A Trip to the Moon (2011)

Why so much hype?

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

A group of scientists build a rocket and fly to the Moon.Wonderfully imaginative and innovative. Directed by Georges Melies, a pioneer in the art and technology of film-making. Shot in 1902, when cinema was in its infancy, the movie shows cinema's theatrical roots, as well as the resourcefulness and ingenuity a pioneer like Melies possessed, and needed to possess. Clever set design, "special effects" and editing. Good plot with a great innocence and imagination to it all. It also gave us the iconic moon-with-a-rocket-in-its-face image.Such a landmark film in cinema history that it features heavily in Martin Scorsese's homage to cinema - 'Hugo' (2011).

Its basic virtue - the profound, surprising freshness. and the magic as tool for the return to the childhood spirit. its humor, the ancient stop-motion, the smoke, the lovely script and the naivety are the reasons for see it often. because it is a meet more than a show. because it is between old sensation popular theaters and cinema. because it represents a sort of birth certificate . as slice from our memory. and identity. the magic of it escapes to definitions. but it works in admirable manner.

It's amusing to read so many reviews that praise this silent short film and its maker on so many points. "It's a break through." "It's pioneering." "Georges Melies was a genius." The one that's worth a good laugh is "A film ahead of its time." How many times we see or read that to describe a pioneering, innovative or new something. That always has seemed to be a put-down, however well intended. After all, pioneering, discovering, inventing, trying something new or different that works is worthy of praise outright. Melies was deserving of praise. A French pioneer in cinema, he introduced many new techniques for the craft and in the related science of cinema. But it's more proper to say that he initiated, discovered, started, refined, introduced or began those methods and changes. The time was his and he was in it. How could he be ahead of his own discoveries? So, this is a fine film short of early pioneering, with historical value. But I don't understand ratings that place it with some of the great masterpieces of cinema over the ages."A Trip to the Moon" also is a humorous film that shows how some people thought about what lay in the future of space travel. Did most people at the turn of the 20th century think there was life on the moon? Did scientists then think that a huge gun could shoot a craft into space? Another little humorous aspect is Melies' use of the chorus girls from the Folies Bergere. Even way back then, promoters were using sex appeal to sell things. One would think that the marvel of cinema itself would be enough to draw public interest. On second thought, the chorus girls might have been an addition to please the old men scientists. I'm sure it was all in fun for Melies and his crew and cast, as it must have been for the people who first saw this motion picture.

A Trip to the Moon was released in 1902 in France. The story is easy to explain. A group of Astronauts wants to explore the moon with a self-made rocket, which get into space with a catapult, which looks like a big canon. The group lands in the foreign world, where they discover a cave, in which they have to fight against the moon residents. This aggressive type of aliens take the human group as prisoners. The presentation of the moon, the imagination the people had in 1902 is very interesting. They had the idea of a moon with a lot of nature and foreign types of plants. I also liked the music, in the beginning funny, then suddenly really dramatically, which supports the scenes very well.All in all, a short and old piece of art with a topic, which was revolutionary for the film industry in the beginning of the 20th century. 8/10