Beautifully made, but that's about it- I had very high expectations for this movie. Apparently this is supposed to be one of the greatest anime films of all time. The first thing I noticed was that the girl's voice was pretty annoying. The second thing I noticed was that the movie was halfway over and nothing had really happened. I understand that this movie is more about the "world building" than it is about the plot. The animation did look really good.
Maybe I didn't like this movie because it wasn't what I was expecting. I was expecting a good story. I was not expecting an entire movie of setting (though I realize that I probably should have, especially with the title of the movie being "Spirited Away"). If I were to watch this again, I think I'd enjoy it more because I'd know what to expect and appreciate. I spent the entire movie looking for something that wasn't there, which caused me to miss a lot of important elements. When I finished the movie, I was somewhat disappointed that Chihiro didn't develop much as a character other than gaining an increased appreciation for her parents and the knowledge of a spirit world. After thinking about it, I realized that Chihiro was only the avatar for the audience to experience this world through. I think this is why her name got changed and she forgot her real name. She was not significant. The actual main character was the spirit world itself. It bothers me when movies make the characters point everything that's significant out through dialogue. It gives me the same vibes as an RPG character talking to themselves, giving the player hints because they can't figure out a riddle on their own. It takes me out of the moment. I appreciate it when movies don't feel the need to do this. Spirited Away didn't do this. I heard that Miyazaki's motif is an anti-war message, but I think Spirited Away goes after capitalism and greed more so than war. There are a couple instances where this comes into play in the movie.
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Great Play AdaptationI found this movie for free on Amazon and decided to watch it because it was on IMDB's top 250 movies list and I liked the play when I read it in 8th grade.
First off, I really do like this play. Its a cheap way to show off people's acting skills. The entire set is one room and a table. The plot advances completely by the characters interacting with each other and nothing else. The door is even locked to emphasize the fact that there are no outside influences. Henry Fonda was the 8th jury member (the main character). I had seen him previously in Alfred Hitchcock's The Wrong Man. He plays a similar role in this one. He's a calm, reserved, and thoughtful character. The fact that the whole movie is shot in one room forces you to pay attention to the smaller things. It's movie like some kind of psychology experiment. 12 men locked in a room, required to come to a unanimous decision on a subjective topic. It's an interesting idea. I think the main moral of this story is not to assume anything. Instead, think everything through and don't let personal bias get in the way. Juror 1 and 10 were the longest to switch due to their personal bias, and they were coincidentally depicted as the unintelligent hotheads. This is pretty progressive for something written in 1954. I would recomend this movie to anyone who is interested in true crime, law, or mystery films. It's thought provoking. I can't grade this on the script because it wasn't written for this film, but I don't think I need it to justify giving this movie a perfect 10. The acting was phenomenal and it was very engaging. 10/10 It Keeps You ThinkingI had to watch this movie because John kept insisting on watching it with us. This was the first time I've seen an anime movie, and it was probably wasn't the greatest one to start with. It's about a pop singer who decides to transition to acting. The movie quickly descends into chaos as it Mima as she is stalked by two insane characters throughout the movie. Each character enables the other's descent into insanity in a chain of surreal events. By the end of the movie, I didn't know what actually happened and what was fake.
I don't want to give away too much be over-explaining the plot. If you've ever seen the movie Black Swan, its basically the same concept, but with extra levels of insanity. I don't know what to think about this movie. I think its a movie I need to see twice to form an opinion on. While I didn't enjoy watching this movie a whole lot while watching it, I have to admit I spent a couple days thinking about it. It deserves some credit for that, right? Writing this review makes me want to watch the movie again. The twist ending is so far out there, I never could have seen it coming. It was probably one of, if not the best reveal I've ever seen in film. It's so far out, it didn't even make sense at first. A good twist is one you don't see coming, but is obvious once its revealed to you. A great twist is Perfect Blue. I could go pretty deep into theories about this film. The ending explains a lot, but it also leaves some parts unexplained. Again, I don't want to spoil anything. It's hard to recommend this movie because it takes a certain person and a certain mindset to enjoy this movie. I've never seen anything even remotely similar to it, so it's difficult to rate it as well. All I can say is if you want a movie that really messes with your head, this is your Holy Grail. 10/10 A Deadly ComboThe concept of a self-conscious super hero movie was a good thought. Sadly, the execution wasn't there. It's disappointing.
