Uchû shô e yôkoso

OK, this film was recommended to me from a unique source. There is a manga that focuses on a fictional filmmaker named Pompo. Each character lists their 3 favorite movies, and the director picked this film, "Welcome to the Space Show" as his favorite. Since I had never heard of it, I gave it a watch, and it is unique.

The movie has no shortage of creativity. In the visuals, the story and the setting, this movie is delightfully strange. But, with how unique the story is, I guess it made sense for them to make the characters more grounded. The characters are pretty bland and forgettable. They are all very chill with the crazy stuff that goes on. Also, with how bonkers the story can be, it can make it difficult to grasp any sense of tension. And it can be so silly that a lot of emotional beats don't work. Overall, it is a fun bizarre adventure, even if I'm not over the moon with it.

Visually stunning! Confusing story, but hey, we are talking about aliens living in the dark side of the moon :D Teaches kids how to deal with difficult situations, and care about each other, not to be so egotistical.

Version I saw: (subtitled) UK DVD release (projected) Actors: 6/10 Plot/script: 6/10 Photography/visual style: 7/10 Music/score: 6/10 Overall: 7/10 Welcome to the Space Show is a Japanese anime movie. Although (despite what some ignorant people will tell you) there are many such works which are targeted at an adult audience, with deep characterization, complex themes and the like, WttSS is most definitely a kids' film. It evokes Japanese classics like My Neighbour Totoro and Galaxy Express 999, as well as American fare such as ET, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Wars and The Goonies. You may note that these are all from the 70s and 80s, and indeed, it does seem to represent a bygone era of innocence, when cinematic kids were not wise-cracking and genre savvy. All this was presented with a bold, colourful visual style that comes from the most modern computer graphics. I found this really rather charming.

Unfortunately, the film has problems with pacing. It moves very slowly for large chunks, which might be okay, but there are also confusing rushes of plot and exposition, as well as frenetic action scenes that seem a bit out of place. The whole finale is a big action scene that goes on FAR too long, reminding me painfully of Katsuhiro Otomo's disappointing steampunk anime film Steamboy.

I have my doubts that kids would have much patience for this, and may end up bored and restless despite the colour, life and good characters with whom they can identify. For my part, I found it good, but it could have been so much better.

To give you an idea of what this movie is like: Imagine an animated movie that combines everything you liked about The Goonies, The Adventurers, and E. T. and have it directed by Spielberg and Tim Burton and I imagine it would be something like this. Great character development and a wonderful story with a fun adventure kept me wanting to know what was going to happen next.

I thought this was absolutely incredible and am going to watch it again. I can't believe this movie is over ten years old and have never even heard of it - and how superficial some of the reviews here are.

I'm reading reviews here that say things like "It's a kids movie" like it's a bad thing. This is a "kid's movie" in the same vein that The Wizard of Oz or Spirited Away are kid's movies.

I definitely recommend you give this one a shot. It's a visual feast and a heartfelt adventure story that blew me away.

Note: I watched the English dubbed version and was very impressed with the voice acting. I loved thought the musical score was wonderful, too.

Edit: Just want to add that at the time of this writing 6/19/2021 it is free to watch on Amazon Prime - also where I watched it. You may be able to find it on YouTube as well.

This film has some of the most incredible vistas and production design I've ever seen in any film, animated or live action. Unfortunately, the plot has all the problems people have said, and the overall tone is very much that of a kids movie.

What I would give to see a live action version of this universe, or even a Pixar remake (this is sort of like Monsters Inc. with aliens instead of monsters). When they first arrive on the "dark side" of the moon, the amount of detail is astounding. From architecture and buildings to vehicles and clothes and aliens... it's like a dream brought to life, and it's an overload in all the best ways.

Every shot offers something new. If this had a better story - better thought out and a bit more maturity, like a Pixar film or a Miyazaki film - this really could have been a classic for the ages. Along with Tekkonkinkreet, I put this as the best anime I've seen as far as world-building and showing me places I wish I could walk around.