Renaissance | 
| Director: Christian Volckman
Actors: Daniel Craig, Patrick Floersheim, Catherine Mccormack, Laura Blanc, Romola Garai
Studio: Miramax
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.99
Buy Used: $2.48
You Save: $17.51 (88%)
New (48) Used (36) from $2.48
Rating:  40 reviews
Sales Rank: 36030
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed)
Genre: none
Rating: R (Restricted)
ESRB: Teen
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 105 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 786936724776
UPC: 786936724776
EAN: 0786936724776
ASIN: B000PFU9QK
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
Release Date: July 24, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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Media Type: DVD
Artist: RENAISSANCE
Title: RENAISSANCE
Street Release Date: 07/24/2007
Domestic
Genre: ANIMATION
Amazon.com
Style trumps substance in Renaissance, a 2006 French film whose breathtaking visuals largely overcome its shortcomings in the areas of story and character development. Detailed in a lengthy and absorbing "making of" featurette, the film's look is a combination of CG animation, motion capture, and a palette consisting solely of black & white (there are a few splashes of color late in the proceedings, but no gray whatsoever). And while it has a few obvious antecedents (the filmmakers readily acknowledge the influence of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, not to mention the much earlier, Expressionist work of Fritz Lang and Orson Welles), Renaissance, with its commingling of heavily processed live action and graphic novel sensibilities, looks very little like anything you've ever seen before. The setting is Paris in the year 2054, and it is here that director Christian Volckman and his crew do their best work. The French capital is certainly recognizable (the Eiffel Tower and Montmartre's Sacre Coeur are two familiar landmarks), but its classic architecture is glazed with all manner of futuristic touches, from vast glass penthouses to layers of transparent walkways outside Notre Dame Cathedral; and with the preponderance of the action taking place at night, frequently in the rain, the City of Light more often suggests a very literal representation of film noir. As for the story, it's nothing special. Hard-nosed police Captain Barthelemy Karas (voiced in this English version by Daniel Craig) is searching for a female scientist who works for Avalon, one of those sinister mega-corporations that seem to run everything in movies like this; seems the woman, who has been kidnapped, possesses what's referred to as "the protocol for immortality," and Avalon, which promises good health, beauty, and long life for all, desperately wants her back. The characters are a bit stiff (physically and otherwise), the dialogue is occasion! ally stilted, and the film is sometimes so dark that it's hard! to tell what's going on. But most of Renaissance looks so amazing that such deficiencies can easily be ignored, at least the first time through. --Sam Graham
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| Customer Reviews: Read 35 more reviews...
 Oh, My Aching Optic Lobe . . . . May 27, 2009
A. O. Sheepfielder (Chicago, IL USA)
In the interest of full dislosure, before you invest your time reading my review, know this: I couldn't get through the whole film. Why? The animation gave me a serious headache.
I'll refrain from commenting on the substance of the story, but, stylistically, "Renaissance" combines the worst visual elements of CGI, rotoscope, and black-and-white. While it seems to strive for the intense, graphic-novel-inspired asthetics of "Sin City" and "300" (both great-looking films, in my opinion), the visual storytelling in "Renaissance" is too dark (literally), too hard to follow, and the constant flipping between what's black and what's white, what's positive and what's negative, made my corneas throb.
In short, I was disappointed. I love artfully done, "grown up" animation, and the plot description and trailer really caught my attention. Plus, I hate not finishing a movie, even an absolutely awful one. "Renaissance" is not absolutely awful, but my eyes just couldn't take 105 minutes of it.
 Better than Ghost in the Shell! May 21, 2009
Johnnie Lewis
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This movie is waaaay better than the 1st Ghost in the Shell flick! Not because of the better animation, or the better special effects! Even though this flick was made in and animated in a black and white style it's still better! This is the only movie that reminded me of Sin City but still kept me interested in watching it from beginning to end! The animation, the acting, and the action were all flawless in execution! Even if you rent it...it's still a great buy! Another thing to keep in mind is that Daniel Craig does a great job acting here and you don't see him fail like in the Bond Movies!
 Good movie February 11, 2009
Joshua Weathers (Okinawa Japan)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If your into a movie for a solid storyline then you will appreciate this flick. Done is sort of a black and white shaded computer animation, this flick is a little slow to get interesting but delivers overall. With this said I will recommend this to any movie buff that likes an original idea.
 Somebody pass me some coffee & ibuprofen January 10, 2009
Niels Bohr (Ohio)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I sat through most if it (did not bother to pause for a phone call). It was boring and what is all the hype regarding the stunning visual blah blah blah... It's in B/W? Sure it is different but that does not mean better. Some of the scenes just looked stupid. It gave me a headeache. This will have some fans but I sure will never recommend it.
Really good December 25, 2008
Music Is The Best (Pretendland)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Pros
Animation- this movie is one of the most visually stunning things I've seen. The motion capture kicks Beowulf and Polar Express' arses. The rain and city looks very unique
Story- Is quite engaging, and you really get into it. It will remind you of Minority Report
There is definite replay value.
Con
There is no big twist. It's not shocking. I'm still glad I own it, but it doesn't hit you. This is why I take away a star. I was really into this film, but towards the end there was no twist. I'll still watch it again, but the end is sort of deadening.
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