Loving Vincent (2017)

The critic calls the film an awe-inspiring portrait and the world's first fully painted feature film, praising how it pulls audiences into van Gogh's hyper-sensual world through hand-painted frames. The sensitivity shown toward the artist's complex character is singled out for praise.

The critic highlights the film's innovative approach of animating van Gogh's paintings into a hypnotic biopic framed by two speculative what-ifs about his life and death. The labor-intensive transformation of static art into a beguiling cartoon is singled out for praise.

The critic notes the film's speculative detective-story framing of van Gogh's death but emphasizes that its inspired visual approach, using thousands of oil-painted frames, is what truly brings the artist to life. The hand-painted animation technique is singled out for praise.

The film is a triumph of technical prowess and stunning visuals over storytelling and dialogue, offering a glimpse of life through different eyes as one of the most beautiful films of 2017. The detective story element is the weakest, lacking energy despite ambitious stitching of van Gogh paintings into the narrative.

The distinctive oil-painted animation has strong visual impact and dynamism that captures Van Gogh's style, making it a potential art-house draw. The narrative investigation is secondary and contrived, with the style risking a corny knock-off feel for some viewers.

The production techniques and distinctive look are more striking than the story, with a somewhat laboured narrative exploring the nature of Van Gogh's death. The animation is a mercurial wonder and mercurial vision in the golds, ochres and cornflower blues that sing of the artist’s most famous work, with sequences of extraordinary beauty.

The result is an indecently rich and visually sumptuous viewing experience that animates some of Van Gogh’s most famous paintings. The narrative is only mildly interesting, as the postmaster’s son investigates Van Gogh’s death, but it hardly matters – just watch and enjoy the visuals.

The critic praises the mesmerizing visual style achieved through 65,000 hand-painted frames but finds the murder-mystery plot stiff and derivative. The ambition and dedication behind the animation technique are singled out for praise.

It is a peerless labour of love with inspired integration of Van Gogh canvases into the action. The biography is unreliable, the technique clashes with the artist's style, and the charm begins to pall.

It is a reverent ode to Van Gogh and a real one-off visual experiment with strong technical prowess. The plodding procedural narrative and bland lead performance limit its impact beyond the imagery.

The critic finds it a curious artistic experiment that amounts to little more than that in this so-so Vincent Van Gogh biopic. The hand-painted animation is impressive but the sensationalist mystery structure and lack of insight into the artist are faults.

The critic calls it an extraordinary labor of love but a mediocre film, praising the insane scale of the oil-painted tribute while noting it falls short as cinema.

The critic views the film as driven by an off-putting fusion of reverence and egotism, imposing literal-mindedness on van Gogh's masterpieces and shackling them to a tedious narrative that feels more fascinating in theory than in execution.

The critic finds the hand-painted animation technique impressive and a unique way to bring van Gogh's work to life, but criticizes the contrived murder-mystery plot as hammy and manufactured, reducing the artist to a generic crime-novel protagonist.

The film is a fascinating exercise in labor-intensive oil-painting animation that is often a pleasure to look at, with dynamic visuals mimicking Van Gogh's style. Narratively it is simplistic, repackaging theories about Van Gogh's death into a plodding mystery where the tortuous creation method overshadows the result.

The film is a rewarding visual experience and an indelible celebration of Van Gogh's life and work through its hand-painted animation. It offers an original, affectionate approach to the biopic by focusing on those he left behind rather than a conventional retelling.

The critic finds the film's innovative animation technique visually arresting but criticizes it for not forming a compelling drama, praising the homage to Van Gogh's art but noting the story lacks transcendence.

The animation creates visually immersive, splendid artwork with every frame holding something to admire, especially regarding light and brushstrokes. The narrative, however, is simplistic and paint-by-numbers, playing like a sub-Agatha Christie mystery without deeper exploration of themes like mental fragility.

The critic finds Loving Vincent a considerable visual achievement, with its oil-painted animation making Van Gogh’s canvases feel alive. However, the mystery-structured drama is ultimately a mundane detective procedural offering little fresh insight into the artist beyond his well-known struggles.