Gekijô-ban Dôbutsu no Mori

To be honest, this isn't even a movie, it's a waste of time. It doesn't have any context, all it is is just watching someone play animal crossing wild world over there shoulder, The main characters name is boring... Ai? What the heck? There is not actual storyline like an adventure or a misadventure. They added so many characters that no one even cared for even when wild world first came out, Cyrano... Many people liked Antonio or Anabelle, Rosie... Literally People liked Bob more... Also Hopper, nobody cared about the penguins back then... also I bet some people got bored after like 20 minutes in... I did at around 14 minutes. Better off just playing the games or watch An Animal Crossing Tale... This Movie was a waste of my life...

HOW DO YOU WATCH THE HONKING THING IVE BEEN TEYING FOR AN HOUR AND ITS FIVE IN THE MORNING SOMONE PLS HELP ME 😭😭😭

I loved this movie. Sure, it isn't exactly Spirited Away, it feels more like a TV movie, but if you're looking for a pleasant and adorable children's film, this is a lovely option. The backgrounds in the film are simple yet gorgeous, it's actually very refreshing to look at. The CG special effects blend nicely on top of the traditional animation. The animal characters are very simple & cute, and yet somehow they are quite unique and memorable. Actually that describes the whole movie. It has a feeling of childlike wonder, and it's funny too! At first, I thought I was going to be annoyed by the super-cute main girl, Ai. Judging her appearance I expected the typical squeaky airhead, but her self-reliant personality was pleasant and relatable! She is a good example for kids, or anyone.

This movie plays out more like a series of slice of life moments. I would say the plot is more about Ai's process of becoming part this new community. By working diligently, helping others, and making friends, over time she starts to feel more at home. The little fossil-finding adventures they have and the mystery of the message in the bottle might be misinterpreted as the main plot, but I'd call it the sub-plot. The real heart of this movie is the friendship that grows between Ai & Sally, it's touching and relatable.

If you like pleasant, slice of life movies, I definitely recommend watching this. It's only available in Japanese. I saw a fan-subbed version, but I hear there is a pretty decent fan-dub in the works.

I knew when i discovered this japan-only release movie for one of my favorite games, that the cards were stacked against it. it was based on an open world sandbox-like game that really didn't have a story worth making a movie about, and that really shows. for the first three quarters of the film, there is no clear plot or conflict. its just aimless and blind events and cameo plugs that add no value and just serve to irritate because of the extent of their uselessness to the story. but when the plot does get going, it has nothing to show for it, and it was not very rewarding anyway. also, it has a bunch of sub-plots that go nowhere or actually conclude then proceed to tell you nothing insightful or entertaining about anything, such as the Tortimer sub plot.

On that note, the characters are even more flat and boring than i might have expected, with really no one changing throughout the experiences of the story that seemed convincing. and don't give me that "it's for kids" crap, kid films can and should have great plots and characters. this film has neither.

One of the main problems, that I found quite novel and surprising, is that it follows the games TOO closely. its almost exclusively the game mechanics just put into animated film. its quite off putting at times.

But that being said, the movie is not terrible, its just not good. there are some very funny scenes, you'll know them when you see them, and overall i enjoyed watching it, simply because of how ridiculous it was and how forced and contrived it was. but, if you don't like movies for this quality, or you know nothing of the animal crossing series of games,I would not recommend this film to you.

This is an awful movie by every metric, but I am obliged to rate it at ten stars for the sake of consistency. Consistency is the critic's greatest strength after all.

Compared to Earwig, Animal Crossing: The Movie has a better understanding of children, at least a rudimentary understanding of basic filmmaking techniques, a plot with more integrity and completeness, relatively more humor, more established stakes and goals, sports a better script, understands the appropriate use and strengths of 3D CG in animation as well as a somehow more believable world which is built from animal-people and a super deformed kid.

Of course, the film still has some solid innovations that bring it to comparable levels to Earwig, like having many "flashback" sequences with scenes that have never happened in the movie. At the end of the day though, if you have enough free time to watch Earwig and the Witch, do yourself a favor and watch Animal Crossing the Movie instead.