At the end of Superman, there is still a sense of wonder when he flies through the sky. It is a part of him, not the whole character. He doesn’t spend the whole film saying, “I can fly. Can you fly? Look at me fly. I’m flying again! Fly. Fly. Fly.”
Meet Ricky.
He can’t talk, but that’s what he’s saying for the entire film. Instead of being an alien here to save Metropolis, Ricky is a baby who happens to have CGI wings on his back. He's the offspring of an unwed relationship between two co-workers — Katie (Alexandra Lamy) and Paco (Sergi López) — who stay together to raise him, as well as Katie’s daughter, Lisa (Mélusine Mayance). Lisa is not the most welcoming to Paco or Ricky, but all of that conflict is pushed aside when Ricky starts to grow wings.
At first it’s just a bit of fluttering around the house, but soon it’s little Ricky reaching the ceiling of the supermarket. The actors always have to respond in the same way: wonder and then fear. The later emotion leads to a very strange conclusion that isn’t crazy enough to be entertaining and not logical enough to be believable.
The characters are not developed enough to make any of the emotions work. The biggest problem is that the core of the whole story isn’t about an actual character. Ricky doesn’t have any personality aside from his seeming enjoyment of flying. He is only a source of plot and imagery, both of which are lackluster.
Everything shifts too abruptly, as if director Francois Ozon grew tired of topics as soon as they started. The media finds out about Ricky in a perfunctory manner, but then that is dropped after a few minutes. Ozon is best known in America for the thriller "Swimming Pool," which was slow-paced but featured a lot of nudity. Sure enough, despite this being a family(ish) film, there is plenty of random nudity thrown in — not because it fits with the scene but because it seems that Ozon is bored by his own story.
With that disinterest, there isn’t a tale of magic and family. There is just a baby who can fly away from all of the dull events on the ground.
There are no bonus features besides the trailer.
Film: 2 Yaps Extras: 1 Yap