Oscar-nominated disappointment from Japan, this domestic anime (with fantasy element) only comes to life in a swaggering climax where our insufferable protagonist, a 4-yr old runaway, upset when his infant sister steals center-of-attention status, imagines he’s lost in the dizzy extravagance of a kaleidoscopic Tokyo train station. But before that ‘no place like home’ epiphany, he’s merely a young brat, clobbering baby with metal toys or acting out if he doesn’t get his way. Sent to the yard on ‘time outs,’ he enters a dream world where he meets various family members from times past, present & future. That annoying infant sister? A teen from the future. His dog? A warning witch. His mom? From when she was a kid. Even the great-grandfather he buried two years back. Here in the yard, an engine mechanic in youthful prime. Each with a lesson to impart if only he were open to it. All remarkably unmagical, visually blah, an entire cast of unlikable characters. Writer/director Mamoru Hosoda once more showing a taste for time shifts and off-putting characters.* Even a can’t miss episode where the kid teaches himself how to ride a bike (Dad busy with little sis), falls flat. (Note to Hosoda: you don’t stay up on a slow moving bike when you’re just starting. You’ve go to be up to speed for a sense of balance to kick in.)
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK: *That earlier Hosoda time-travel tale, THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME/’06, also problematic, but visually far more assured. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2019/06/toki-o-kakeru-shojo-girl-who-leapt.html
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: The boy actually throws a temper tantrum when he realizes he’s no longer the cutest member of the family. Yikes! Only in Japan, where a ‘Hello Kitty’ cult of cute thrives.
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