Belle (2021) User Reviews

The Animation Is Belle, StoryTelling Needs Work

[rgkarim · 8/10 · 14 January 2022]

LIKES:

The Voice Acting: When it comes to this world of animation, there are plenty of people who can make or break the characters, but in my perspective the Japanese voice cast scores levels that English Actors can sometimes miss. All of the group did a stellar job in the performances granted before them, a mixture of laughable tags, parody like delivery, and raw emotion that unleashes the struggle of the characters. When the musical performances come up, the assigned voice actor accomplishes a blend of emotional satisfaction and musical prowess. It accomplishes much of the mannerisms that make anime characters so great and memorable and Belle is no exception.

The Story To Some Degree: Belle's tale is very relatable to the modern era as it dives into the media that connects so many lives in one place, the internet. The story takes place in an app called U, which is all about bringing out your avatar via cool futuristic technology and allows you to be what you want in the world. In this world, anything is possible, and the movie shows the possibility of the communal watering hole and the fame/worship that comes. What's a big favor for me though is how this movie adds more layers to the film by integrating other parts of the tale. Our main character Suzu has a lot of baggage, and her friends have their own vulnerabilities that are certainly going to be relevant to the audience. It mixes these together in a lot of small subplots, and gives us characters that feel semi-realistic. These worlds continue to cross back and forth in the search for happiness, only to then wrap it up in an interpretation of Beauty and the Beast. This multi-tiered approach surprisingly works well, and gives us this mini-series feeling that is entertaining and yet deep the way anime can be.

The Songs: This movie is a lot of a love story component, but also one about finding yourself in the mess of all the horrors that the fickle world brings. While the story does a fine job of plastering the horrors of the modern world and how one must find strength and means to face those horrors. For me though... it's the music that really drives the point home and the scenes around it. Belle's songs are very few in terms of the track list, and the variety is very minimal as well, with few being the toe tapping pop or rock options that anime series have made famous. However, the movie uses the songs to an incredible degree to display the emotion of the moment and really drive the heart and soul. As mentioned earlier, the vocal performances are incredible, the combination of symphony and pop is beautiful, and really reflects the character of Suzu. It's not a parody of the famous Disney movies, but rather dives deeper and despite odd lyrics, the movie unleashes so much of the symbolism this movie wants to show you. Something definitely for a Spotify playlist, but I really enjoyed the beauty of this work.

The Animation, at least 75% of it: Belle is definitely noteworthy of the anime magic for me and much of it has to do with the animation they have brought to the table. For one thing, the design is brilliant on many levels, a mash up of typical Japanese school life, merged with Ready Player One computer assistance, and then further painted with a Japanese paint of Beauty and the Beast. All these styles manage to hold an emotion and magic to themselves, with shading, colors, and a style all about capturing the essence of the moment. Of these worlds, the U world was my style, well there animation is much smoother, the colors and designs much more vivid, and a world that really felt like a warped version of the classic tale. The moments where the animation was heavily invested hold much more than simple movement, but rather hold the entire atmosphere of the scene and it's great to see that art style come to life and feel different from the likes of Nickelodeon and Disney. Truly seventy-five percent of the movie accomplished this and really impressed me when music, sound, and animation worked in the harmony the Eastern culture has practiced for years.

DISLIKES:

Pacing: At times, Belle is very slow, and sometimes gets a bit too lost in the emotion and not enough in the actual story. Belle is very much a movie that is part afterschool special, and these moments do have a lot of comedy and fun to it, but sometimes gets too lost in the routine to deprive you of the linear pace I enjoy. It made for some slow moments, and some wasted potential to really enjoy other qualities I wanted more of.

The Animation For the Other 25% I have to say that there are times where things were skimped, filling sequences and lesser moments that the team seemed to think tertiary to the rest of the film. These moments in Belle are not very well animated, basic lines, colors, and shading that is very bland and dull compared to the other moments of the movie. Whether this was symbolic or just cost/time saving steps, it's something I'm not a fan of when you see other studios put out more consistent work to keep the splendor going. Belle's team needed a little mor work on optimizing everything to bring the full drop, but I guess things got away from them during this time in our world.

The Characters: Lots of players are in this movie, and some are done fantastically, and others are the stuff of dreams in the background to create your own fiction with. Belle fails to balance the secondary characters that Beauty did long ago, at least in terms of the digital world. The cute little AI sprites are great for merchandising, but hold less story usage and integration that more time and planning could have helped. While the human counterparts have more involvement, it's really the cyber world where a lot of the tension/action occurs at least until the end. Even the antagonists are boring, some knock offs from other lore or anime, and do little to deliver the full on blow like Gaston did long ago. Again, build up, introduction and full on use are important for me.

The World Building or lack thereof: The world of U is supposed to be the hub of possibility and recreation, and yet for such a world it's lacking the majesty that I envision places like this could be. Belle's world building is gorgeous when they do it, the architecture of several places, and the creatures have the pizazz that this medium can bring. However, there was so much to explore and perform in, to hide and flee around as the two characters explored the boundaries and limitations this new relationship brought with it. