DVD: The Illusionist (PG)

Fans of Sylvain Chomet's wonderful Belleville Rendez-Vous will find the director in a slightly gentler mood here.

The Illusionist tells the story of a struggling magician who moves from France to Edinburgh in the 1950s, picking up a young waif from a remote Scottish island in the process. It's an adaptation of a Jacques Tati script that the comic never made, and slowly unspools a rather sad tale of a dying art, a changing world, and the failure of magic. Beautifully drawn, with a muted watercolour softness, the animation reveals much about its characters with the deftest of strokes. It's also as lovely a portrayal of Edinburgh as you're ever likely to see on screen.