Real emotion anchors paranormal story
Film falls short on acting and animation, but delivers on youthful angst
Is it something in the air? Or is the recent run of teenage nihilists endowed with superpowers just a popculture coincidence?
It’s an intriguing question, because, after watching Chronicle and The Prodigies within the same blink of time, one might be convinced the ghost of Nietzsche is waltzing with the zeitgeist.
Certainly, God is absent in both recent outings, and free will is the guiding force behind humankind, but The Prodigies doesn’t even bother getting into superhero notions of duty.
At the top of this animated reel, we’re introduced to Jimbo ( Jeffrey Evan Thomas), a nerdy kid who’s into model trains. Turns out, he’s also a genius with extraordinary powers of concentration.
As a kid, Jimbo was abused by his parents, but when they both turned up dead in an apparent murder- suicide, the young modeller was moved to a special- care facility for the insane. It’s in the hospital that Jimbo meets Dr. Killian, a brilliant scientist who created The Foundation — a special facility aimed at helping gifted kids reach their potential.
Jimbo was one such student, but he’s convinced there are others just like him, so he creates a diagnostic tool disguised as a game. The bait works, and, before long, he’s got five prodigies on his scope.
The only looming problem is securing funding for The Foundation. When Dr. Killian dies, his daughter feels the special school is a waste of money, leaving the brainiacs with abandonment issues.
Jimbo tries to explain the situation, but the young geniuses are angry and betrayed, and soon start pooling their superpowers with vengeful purpose.
These kids become increasingly creepy as the movie progresses, eventually becoming black- eyed beasts who animate dead bodies to reap payback.
They feel Jimbo abused their trust when he convinced them to reveal their special talent. They also feel he’s responsible for the violent rape of Liza Everton, one of the kids in the genius gang.
Now, sexual violence isn’t something we’re used to seeing in animated movies — at least, ones that don’t come from Japan — so the rather protracted rape sequence feels jarring in this context of doe- eyed heroines and twodimensional architecture.
Then again, so many movies feature rape as a plot point these days, it’s hardly worth getting worked up about. And it’s precisely this element of ennui that underscores the whole movie and makes it of our time.
The Prodigies isn’t just a movie about kids with superpowers and their curious quest for a mentor. It’s a movie about free will and making the effort to effect real change.
The movie is populated with people who have some brand of power — whether it’s the president of the United States, the chairperson of a large corporation, or the five prodigies with paranormal powers.
The Prodigies infuses the viewer with an otherworldly sense of angst and dislocation, which proves its success at an emotional level. The acting and the animation aren’t quite as sharp, with both coming off a little stiff and jerky, but director Antoine Charreyron’s film finds its own voice, as well as its own style, as it revisits familiar themes and characters.
It’s not exactly genius, but The Prodigies gets an A for existential effort.