Hottarake no shima - Haruka to maho no kagami

When I pressed play, I was not sure what to expect. I knew a girl loses her mirror and goes to a "magical world" to get it back. I was wondering, what would the moral be: "treat things with respect"? "Don't forget your stuff?" Anyway, my hopes were not that high and I expected something overly predictable. And what did I get? Well, it wasn't a total opposite of what I thought it would be, but it wasn't a cliché storm either. I liked where the movie went and how it ended. It was a truly magical adventure that made me happy, once I took it. I do not want to spoil anything, so, find it and watch it. There is a fansub (a very good one) floating around the Interwebs, plus there is also a DVD release by Funimation planned for 2012.

Now, to the technical details:

Look: 9/10. The character 3D models aren't the best in the industry, but they are alive with emotion and move nicely. The backgrounds steal the show however, since they are either hand-painted or made to look like it. And the colors in everything are AWESOME.

Length: 10/10. An hour and a half, perfect for this film.

Story: 8/10 or 10/10. It is not too complex, but little details here and there make it perfect. Perfect for me, at least. For this kind of movie, I cannot imagine another story. But some viewers might find it too simple for their sofistik8ted tastes, hence the possible rating of 8/10.

Voice acting: 10/10. I only watched the fansub, but I thought the lines were delivered with the right emotion for every scene.

Music: 10/10. Hear it to believe it. I, for one, am going to hunt the down the soundtrack CD.

Closing remarks - SEE IT.

Surprisingly well made for a CGI animated film. The storyline was very creative and well-made given the type of material it is based on - I would even say it kind of reminded me of the solid plot in Toy Story 3 which was made later?

Although it still suffered from the major setbacks seen in most other unsuccessful CGI films. For example, the lack of chemistry between characters, motivation, relationships between events), and the characters lacked the emotional features that can be seen in Finding Nemo/Toy Story 3.

Still, there were touching moments in the film and some good plot twists, overall the film still managed to impress.

The Japanese sure have an unmatched talent for creating such unusual and unexpected projects, creativity at its finest. What we have here is one of those films. The unique art style and story immediately caught my attention and thus I was naturally curious to check it out. IT WAS WORTH IT! This is the award-winning Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror.

Plot: 16-year old Haruka had just lost her precious hand mirror given to her by her mother, who died of a terminal illness long ago. Recalling an old story her mother used to read to her, Haruka visits an old shine, where she encounters and follows a strange fox-like creature named Teo to a mystical world called Oblivion Island. Here, these fox creatures collect forgotten or lost objects from the human world and use them for their own purposes. As she befriend Teo and her long lost stuffed sheep Cotton, Haruka must find her hand mirror before the island's ruler, the Baron, uses it for his own devious ends.

From beginning to end, this movie had an incredible effect on me. The characters are developed very well and they become lovable almost instantly. The art style combines CGI with traditional hand-drawn animation to create a visually-stunning world full of interesting creatures and colorful environments. The music is quite memorable and it complements or enhances the mood of various scenes throughout the film. There's also some surprising bits of action, which are thrilling to say the least.

By far one of the biggest elements that makes Oblivion Island so great are some of the emotionality of the film. Each of the main characters has a charm matched only by their vulnerable qualities, particularly the protagonist Haruka. Seeing her go through such an emotional journey as she searches for her lost mirror is heart-warming and it moved me a little. This characteristic in turn affects her friends such as Teo as they also have journeys of their own. It's like the old saying, it's not the destination as is the journey, which I totally agree.

I can see why this movie won some awards and be nominated for others. Oblivion Island is a very unique family film that, in my opinion, deserves greater recognition in the world. The English dub (done by Funimation) is solid as is the original Japanese. With that said, this charming film is worth every penny and I highly recommend that you check it out. Peace!

"Oblivion Island" is for sure a beautiful animation , starting from its characters represented in the heroine Haruka , her cute friends in oblivion island, and the whole magical idea about the island.

The film starts in a 2d animation telling the story of the island and then shifts to its 3d style with what seems to be still hand drawn backgrounds in several scenes, the drawings are beautiful indeed , and the 3d characters are well designed , on the visual side, this is a fine movie to watch.

The story is as engaging as the visuals, as it talks about oblivion island, an island where fox-like creatures take things long forgotten by humans and make use of them, the film follows Haruka's journey to this island and the several events she experiences and the effect of these events on her memories, there are several heartwarming scenes especially at the beginning and near the ending.

I watched "Oblivion Island" with my brother and we both enjoyed it, its a beautiful entertaining movie and -for me- it won't go into oblivion.