Belle: The Dragon and the Freckled Princess

Never tell anyone that you can't heap on the empathy in virtual reality by singing incredibly sappy and cheesy pop songs...

There's a part of me that wants to rate this even higher, or even possibly lower. At times this is staggeringly gorgeous - and I'm not sure if I'm in a minority opinion that the scene scenes taking place in the real world are much more eye catching and appealing than those in the U Dimension (except for the climax, where it walks a tightrope of like Care Bears energy and one of the most heart-soaring moments in modern film, but again animated with emotional gusto, like that thing at the end of movies where everyone is there to applaud/say goodbye to the hero) - and at other times it's that mopey-dopey teenage girl stuff that's not my thing. Have you ever seen an Anime where the teenage heroine freaks out because (gasp) a boy maybe looked her way or (extra gasp) people may know who she is from a virtual reality world in the real one? Lots of that here.

It's also completely open about it being so all-in on being Cornball and I admire and was involved by that. It may not address abuse and trauma and even grief necessarily in the most mature or well-rounded sense, but who would my old ass be to argue or look down if some young kid or teen somewhere found the messages about overcoming such rancid figures productive and meaningful (in real life as well as the web which is where all the horrors of the world multiply)?

It manages to use the main empathetic meat of Beauty and the Beast, primarily the Disney one (they even copy, brilliantly, that one image of the Beast showing regret after kicking Belle out), while not making it so verbatim it neglects its own characters. I guess this is to say if an anime has to do an homage to that, might as well do it with a pop singer and a giant dragon!

I'm not sure if it's great overall, and it's message about a daughter following in a mother's moral footprint is heavy - if, again, presented with a go for broke attitude for its emotional compass (this is BIG, and it's fitting if possible to see it in IMAX as I was lucky to do). I also wonder if it could bother to reckon with people living as a New Body in U. But I'll surely remember that little and pivotal scene where Suzu comes up with the song and how that is animated and edited is staggeringly good.

From one of the best directors in modern anime, Belle is one of the most spectacular movies in the genre for a long time. Complete with typically gorgeous animation, an electrifying pace, riveting character depth, sweet humour and a handful of wonderful songs, this is a film that you won't be able to take your eyes off from start to finish.

But why exactly does Belle have this spectacular star quality? After all director Mamoru Hosoda has managed time and again to tell incredible stories, from The Girl Who Leapt Through Time to Summer Wars, Wolf Children, The Boy And The Beast and Mirai.

Not only is Belle the latest addition to Hosoda's incredible repertoire, but it's also one of the most dynamic anime films of recent years, blending the classic animation style with timeless storytelling and blockbuster-level action and thrills.

It's a film that really transports you to another world, with the as-ever spellbinding visuals delivering some of the most immersive fantasy you'll have seen in a long time, bolstering the film's originality from what at first feels like a mish-mash of different stories.

In the early stages, it's easy to see Belle as a bit of an update of Hosoda's own Summer Wars, along with influence from Hollywood's Ready Player One. What's more, the film also borrows heavily at moments from Disney's Beauty And The Beast, although that's more as a clever homage than a simple reinvention.

However, because there's so much going on, Belle proves itself to be a lot more than a remake or update of those films mentioned above. In fact, what's most impressive is the way in which it so effectively balances its focus between life inside the virtual world of U, and the characters who live in the real world.

Much like Summer Wars, the action in the virtual world is brilliantly complemented by the emotional stories of the characters in the real world, in this case a group of high schoolers who are living through all the typical trappings of a coming-of-age story.

This is where much of Belle's emotional heart comes in, and while the action in the virtual world is absolutely spectacular, you care for the characters because of how they're developed in the real world, with a wonderful group of friends whose own back stories play in wonderfully to the central action story.

Playing out at an electrifying pace for the vast majority of its runtime, Belle nears edge-of-your-seat levels of excitement, although its finale admittedly isn't as exhilarating as the thrilling conclusion to Summer Wars.

That said, Hosoda directs Belle with such confidence that it's a mesmerising watch at every moment, boosted further by a couple of spectacular and memorable songs that are both fun to listen to, and play nicely into the film's narrative arc.

All in all, I had a whale of a time with Belle. A genuinely thrilling watch from start to finish, the film is a spectacular combination of many of director Mamoru Hosoda's best films, along with homages to a number of others. However, with fresh storytelling, fast pacing, gorgeous visuals, riveting emotional depth and thrilling action throughout, this film certainly stands on its own as one of the most entertaining anime you'll have seen in a long time.

LIKES:

The Voice Acting: When it comes to this world of animation, there are plenty of people who can make or break the characters, but in my perspective the Japanese voice cast scores levels that English Actors can sometimes miss. All of the group did a stellar job in the performances granted before them, a mixture of laughable tags, parody like delivery, and raw emotion that unleashes the struggle of the characters. When the musical performances come up, the assigned voice actor accomplishes a blend of emotional satisfaction and musical prowess. It accomplishes much of the mannerisms that make anime characters so great and memorable and Belle is no exception.

The Story To Some Degree: Belle's tale is very relatable to the modern era as it dives into the media that connects so many lives in one place, the internet. The story takes place in an app called U, which is all about bringing out your avatar via cool futuristic technology and allows you to be what you want in the world. In this world, anything is possible, and the movie shows the possibility of the communal watering hole and the fame/worship that comes. What's a big favor for me though is how this movie adds more layers to the film by integrating other parts of the tale. Our main character Suzu has a lot of baggage, and her friends have their own vulnerabilities that are certainly going to be relevant to the audience. It mixes these together in a lot of small subplots, and gives us characters that feel semi-realistic. These worlds continue to cross back and forth in the search for happiness, only to then wrap it up in an interpretation of Beauty and the Beast. This multi-tiered approach surprisingly works well, and gives us this mini-series feeling that is entertaining and yet deep the way anime can be.

The Songs: This movie is a lot of a love story component, but also one about finding yourself in the mess of all the horrors that the fickle world brings. While the story does a fine job of plastering the horrors of the modern world and how one must find strength and means to face those horrors. For me though... it's the music that really drives the point home and the scenes around it. Belle's songs are very few in terms of the track list, and the variety is very minimal as well, with few being the toe tapping pop or rock options that anime series have made famous. However, the movie uses the songs to an incredible degree to display the emotion of the moment and really drive the heart and soul. As mentioned earlier, the vocal performances are incredible, the combination of symphony and pop is beautiful, and really reflects the character of Suzu. It's not a parody of the famous Disney movies, but rather dives deeper and despite odd lyrics, the movie unleashes so much of the symbolism this movie wants to show you. Something definitely for a Spotify playlist, but I really enjoyed the beauty of this work.

The Animation, at least 75% of it: Belle is definitely noteworthy of the anime magic for me and much of it has to do with the animation they have brought to the table. For one thing, the design is brilliant on many levels, a mash up of typical Japanese school life, merged with Ready Player One computer assistance, and then further painted with a Japanese paint of Beauty and the Beast. All these styles manage to hold an emotion and magic to themselves, with shading, colors, and a style all about capturing the essence of the moment. Of these worlds, the U world was my style, well there animation is much smoother, the colors and designs much more vivid, and a world that really felt like a warped version of the classic tale. The moments where the animation was heavily invested hold much more than simple movement, but rather hold the entire atmosphere of the scene and it's great to see that art style come to life and feel different from the likes of Nickelodeon and Disney. Truly seventy-five percent of the movie accomplished this and really impressed me when music, sound, and animation worked in the harmony the Eastern culture has practiced for years.

DISLIKES:

Pacing: At times, Belle is very slow, and sometimes gets a bit too lost in the emotion and not enough in the actual story. Belle is very much a movie that is part afterschool special, and these moments do have a lot of comedy and fun to it, but sometimes gets too lost in the routine to deprive you of the linear pace I enjoy. It made for some slow moments, and some wasted potential to really enjoy other qualities I wanted more of.

The Animation For the Other 25% I have to say that there are times where things were skimped, filling sequences and lesser moments that the team seemed to think tertiary to the rest of the film. These moments in Belle are not very well animated, basic lines, colors, and shading that is very bland and dull compared to the other moments of the movie. Whether this was symbolic or just cost/time saving steps, it's something I'm not a fan of when you see other studios put out more consistent work to keep the splendor going. Belle's team needed a little mor work on optimizing everything to bring the full drop, but I guess things got away from them during this time in our world.

