I'm all about experimentation and pushing the limits of what can be done with animation, and Renaissance accomplishes this, almost to a fault. The film is presented entirely in shades of black and white, literally. Black and white; no gray whatsoever. The technique makes for a fascinating film visually, but it does make it hard to interpret what is happening on screen during some sequences of the film and occasionally it's hard to distinguish some of the characters from one another. While these are drawbacks to the film, the black and white aspect also makes for some stunning visual sequences, and the look and feel of Paris in the future is wholly realized and thought through.
The story itself is nothing special; the secret to immortality is discovered (but never explained as far as I could understand) and the big, world-dominating corporation that is out for the "betterment of mankind" wants the secret for their own possibly questionable means. There is murder, espionage, intrigue, greed; all the makings for a stereotypical cautionary tale about companies becoming too big for their own good and the lengths that will be taken to achieve their ultimate goal, usually presented as something to improve life for everyone, but in reality is only sought after for the betterment of the company (or in this case, the head of the company).
The voice-acting is rather flat in some cases, almost as if it were the actors first read-through of the script. It just doesn't always seem to fit the tone of the film. I'd like to give the movie more than 3 stars, but realistically, if it weren't for the unique quality to the animation, there wasn't much substance to the film itself.
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