It was a good thought to make an adult-themed Marvel movie, but I think they went too aggressive with it. There were some good aspects, but it doesn't make up for the amount of aggressively bad moments of the movie. This was trying to be a comedy but it wasn't funny most of the time. When you have a comedy that isn't funny, most of the time you are left with next to nothing of substance. This is the case with Deadpool. If I wanted to watch a funny superhero movie I'd go with Guardians of The Galaxy, Ant-Man, or better yet, Thor: Ragnarok. I think Marvel was trying to hide the fact that this was a Marvel movie because they thought it would draw in the people who don't care about superhero movies. Well, this is still a superhero movie. Another problem I had with Deadpool was the lack of a fully fleshed out villain. Deadpool spends the entire movie searching for this guy who can make him look normal (this is the same person who saved his life and gave him super powers). It just turned the movie into a dude with questionable moral values chasing after a scientist who also had questionable morals. I see what they were trying to do with this, but I don't think it works well when building an engaging story. I can only imagine what went through the minds of the writers of the script. "Maybe we should make a superhero movie, but instead of writing likeable characters that at least make an attempt at doing the right thing, we just make the protagonist crack a joke every 5 seconds while he hunts down a plastic surgeon. As an added bonus, we can just write a bunch of static characters who change in no way throughout the movie." I don't like this movie. This is Guardians of the Galaxy done wrong. 3/10 Surprisingly ProfoundUp until I actually started watching this movie, my rusty Spanish read this as "I sing". I kept hearing about the good music in this movie, so I was expecting a movie centered around music like Coco or something. About five minutes into the movie, I had the realization that Encanto means "Enchanted" and not "I sing". I immediately became more interested because I saw more potential for an actual story instead of Disney just trying to pump out a bunch of hit songs.
As I watched the movie, I began to feel like it was setting up for the predictable ending of the outcast fitting in when she finds her "true gift". I'm super glad my expectations were subverted. I loved the entire second half of the movie. Mirabel tries to dig into her family's secrets and finds out that they were tearing themselves up on the inside in more ways than one. The movie explores several popular insecurities. I think it teaches a great lesson to children. You don't have to be who everyone says you are and its okay to open up about your emotions. It does it so well because it delivers the message without being too direct. I never felt like saying "OK we get it already". The ending was also pretty great. The fact that there was no villain for the entire movie is very different for Disney. I like how it ended up as well. There wasn't a stupid ending like the Madrigals losing their powers and being normal or Mirabel getting a power. Nothing changed from the beginning of the movie other than the family's mental health, which is perfect. The soundtrack was pretty good. I don't think I could put it over Moana or either Frozen movie, but it was still a Disney soundtrack. It was bound to be good. My biggest problem with this movie isn't actually about the movie itself. I'm really annoyed that the song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" is so popular. In my opinion, its barely a top 5 song in this movie alone. I don't think it even comes close to being a top 5 Disney song of all time. I'd put it top 40 at best. It's so overrated! It's not even my favorite song in a lower tier Disney soundtrack. I knew this song was popular before I watched this movie, so I was waiting for it the whole time. Maybe my expectations were too high, because I was extremely disappointed. Even though this song doesn't have a banger soundtrack, it definitely makes up for it with the impressive and deep plot and moral. This will go up there with my favorite animated Disney films. I'm glad they got back on track after Raya. Encanto is definitely worth a watch. 9/10 |
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April 2022
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