind, and put my frustrations into context: as a racial parable, it's severely flawed. Would a black man, growing up in '40s America in a small town where he's the only person of color and is hated because of it, long to come back to that place, even after being humiliated, physically hurt and eventually banished? I don't think so, unless he was a moron. I would rather see this character become a stronger, better person than those in his former community, and learn that there's a place for everyone in this world, but some just have to look longer and harder for it. This metaphor could work for a gay character as well, but is really universal.

I fear kids watching this film will come away with a muddled interpretation of the above. Yes, the film does show the community to be wrong and hateful, and children need to learn acceptance of others. But that's undermined by a misguided, hooray(!) ending. However, there are some positives to glean from "The Ugly Duckling." The animation, though a bit more crude than 'Fantastic Mr. Fox," is beautiful, as are some of the stylish camera moves (one where it swoops around from the outside of a barn to the inside in one fluid turn is especially nifty).

But most of those positives are merely minor things of interest. They are few and far between, unfortunately. The film works best when its French-ness is overt (a worm throughout the film hilariously screams of this terrible world, wondering why he must suffer all the time), and when it allows the images to tell the story. There are long stretches without any dialogue, but children shouldn't find it confusing at all. It's clear what's going on. No need for useless chatter or exposition. The songs (often repeated through the film) are something awful. The duckling sings about his loneliness, making sure no one missed what just happened with lyrics like: "Woe is me" and "I'm all alone now."

Kids aren't stupid, they don't need to be coddled. The pictures say it all, the songs are just filler for people not willing or unable to engage in the film. Having grown up in a house where my mother ran a daycare (and still does), with sometimes 10 young children running around, I know that kids understand pictures and animation very well. They can follow this story. There is another film in the vein of "The Ugly Duckling," which rights every wrong I've laid out in this review. It's one you should seek out instead of this: the 2006 Oscar-winner (for animated short film) "Peter and the Wolf" directed by Suzie Templeton. It's available on Netflix Watch Instant right now. Or check it out here (sorry no embed code). [C-]