Reviewer Ella Rose is 11 years old.

The Painting is a spectacular movie. It is one of a kind, an automatic classic. The animation is breathtaking. It really made me feel like I was in a painting.

The story has so much meaning, and it really made me think from the beginning to the end. This animated feature does include a tad bit of female nudity in a painting, and a few scary images, but I would recommend this for ages 8 through 1,000. This movie has a shake of adventure, a dash of charm, a spoonful of fantasy, a dollop of romance, and a splash of courage. A perfect dish!

The love sequence in this movie reminds me of Romeo and Juliet, as the lovers in The Painting have to meet in secret. The only complaint I have about this movie is they could have made it a bit shorter.

If you think out of the box, and are artistic and creative, then believe me, you should watch this movie!

The Painting plays May 5, 2013, at 11am at The Aero Theatre. Buy tickets in advance through this link to make a donation to the school of your choice.

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Reviewer Stewart Smith is 14 years old and a student at the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies.

The Painting is an animated independent film made in France in 2011. Telling a story of life in an unfinished painting, it tells a Shakespeare-esque story of a world plagued by racism in which a band of sketches and paintings search for their painter to ask him to return and fix their world.

Rich with color and liveliness, it covers a lot of recurring themes in modern life, such as tension between completed and unfinished characters. The biggest theme, however, seems to be the use of religious metaphor. The characters feel abandoned by the painter, search for the painter, have faith in the painter, and pray for the painter. While the story itself is a nice change from the modern clichés you find in blockbusters, one can’t help but notice a few discrepancies, including a couple of plot lines which are more or less abandoned as the film goes on. Some of the dialog and flow of the movie also felt a little clunky, and some of the characters seemed a bit empty.

The key aspect of the film’s allure is, quite obviously, its artistic style. Presented in a beautifully painted format with impressive color choice and form, it is a remarkable example of human expressionism.

The movie has a little bit of nudity, which may cause some giggles upon less mature audiences, but rest assured that it is all in the interest of recreating the feel of a painting, and that it’s generally no worse than that of Titanic.

All in all, the movie presents a moderately structured story with creative religious undertones in a style which breaks the modern cultural trend of paintings and turns the movie into less of a blockbuster and more of, well, a work of art.

The Painting plays May 5, 2013, at 11am at The Aero Theatre. Buy tickets in advance through this link to make a donation to the school of your choice.

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Reviewer Ava Mae Leslie is 8 years old and a student at Marquez Charter School.

I think that you should see this movie when you are the age of 7 and up. In the movie, paintings come to life, and in one of the paintings, a lady is naked and you can see her big boobs. Some kids were laughing, and some adults were embarrassed. The painting was kind of inappropriate for 6-year-olds and down.

The other characters in the movie had different color skins (for example, one boy had blue skin). There were “Sketchies,” “Halfies,” and “All Dones.” The All Dones were being mean to the Sketchies and the Halfies. They were not letting them be in the castle with them and would step on the Sketchies and break them in half. There is a little romance in this movie so don’t be creeped out… kissy, kissy! They kissed away on the lips. Claire and the boy with blue skin were in romance together. My favorite character was Claire because she has a beautiful dress. My least favorite character is the Skull guy with the bloody ax. I did not like him because he gave me the creeps.

My favorite part of the movie was when they found the real painter. I liked it because Lola asked the painter who he got painted from, but he was a human. Laugh, laugh, laugh. The story was about a bunch of different paintings that the painter made, and three people are trying to get the painter back to finish the rest of the characters. If I could change one thing about the movie, I would change the Skull guy into a nice cheetah, and the cheetah would give them a ride to find the painter. I thought some parts were very, very, very hilarious!

I hope you all have a good time watching the movie.

The Painting plays May 5, 2013, at 11am at The Aero Theatre. Buy tickets in advance through this link to make a donation to the school of your choice.

Was this review helpful? Please scroll down to leave a comment below! And check out our other Kid Critic reviews.