A precocious Montana kid, unbeknownst to his parents (including the always-entertaining Helena Bonham Carter), hops a freight to Washington, D.C. to accept a prestigious award for his perpetual motion invention (they don’t know he’s just 10), and grooves on the passing purple-mountains-majesty of an idealized America (it was filmed in Canada).

Made in English by Amélie director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, this may be a bit twee for some, and his acceptance speech in D.C. is over-the-top manipulative. Still, it offers the most inventive use of 3-D since Hugo.

I enjoyed it, but I have a high tolerance for whimsy. Japanese title: Tensai Spivet. (105 min)