Strings (2005)

I picked up this movie for the sole reason that James McAvoy (swoon) provides the voice of marionette-on-a-mission Hal.

Unlike other puppet movies, this one takes itself completely seriously. The characters' acknowledge their strings as the source of their life: if their head string is severed, they can no longer live; if a lesser string is cut, as we see when Hal's hand string is sliced during combat practice, the hand is no longer connected to the "source of all life" and is, therefore, dead. No worries though when incarcerated slaves are on hand to be used for parts.

The photography is beautiful and the puppets are stunning -- but they're still puppets and I could never embrace that in the way that I was clearly meant to. Even in the hands of masters, marionettes walking still looks like bouncing or very careful marching. When one puppet couple was gearing up for sex, I could only think of the resulting tangle, which I'm sure would be far more embarrassing than the "hooked braces" threat that scared me away from any silver-smiled potential suitor for two high school years.

An impressive, but unsuccessful, attempt at an interesting idea.

C+