Yousei furorensu

Another anime movie released through Just for Kids (in 1995, ten years after the original Japanese version) that panders to children.

Actually, I had rather high hopes for this movie for the first ten minutes--the guy's voice wasn't grating and the human girl was actually kind of interesting, for what little time she spent on screen. However, the movie then introduces the fairy from *sigh* "Flower Land" (*barf!*). I can only hope that the Japanese version didn't have such lame dialogue; however, I have to blame them for relationship between the boy and the fairy, which would be annoying even without words. The animation itself was pretty interesting (no Fantasia, though), and it was nice to see a whole section that was basically an homage to Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind by Hayao Miyazaki. I even laughed a little when Hello, Kitty made her compulsory appearance (it is a Sanrio film, after all).

The worst part of the movie--and it just about ruins it--is the dubbed voice of the fairy girl, who keeps talking as if she's Marilyn Monroe in Seven Year Itch throughout the entire movie (the voice was funny in that movie, but in Journey, it's just grating as hell).

All of my children have enjoyed watching this little fantasy story packed with classical music... the story is simple and sweet, about commitment, loyalty, bravery and love... the boy's adventure teaches him how important his music is to him, and that it takes dedication and "heart" to play well. It also teaches that there is pain in life, and that it's better to grow and learn from it than hide from life.

There are times I wince at the animation, it's not the *best* (hence the 8 instead of 10 rating), but is still very entertaining to watch.. similar to fantasia.

I highly recommend it to anyone with kids... or anyone who's a kid at heart ;)