Economy Size Geek

Strings (2004)

If you thought this was going to be able String theory - you’d be wrong. If you thought it was going to be about marionettes - you’d be right - for a change.

What can I say - I saw an ad for this in the most recent mailer from my Sci-Fi book club. I checked netflix and they had it - so I felt compelled to check it out.

I have to admit the last thing I saw that had puppets in it was Thunderbirds - and that was a very long time ago - like 5th grade. Enough of my justification - and on to the review.

One of the most interesting things about the movie was that the characters acknowledged that they had strings attached. A lot of the nicer touches in the movie actually deal with the mythology surrounding their strings.

One of the most beautiful scenes involves the birth of a new baby. The commander of the guards carved his new child out of a fresh tree. By the time his wife is ready to give birth she is in prison. The birth is very poetic and beautiful to watch. Smaller gossamer strings unravel from the mother’s strings and have to be quickly joined to the wooden baby to bring him to life.

The film is a joy to watch just because it really is so beautiful. The story isn’t too bad. It has some elements of predicitability but there are a few suprises so I won’t hold it against them.

The acting is actually pretty amazing. You would think that since the puppets don’t get to have facial expressions it would end up being rather dull - but between the editing and the voice acting they are really able to pull it off.

Acutally, the editing is probably my only complaint. They do a lot of quick cuts - which sometimes does the right thing and amps up the excitment. Other times it just makes it difficult to figure out what is actually going on.

Warning - the film involves some violence and the king commits suicide in the first 5 minutes of the movie. There is no blood but depending on how you feel about that sort of thing be prepared if you watch it with kids.

Bottom Line: Let the kid in out to watch a movie that is like nothing else I’ve seen this year. Just cut it some slack - they’re puppets after all :)