Summer Wars

'Summer Wars' is another excellent exponent of the Japanese anime genre, directed by Mamoru Hosoda, whose modest (so far) directorial cannon includes 'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time' (not to be mistaken for one of the Stieg Larsson trilogy!), which is also highly enjoyable. This film is a lively and colourful affair, nicely evoking the optimism and energy of the season, and its large cast of characters is well drawn in both senses, each one sketched with enough care and detail to be believable and interesting, and to make their own distinct contribution to the story, despite there being some twenty family members or so to deal with, no mean feat.

The plot is bedded in the technology of future, an almost ubiquitous theme for the genre, but the story's posit of a worldwide virtual network to which every financial institution, emergency service and government agency links, and indeed some cedes control of its systems, is hardly Science Fiction! Events take a turn for the worst of course, but despite the action being centred on a bright and colourful online world, and a plethora of cuddly personal avatars, Hosoda invests the conflict with a dark malevolence that is convincing, and delivers a real sense of threat.

'Summer Wars' may look at first glance like a kid's film, but don't dismiss it as 'some kind of Pokémon', the film delivers some emotional passages and a sweet central relationship that you will root for. All in all very satisfying for fans of the genre, and has something to offer those who are not. For me, the final note strays from the tone of the piece, but that is a minor quibble. Treat yourself to a dose of optimism.

With an abundance of films made by Studio Ghibli, Mamoru Hosoda really found something to call his own by stepping outside that famed studio and finding focus on a movie that plays on themes of cyber warfare and the value of family.

Kenji Koiso is an average high school student with a skill in mathematics and a job with OZ, an online virtual reality world where many users browse and socialize with each other. But when he's given a "job" by his crush Natsuki Jinnouchi to travel to the country with her during the summer, he gets himself in over his head when he's framed online by a rogue AI called Love Machine.

For an anime film, I found this to be enjoyable and cleverly crafted. The cyber realm setting does borrow off the elements (albeit even a similar scenario) of one segment from Digimon: The Movie, but Hosoda admitted that Digimon is a prototype to Summer Wars. Now Kenji clearly lacks social skills, but his extensive math knowledge is put to the test as he and the rest of the Jinnouchi clan come together to put an end to this AI. The characters feel relatable and the family values remind me so much of my own that it feels inviting and immersive just by getting to know several of Natsuki's extensive family members.

Although the movie may start off slow, there are some moments throughout its two-hour run time that give off an emotional sense when it comes to either angst amongst family or even the intense fight scenes in cyberspace. Hosoda's previous work The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was pretty impressive, so his follow-up Summer Wars is another hit. I also see parallels to the series Digimon (specifically, its segment Our War Game) in terms of story and concept since Hosoda coincidentally once contributed to that series years prior. Whether you're an avid anime fan or simply an average film-goer (and regardless of animation medium), its story is simple, yet complex in balancing the virtual world and reality. As for OZ itself, it's like a hybrid of Miyazaki's art style crossed with Nintendo's designs. Made me want to watch the movie again whenever I choose.

If you liked 2006's "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time," you're going to absolutely love "Summer Wars." Mamoru Hosoda's new film is an oddball mix of science fiction, cyber-punk, teen romance and family comedy/drama, all rolled up into one beautiful, lavish-looking Anime' that also somehow manages to throw in a pretty chilling end-of-the-world fight for the future of humanity. This has to be the best animated film to come out so far this year, or was it last year (I honestly can't remember). All I know is, I would have passed this film had I not read "The Washington Post's" "Style" section early one morning.

Regardless of how you feel about Japanese animation, "Summer Wars" is one film that the whole family can enjoy. Unlike most family films, however, this one doesn't insult the intelligence of the audience, nor does it treat its characters in a half-a**ed, perfunctory fashion. Every character in this film is alive and brimming over the top with personality, poise and humor, a rarity in most films these days - whether they be animated or live-action. But you know how most American audiences are here: they're pathologically afraid of anything foreign (i.e., not American). And then there's also all those negative stereotypes that Japanese animation is violent and full of sex.

Not true here.

It all just shows the marvelous degree of attention to detail that Hosoda paid to this project. It definitely has the makings of a labor of love for the Japanese filmmaker. "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" was an enjoyably light-hearted sci-fi/comedy romp in its own right. I liked it well enough (I rated it a 10/10), yet I still something felt missing from it. I didn't find anything missing from "Summer Wars," a brilliantly inventive and highly original movie that combines elements of the online virtual world Second Life, "The Social Network" (2010), "The Matrix" (1999), "Meet the Parents" (2000), and "The Simpsons" together with a bunch of other stuff I can't really remember.

