I have mixed opinions on this film. It was good, but, I also left the theater wanting a little more. Something like 15 more minutes, or at least a little less background and a little more explanation. Let's start with the animation. It was great. The water and fire looked phenomenal, and the food looked delicious. The characters were designed in the typical Ghibli way, and that felt sort of nostalgic to me. Although it weirded me out that the Heron was also a man, the animation on the bird look fluent and the transition into a man was as smooth as could be. The colors popped and nothing looked out of place. There was little to nothing left to desire when it came to animation, and that was my favorite part of the movie. Something else that was amazing about the movie was the audio. The voice actors fit their characters, and they all had enough but not too much emotion in their voices at different points in the movie. Although it was dubbed, you couldn't really notice any issues with timing and mouth movements compared to words spoken. Also, they included music in all the right spots. Frankly, I could have used like one or two more scenes where they played music, but that may have taken away from the meaning in the scenes they did play music. Now for the plot/story. This is where the movie lost some points with me. I understand Miyazaki films are always relatively confusing and not entirely clear, but this film pushed that a little too much, I think. I found that I was telling myself throughout the movie that it would be explained at the end, or that it would make sense at the end, and I never really got that understanding. After talking about the movie in class, I will say that it make a lot more sense and that I enjoyed the movie a lot more, but the movie originally felt incomplete to me and that feeling has not entirely left me. The plot itself was great up until the final little bit. Mahito is grieving his dead mother, and gets the chance to save his new mother (who happens to be his aunt). That is a great plot that has a lot of meaning and is fitting of a Miyazaki film. The way they portrayed this is also great, Mahito goes on a journey that seems less than real, and he ends it by saving his new mother, and coming to terms with his mother death. What I did not like however, is that the world he travels to it just kind of thrown at you, and there is no real context (this is very Miyazaki, so I expected this), and they at the end of the movie, no real explanation. I found myself comparing it to Howl's Moving Castle. It was extremely confusing throughout the movie, and although you see it happening, you have no real clue what is going on. Then as the movie nears its conclusion, everything starts to fit together, and you are able to understand enough that you can piece together what you are not give. The only difference between the two movies was that Howl's Moving Castle had more explanation than The Boy and the Heron. I found myself wanting just a smidge more in terms of explaining the other world. The boy and the Heron ended a little quick for me. My interpretation of the other world. I think the other world was not made up, but sore of subconscious. Like, everyone could sort of tap into that other world when it was necessary. The other world, however, was really weird when you think of it from a time point of view. Everyone who has ever entered that world existed there at the same time as they entered it. It is like a timeless place where you are able to see people from the future, and past at the same time. I didn't fully understand it, and frankly I would have like a minute more of someone talking about the other world. In my opinion, this movie does not deserve the Oscar. It is a great movie, and don't get me wrong it is an Oscar winning story, but I do not think that it was just confusing enough that it shouldn't win. I loved the visual and audible aspects of the movie, and if there was an award for best animation, I think it would deserve it. I think the plot is solid, but the conclusion is not the best. If I had to rate it, which I do not feel good doing because I know that if I watch it again, my rating would go up, I would give it a 7/10. It was great in every aspect other than conclusion, and the movie gave me an unfinished feeling and left me wanting answers that I couldn't come up with myself.
1 Comment
This movie is great. This movie had music, and romance, and drama, and action, and it was just great. I know it wasn't done to what actually happened in the circus, but like it would have been a completely different movie if it was. The movie would have been sad and gross, and it wouldn't have done really well. The movie says based off a true story, and technically it is, it is based off a true story, just nor done is a completely true way. The movie was done beautifully, and the music was phenomenal. It is my favorite musical movie, followed closely by La La Land. The movie looks amazing, the acting is good, and the music is even better. I love Hugh Jackman as Barnum, and he does a great job. The cast is generally great, and I do not really have any issues with their casting. I also like that they included some of the bad stuff that Barnum did (cheating on his wife). Once again, the music is absolutely amazing, and I could sing it pretty much all day. I know it is a musical movie, but it does not feel too music heavy like other musical movies. The music is integrated in a way that feels natural and normal, also the music as part of the circus makes sense. Lastly, the shots in the movie just look beautiful. The cinematography is more than good and the color pop in the circus. If I had to rate the movie without the true story in mind, I would give is a solid 8.5/10, it was musically and visually beautiful. The acting was good, and the story line was also good. This movie was amazing, however, I have heard so much about it being outstanding that I was not as amazed by it as I should have been. I like this style of movie, where you discover everything that happens towards the end of the movie and suddenly everything makes sense. This movie was also great in the visual department. There were shots that were amazingly done, and they were actually scientifically accurate in most of the shots. Like the black hole could have looked so different, but they scientifically made the light bend around it so it looked like there were two rings going around it, one horizontally and one vertically. One thing that I did not like about the movie is actually how they solved the issue. After such as great movie that was so action and visuals packed, I found the ending where he was actually the 6th dimension, a little lacking. I understand that it works nicely with how the rest of the movie went, but I still think that it was a little too much of a stretch. I also really liked the cast. Matthew McConaughey, who pretty much plays the exact same person in each movie, did amazing as an out in the hicks scientists/astronaut father of two. He put so much emotion into the movie, and it made sense the level of sadness he portrayed. Overall, the movie was excellent and would have been even better if I didn't go into the movie with the expectation for it to be absolutely life changing. I would give the movie a solid 8.5/10, it was really visually appealing, and the story made sense and was good up until the solution at the end which was a little too outlandish for my taste. This is a rom-com, and I love a good rom-com. Don't get me wrong, this was not an amazing rom-com by any standards, but I still loved it. It did not stack up to any of my favorite rom-coms, Crazy Rich Asians or My Big Fat Greek Wedding or How to lose a Guy in 10 days, but it still fulfilled its purpose of making my happy. It is about a country artist who got big right when his to be wife got pregnant, he walks out on her and comes back like 7 years later, and they are working through their relationship now. It is a cliché plot, and you know exactly what is going to happen (even the acting is sub-par), and yet you still find yourself rooting for their relationship and getting happy when it starts to work out. To my surprise, they did a pretty good job with the music that this artist supposedly made, and it did not feel half done. It surprised me because the rest of the movie wasn't quite have done, but it was definitely not done with full effort, and yet the music seemed to be. I really enjoyed this movie, but when compared to the other rom-coms that I wave seen and loved, I would have to give this movie a 6.5/10. It fulfilled its purpose and a little more, but it did not stack up to some other amazing movies. I would recommend it and might even watch it again, but I am more likely to watch a different rom-com instead. |
Author!!!MOVIES!!! Archives
April 2024
Categories |