The Inventor
Who better than Leonardo da Vinci to be the subject of a warm and inviting animated film about trying to find the meaning of life? “The Inventor” explores the aging of the legendary artist and inventor as he becomes obsessed with the search for the human soul, mixing traditional 2D animation with playful stop-motion reminiscent of 1960s holiday specials. It has an interesting concept but a very vague narrative that makes it feel like it could have been executed in a 30-minute short — or even longer than 90 minutes, “The Inventor” is creative but tends to drag.
You don’t need to be a genius to see that — Leonardo da Vinci’s (Stephen Fry) genius is wasted in the papal court. With the despotic Pope Leo X (Matt Berry) effectively serving as his patron, his creative endeavors are hampered. Instead of pursuing inventions that might actually benefit humanity, he was driven to create weapons for the Papal States to use against their enemies, his intellectual inclinations being regarded with great suspicion by the Pope. And all of this is to say nothing of his nocturnal grave-robbing activities, when he secretly conducts autopsies to better understand how the human body works, a forbidden and outright forbidden practice in Renaissance Italy.
When da Vinci meets the young, energetic King of France Francis I (Gauthier Battou) – a man delighted in his scientific experiments – he allows himself to dream of a life with Francis as his patron, where he will be encouraged to think and experiment. And invented the desire of his heart. So naturally, when he was invited to travel to France, he gladly accepted. But in doing so, has he traded one irrational and impulsive master for another?
The man, the artist, the inventor
“The Inventor” was clearly a labor of love for its creators and its animation work is an instant highlight of the film. The characters – especially the antagonists, such as Pope Leo X – are rendered with a delightful humor that makes them interesting from their first appearance. It seamlessly blends two different animation styles, transitioning from crude stop-motion figures of the reality of Da Vinci’s everyday life to a more abstract 2D animation to reflect his imaginative musings as he contemplates the soul. Stephen Fry and Daisy Ridley (as King Francis’ wise and imaginative sister Marguerite) are the most recognizable of the voice cast, but the supporting characters steal the show. Gauthier Battoue imbues the character of King Francis with energy and good humor, immediately winning over the audience even as he angers Da Vinci with his lack of vision and single-minded obsession with building a monument to himself.
The film does an excellent job of representing Da Vinci’s struggle as a man whose true genius was not fully appreciated by the powerful figures of the day. At times, it seems as if he is single-handedly dragging European civilization into the future. The film is at its best when it gets a chance to showcase his uniquely forward-thinking worldview, such as when he makes a cinematic argument (an unusual case of animation within animation) about why it’s a bad idea to provide the Pope with more technologically advanced weapons. , portrays the never-ending cycle of growth along with an arms race But once da Vinci arrived in France—more specifically, once he realized that this royal court might not be too receptive to his particular brand of scientific research—things slowed to a crawl. Like Leonardo, the film is simply killing time.