This is the first movie I've watched of Mamoru Hosoda. It's a good anime movie, but not superb.
The movie starts by presenting us a world hidden to humans where anthropomorphic beasts live ruled by beasts-grandmasters who can reincarnate into gods. A lonely and lost kid, named Ren, accidentally enters into this hidden world and it's adopted by an aspiring grandmaster, named Kumatetsu, who is himself in someway lost. Hosoda makes us believe that Ren will become Kumatetsu's disciple and that he'll learn how to be strong and (insert typical plot development). But I was happily surprised to see that the master-apprentice relationship goes both ways. Human and Beast learn from each other and grow together for 8 years.
After this very strong beginning, I was expecting to see an amazing movie, but it quickly started a spiral into too many "-_- really?..." moments. There is an underlying theme in the movie about finding oneself, and dealing with self-doubt and the darkness that exists within each of us. But these ideas are presented very poorly (except with the great introduction of Kaede) and the plot starts to make no sense whatsoever. I won't spoil much, but really, almost nothing makes sense from this point. At the end, even the Grandmaster, Kaede, Ren, everybody starts to act illogical. Finally, the movie concludes in a nonsensical cheesy all-out-Naruto-style battle, which is an awful way to close the themes of inner darkness and finding personal strength (specially given the final enemy).
In summary: . The first part has a 9 over 10. Maybe even a 10/10. . The rest of the movie (which is most of the movie) is a 5. . The animation and the scenery are really great. The landscapes, the camera angles, the pacing, they were all very good (except for a part when they visit a bunch of grandmasters in a very fast paced journey that didn't add much anyway). Without any of this, it would be a 6/10, because the plot holes are too annoying.
It's not an amazing movie, but you will enjoy it.
The movie starts by presenting us a world hidden to humans where anthropomorphic beasts live ruled by beasts-grandmasters who can reincarnate into gods. A lonely and lost kid, named Ren, accidentally enters into this hidden world and it's adopted by an aspiring grandmaster, named Kumatetsu, who is himself in someway lost. Hosoda makes us believe that Ren will become Kumatetsu's disciple and that he'll learn how to be strong and (insert typical plot development). But I was happily surprised to see that the master-apprentice relationship goes both ways. Human and Beast learn from each other and grow together for 8 years.
After this very strong beginning, I was expecting to see an amazing movie, but it quickly started a spiral into too many "-_- really?..." moments. There is an underlying theme in the movie about finding oneself, and dealing with self-doubt and the darkness that exists within each of us. But these ideas are presented very poorly (except with the great introduction of Kaede) and the plot starts to make no sense whatsoever. I won't spoil much, but really, almost nothing makes sense from this point. At the end, even the Grandmaster, Kaede, Ren, everybody starts to act illogical. Finally, the movie concludes in a nonsensical cheesy all-out-Naruto-style battle, which is an awful way to close the themes of inner darkness and finding personal strength (specially given the final enemy).
In summary: . The first part has a 9 over 10. Maybe even a 10/10. . The rest of the movie (which is most of the movie) is a 5. . The animation and the scenery are really great. The landscapes, the camera angles, the pacing, they were all very good (except for a part when they visit a bunch of grandmasters in a very fast paced journey that didn't add much anyway). Without any of this, it would be a 6/10, because the plot holes are too annoying.
It's not an amazing movie, but you will enjoy it.