The Portable Door is a film directed by Jeffrey Walker starring Patrick Gibson, Sophie Wilde, Christoph Waltz and Sam Neill. It is based on the novel by Tom Holt.
A film full of fantasy, with fantastic sets and a plot that is clearly conducive to wonderful performances.
Very successful in terms of production and rhythm. A very remarkable film with regard to its technical features.
About the Film
A film that starts like The Trial (Kafka) and that, like Jim Henson, takes us to a world of fantasy, magic doors and so on, all tinged with surrealism, with very good actors who can’t be accused of anything on the technical side: it is brilliant, even.
However, where the script’s concerned, not quite.
It has a great idea that fails to be fully developed. It gets stuck, like so many great ideas, in the initial approach, one which promised so much, so that, expecting something so wonderful, it just ends up being a good story (to do it justice) that you savour through your eyes.
It has a lot of rhythm, but it rests on the laurels of its “initial strangeness” and all the promise of fantasy and that we are about to see The Neverending Story ends up being just that: more scenes that promise so much and that take us from one marvelous set to another.
Costume design, performances… everything is provided by the film industry and works perfectly, achieving a visual aspect which if not unique, it is remarkable and knows how to stand out.
Aesthetically, it manages to contrast its beginning marked by grayish tones with the development, which is more colorful.
At the climax of the story, and we must mention its polished presentation again, it either fails or it disappoints, it’s up to you to choose, but you feel cheated.
Our Opinion
It throws away its great technical virtues and does not know how to take advantage of its potential.
Sophie Wilde’s poor diction made the plot very hard to follow. Some of her dialogue was unintelligible. She spoke very quickly & slurred her words together. HaRD to believe she was in a movie with Sam Neill. Why wasn’t someone else’s voice dubbed in for her character? Her eyes are pretty but she ruined the movie. No wonder people Google “ending explained” for this film.