It's 1516 Rome. Leonardo da Vinci is looking to skies. He has a complicated relationship with Pope Leo X. He befriends Marguerite who is the sister of French king Francis I. They put on a show to bring a new peaceful culture to Emperor Charles V and King Henry VIII.

This is an animated biopic of Leonardo da Vinci. The animation is a mix of stop-motion and hand-drawn although they may have used CGI. The stop-motion reminds me of the old Rankin/Bass specials. This doesn't have a three act story structure. It is more a flat temporal flow. In that way, it is slightly educational while randomly entertaining. It doesn't give any drama. It's cute.

Did none of the 30+ producers ever stop and say, "this doesn't make any sense" or "why is the dialogue so muddled?" or "What did those lyrics say?" I was the only person in the screening I attended and felt lost most of the time. I had thought of taking my 9 year old granddaughter, but I'm sure glad I didn't. Some pretty animation and cute stop-motion puppets can't make up for the incomprehensible story. Stay home.

I'm familiar with Da Vinci's life and the creative work he did in many areas. I know how the Catholic hierarchy loved some of his work but hated his exploration into forbidden areas. And there are hints of that.

There are scenes that I don't believe ever happened. Did England's Henry VIII ever visit France? And was that the Spanish king? What was his name? I couldn't make it out.

Frankly, I was expecting more of a full biography, but this starts with Leonardo in middle age, at least. He's already painted the Mona Lisa, which he hauls with him to France. Maybe that explains how it ended up in the Louve.