The Characters: Lots of players are in this movie, and some are done fantastically, and others are the stuff of dreams in the background to create your own fiction with. Belle fails to balance the secondary characters that Beauty did long ago, at least in terms of the digital world. The cute little AI sprites are great for merchandising, but hold less story usage and integration that more time and planning could have helped. While the human counterparts have more involvement, it's really the cyber world where a lot of the tension/action occurs at least until the end. Even the antagonists are boring, some knock offs from other lore or anime, and do little to deliver the full on blow like Gaston did long ago. Again, build up, introduction and full on use are important for me.

The World Building or lack thereof: The world of U is supposed to be the hub of possibility and recreation, and yet for such a world it's lacking the majesty that I envision places like this could be. Belle's world building is gorgeous when they do it, the architecture of several places, and the creatures have the pizazz that this medium can bring. However, there was so much to explore and perform in, to hide and flee around as the two characters explored the boundaries and limitations this new relationship brought with it. Yet the world of U is surprisingly bland and centrally located given the potential I've seen in other series.

The Story: Truth is the story is complete and deep on many levels, but the movie still feels incomplete and too crammed to be the artistic piece that movies like Spirited Away are known for. Belle's tale has a lot of ground to cover in a short two hours, and this beautiful soap opera needs more time to really give us everything they were going for. Belle is torn between a lot of things, the real life struggles of the characters, the relationship between Belle and Beast, the struggle of the fame and fortune, and even the tragic histories that defined them. If done in a mini-series or a four part saga, I think the movie would have accomplished the master storytelling it could be, but in one installment, there was a lot of things that felt rather blunted and not quite wrapped up like they could have. That haphazard finish blunts the beauty of Belle's story somewhat, and gives it a more generic feeling that others have stated.

The VERDICT:

Belle is beautiful in many ways to be worthy of seeing in your lifetime. The movie really hits a lot of audience types, diving into relative realms of problems that plague the world today. Its characters, at least the primary, have a lot of layers to it, and the voice acting brings a fantastic performance to anchor on to. Then the music and animation, for the most part, help deliver the full ambience that gave me goosebumps and stuck with me as I left the theater. These moments are the true bread and butter of the film and the biggest theater presence. However, the story needs more time, more parts, or something to really give it all it was promised. The story is very compressed and hasty, giving you some great meat for the main plot, while the subplots feel withered and dried out. Buildup, character usage, world building, and action are very lacking though and I can't say I was disappointed in several of the things they had been teasing me with. Still, the move hits deep and shows much of the craft of the Eastern animators and their art.

My scores are:

Animation/Adventure/Drama: 8.0 Movie Overall: 7.0.

I've enjoyed the last 3-4 movies from this director but this one was a misjudged sappy convoluted mess.

It tried to marry the world of idol performers (a manufactured and manipulated and notably shallow world of selling music based on looks and marketing) to the struggles of youth in the modern world, and it just won't fit unless you turn off everything you know about social media, and manufactured entertainment. For a director who's made some smart and insightful dramas this one misses its target in the big picture although many of the details that make his previous films worthy are still here.

There is a lot of japanese small town and city details that are rewardingly accurate and familiar. The images are fantastic (not photos as another reviewer criticised the film for, but just really good animation).

The characters when they're not spreading on the cheese are more well rounded japanese people, until they're shifted into cliche, but they switch between the 2 regularly.

It's like the film was directed by two directors, one making quality anime and the other making a greasy cheese sandwich. The end result is an uneasy mixture of the 2, and unfortunately the cheese is the overpowering taste left in ones mouth. I don't know what he was aiming for with this film but he made a move into hollywood and authentic japanese culture loses in that game.

I realised belatedly that this was a fresh new take on Beauty and The Beast only when the Beast was introduced, so I thought that this would be a typical romance story. But it wasn't and although it had darker themes such as child ab*se, it was handled quite alright - nothing too explicit but the ending felt incomplete. The visuals were stunning and the songs were incredibly beautiful. That last song even brought me to tears.