Mirai

A sweet little story about families with kids, Mirai goes on to become profound the moment the magical realism elements kick in even as this story about siblings and sibling rivalry takes you into your own childhood lives through the lens of Kun, the central character who is worried the newcomer in his family is going to wreck his life apart but that's now how it is as he soon finds out. Mirai has its heart at the right place and I was gobsmacked to follow the proceedings, also managing to avoid a teary eye towards the end. TN.

(Watched and reviewed at the 3rd Japanese Film Festival of India in Mumbai.)

Mirai tells the story of Kun, the first child of a young married couple who lives in Japan. Kun gets all the love from his parents until one day, they return home with their newborn daughter. Not getting the same attention as he used to, Kun becomes jealous with her sister and starts doing naughty things just to get his parents to notice him. However, they are so busy with work and the new baby that Kun feels like he was abandoned. Until one day, he finds his dog turned into a grown-up man and is greeted by none other than his sister, Mirai, who comes from the future and is now a teenage girl. From that day on, Kun experiences different events that happen both in the future and the past and are some how related to his family from generation to generation. Kun is the main character of the movie and director Mamoru Hosoda has shown that he understands children really well through the emotions and the mind, specifically the imagination of Kun. The movie is simply the story of a family's daily life that is told through the eyes of a 4 years old child and the process of how that child can become a loving son and a loving brother. The narrative of the movie is just like the way Mirai Mirai (Mirai is the name of his sister which means future in Japanese) told his brother about how their family came to be through those little things that happen every day in our lives. Mirai is a film that shows you how wonderful a child can be, and although Kun is very jealous with his newborn sister, deep down inside he loves her very much.

This film tells the story of a young child who experiences sibling rivalry, after the arrival of his little baby sister.

The emotions of all family members, especially the child's, are conveyed effectively. The Oriental concept of family is presented without being too preachy or suffocating. I enjoyed it.

I saw this movie last night and having never seen any anime films before I was a little skeptical, but in the end was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

The opening of this film was beautiful and a treat for the eyes. The birds eye view of the city we receive was so realistic that on first thought, I was sure that it was real and not animated. Other highlights for me were a sequence with trains running along the train line that I thought was done well and I liked the use of colours that helped define different times of the day.

The characters in this film are very well crafted. I cannot begin to say which is my favourite as each was so good. Kun definitely stands out as being I think the main character, although this film is named after his sister, the story did revolve more around Kun and how he felt about his new baby sister and his feelings towards his parents after her birth. I believe the director has well captured the typical behaviour and emotions of children and adults throughout this film.

I laughed a lot during the movie. The comedy in "Mirai" was well written and played out often quite naturally but also with bit of the melodramatic.

I would recommend this movie for anyone who is an anime fan, who likes to laugh and who enjoys a heartwarming, thought-provoking movie

My compliments to all who worked on the making of "Mirai". It is a job well done. I give it 4 and a half stars (or 9/10).

Director Mamoru Hosoda is up there as one of the brightest talents in modern anime, having brought us gems like Summer Wars, Wolf Children and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. For me, Mirai unfortunately isn't his greatest work, largely due to poor pacing throughout the first two acts, as well as the seeming lack of depth and introspection compared with his other films, which proves extremely frustrating up until the excellent final act, which eventually helps Mirai come good.

Before we get into that, however, I will say that Mirai is a fairly enjoyable film right the way through. Far more family-friendly than Hosoda's previous works, it has the quirky charm of some of the lightest Ghibli movies, and with that effortlessly beautiful animation throughout, it's hard not to find yourself smiling from time to time.

With a young boy as the film's main character, I'm sure that younger viewers will have a wonderful time with Mirai, as a lot of its central themes focus on those that those even as young as four or five years old can relate to, as we see Kun, the young boy, find himself frustrated and jealous as his parents turn their attention to his newborn baby sister.

It's a pleasant story throughout, and unless you're averse to hearing children screaming (because there is quite a lot of that here), it keeps you engaged and entertained right the way through. However, in comparison to Hosoda's previous works, there's nowhere near as much depth of emotion in Mirai, and its central themes come off as a little simplistic, which can be disappointing if you're expecting something a little bit more captivating.

Certainly, we've all been through that feeling of jealousy much like young Kun, but for older viewers, it's a theme that's a little too far back and simplistic to really provide a deep emotional impact. Of course, it's an enjoyable story nonetheless, but over the course of the film's first two acts, I found myself rather underwhelmed that the plot wasn't going anywhere beyond that simple line of focus.

What's more is that those first two acts move at a painfully jittery pace, as we flip between the present, and Kun's various adventures to eras past and future as he visits his relatives through time. In all truth, Mirai doesn't do a good enough job at tying those two parts of the story together, and although there are clear emotional parallels between the past, present and future, the way that the film transitions between those two main parts of the story is rather jagged and abrupt, which proves hugely frustrating as you look for some sort of flow in the film.

Fortunately, while I can't say I was all too impressed by the first two acts, the film's final vignette proves a stunning conclusion, finally bringing about the depth of emotion and sense of wonderment that everything before was so disappointingly lacking in.

For one, seeing a young boy effectively travelling through time should inspire an incredible sense of wonderment and awe, yet the first two acts seem strangely normal in their presentation of this. However, in that final act, we see Kun transported to a world filled with bizarre and dazzling things, and as he becomes more and more aware of his situation, the gravity and emotion of what he's going through finally hits home for you too.

As I said earlier, the film's central theme is a little simplistic compared to what Hosoda has brought in the past, however, come the finale, he finally crafts a scenario that allows the raw emotion and drama of what the story is about, and with an equal improvement in the screenplay's depth, Mirai comes to a stunning and moving conclusion.

Overall, then, I found Mirai a little bit of a mixed bag. Starting off in rather underwhelming fashion with a jittery and underwhelming first two acts, it does eventually come good with an exceptional finale that finally brings about some strong emotion and drama. It is still a pleasant and enjoyable film throughout, and it's undoubtedly more family-friendly than any of Hosoda's other films, so while it's not perfect, it's definitely still worth the watch.