Animated Scotland will be a big draw

HOW fitting it is that a film set in Edinburgh and the biggest ever produced in Scotland should be chosen to open the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

That it is the creation of a Frenchman, Sylvain Chomet, from an unproduced screenplay by comic legend Jaques Tati originally set in Prague, makes it all the more appropriate.

With 70 animators working on the project on and off for four years in George Street, The Illusionist deserves to be a success. The fact that the capital has been used as the setting for such a major undertaking by a renowned international animator responsible for the critically acclaimed Belleville Rendezvous brings added kudos at a time when Edinburgh and Scotland needs all the help they can get to sell themselves abroad.

The publicity stills look stunning, with Arthur's Seat, George Street and Waverley Station featuring prominently in its depiction of Edinburgh of the Fifties, and it is bound to be a hit with the widest possible audience in the Capital at least.

How wistfully will audiences see the city with cone-free streets, working trams and shops which aren't part of national chains.

And why stop there. M. Chomet could turn his attention to a remake of Winnie the Pooh, in which Seafield replaces the 100 Acre Wood, or indeed setting The Jungle Book in the East End of Glasgow.