17-year-old high schooler Kenji Koiso is a mathematical genius who like most high school geniuses, is shy, uncoordinated, and inarticulate in the area of girls and love. Things become even more complicated for him when the girl of his dreams (and fellow classmate) Natsuki Shinohara "hires" him out to be her fake fiancé to please her ailing great-grandmother at an upcoming family reunion. Cue the family dramatics. Cue the crazy and/or obnoxious relatives. Cue all-out familial craziness!

Sakae Jinnouchi is the 90-year-old family matriarch of this motley bunch of oddball relatives. The Jinnouchi clan fought bravely against the army of the Tokugawa shogunate that ruled all of Japan for nearly three centuries. The spirit of the Jinnouchi clan lives on to the present day, as poor Kenji finds out first-hand. His feelings for Natsuki will have to take a backseat when he receives a random text message one night that contains a 250-character algorithm. Kenji solves it with little difficulty.

The next day, Kenji finds out that he is responsible for bringing down Oz, the film's online equivalent of Facebook combined with MySpace combined with a world-wide chat room/business center. Additionally, when Kenji solved the algorithm, he also gave a malevolent A.I. (artificial intelligence) called "Love Machine" instant access to pretty much everything in the online world. And it isn't long before "Love Machine," using Kenji's online avatar to hack into accounts and steal information, sets its sights on also conquering the real world, even if it means killing all life on Earth as we know it. This apocalyptic showdown between man and A.I. unfolds amidst the family drama at Sakae's hilltop estate - Will Kenji get the pretty girl Natsuki? Will Natsuki return the affection? Who will stop "Love Machine's" online rampage?

"Summer Wars" is very easily one of the greatest Anime' films ever made. The film is a dazzling display of vibrant, pretty colors, computer-generated backgrounds/scenery, and lively three-dimensional characters. I honestly haven't been this in love with a group of characters in animated form in a very long time. Every single member of the Jinnouchi family is alive & well and have their time to shine with familiar family theatrics in carefully written scenes of family comedy/drama. And the battle scenes in cyber-space are brilliantly animated and executed, and are appropriately edge-of-your-seat thrilling.

You have to give praise to a movie that starts out like something off "The Brady Bunch" and ends with an apocalyptic showdown like in "The Matrix." Now in today's filmmaking industry on both sides of the ocean, that's what I call originality.

10/10

Summer Wars does a wonderful job of combining touching human Japanese animation with weird monster-fighting stuff. The former is the frame of the movie in which a young man finds himself caught in a friend's family drama involving a really cool old lady and a snarky black sheep. The latter involves a facebook-meets-second-life-meets-everything-else-on-the-internet entity that gets hacked. The two sections are beautifully integrated into a single, fantastic movie.

There are criticisms I could make if I really wanted to. The technology really makes no sense at all, and some remarkable idiocy has to happen in the real world to worsen things in the virtual one. But none of that bothered me, because the characters feel real and the animation in both worlds is absolutely gorgeous.

Summer Wars is one of the most ambitious animes to exist, ambitious doesn't always equal greatness on film as a result of being over-ambitious but Summer Wars is one of those that gets it right. Some characters are better developed than others, the main family members are very compellingly real but some of the side characters are sketchily written. If the film had less characters than it did the character development would have been even better.

The animation is just wonderful though and stylistically unlike any other I've seen, the colours are eye-popping and the backgrounds are so richly detailed and textured. None of it felt confusing to me. The cyber-battles are particularly strong in this regard, the action itself is thrilling and the visuals positively dazzle. Summer Wars has a music score that is both rousing and ethereal, and luckily mood-wise when matched with the animation and the tone of the storytelling it never jars. There is also a thoughtful script that handles its emotional themes very touchingly and remarkably maturely, while the story covers a lot but despite exploring several themes it doesn't feel too much. The family themes are ones that really resonate and charm, and while the message is not the most original it's a truthful message that doesn't patronise. The lead characters are engaging and the voice acting, both in Japanese and dubbing, is dynamic and expressive.

All in all, a beautifully executed anime and shouldn't disappoint anybody who likes Wolf Children and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. It's ambitious but apart from the writing of some of the characters it doesn't feel too much so. 9/10 Bethany Cox