How come Disney didn't sue your ass already?
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Ryuu to Sobakasu no Hime (or in English BELLE) is a 2021 anime movie that has all the assets for a great movie, but manages to fuck it up completely.
Or at least, that's how I feel about it. I wondered if I should even give this a chance, given that the feelings I got from reading the synopsis and tags were mixed... but I decided that I will not loose anything by trying.
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I am disappointed, but also... I called it? Let me tell you what bothers me about this story.
First of all, it being the bland copy of Beauty and the Beast (1991) from Disney. Now that on itself is a quite usual sight. There are tons of adaptations and re-makes. Usually I hate all of them, but at least they try to bring something new, or play a bit with details.
BELLE did it in the cringiest way possible. First of all, the main girl character, named Suzu, is such a huge trauma victim, it splits her personality into two.
On the outside, in Japan, she is a barely-noticeable-easily-bullied-definitely-not-fitting-in girl, who is generally not very liked, and talked about behind her back. She looks like she has a social anxiety and no friends (except that one character who... jesus, what does she even do in the movie...) and texts overwhelm her to the point where she has to escape reality.
But in the virtual world U, she is IMMEDIATELY a superstar - with fans and hates, singing like a regular popstar, looking like a million bucks... and "naming herself" Belle.
Belle.
Her trauma that I mentioned? When she was young, her mother (out of all the people who were present) decided to play the hero and save a girl from a flooding river, but she died in the process. While I do not appreciate the comments people said after her death, I agree with the fact, that it was the stupidest way to kill of a mother character.
Abandoning her kid, because "no one would save the other" - in a place full of people, with help on the way. And to add to that, Suzu's father is not a family man, making her a technical orphan.
I'm sorry, I know a lot of people will find that interesting or even heartbreaking... but face the reality - it's so freaking dumb.
The character I mentioned that has no business being in the movie is Suzu's only friend, Hiro - the technical genius who sits behind three huge monitors and becomes Belle's manager. She adds nothing to the story except for being a smart-ass, who will probably hack something in the middle of the movie, to help Belle out from a certain virtual death... It's so out of place.
And then there is Beast. In this case, he is called Dragon (even though he looks nothing like him). He's a character that no one likes, judges him for his scars (which are tattoos, I am pretty sure, in real life) and trying to "contain" him, show his true face and all those things.
He's your usual "GO AWAY! I WILL KILL YOU!" and then he cries protagonist, who is misunderstood, so he pushes people away, to keep himself safe... but eventually softens for Belle's good heart, pretty face and interest... and her "no, u no ugly! <3".
I will throw up.
They even have a Gaston - a pretty, muscular I-pretend-I'm-fighting-for-the-good-thing-TM character... -_-
On the story front - zero good thing.
When it comes to art and animation, they thought they would be clever by mixing traditional art in the parts of the real world and CGI in the parts of the virtual world. Now, hear me out, it would work freaking wonders.
However, the CGI animation does not look good - and the art style they used (or models, whatever) look 100% better than the traditional art (when comparing depth, visual side and anatomy). Which creates a problem, because then it creates an inconsistency.
It's made by Mamoru Hosoda who is known for amazing works like The Boy and The Beast, Mirai, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and my personal all time favorite Wolf Children.
Touching story, with deep moral message, creating a safe space where you can process the hard issues of life...
And then he gives us this.
His conflict was pair of abused kids by their asshole father, but it felt... lukewarm. I did not have that feeling of 'this is real', or 'god, people like this suck'. I didn't care. It just wasn't well approached, or well made.
The love aspect... that was supposed to deepen the understanding of a few characters, and their real selves... but it did not work. It was messy.
It really was a meh story.
And the morale? Belle is just a ordinary girl, just like me... Phuu, get me a bucket. An ordinary girl, who sacrificed herself to save a kid in danger, and that helped her overcome who she was as a person.
Poeple in movies (the pros, if you will) love it and it won some awards, I think.
Fans and anime watchers... are not that forgiving. And for a good reason. When you're watching a movie to enjoy it, to relax and you don't expect a message that will hit you and leaves you still for a few minutes, while you contemplate your life... you want raw emotions.
This movie lacked that.
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With that, I am obligated to say: this movie sucks.
Conclusion: not recommended 👎
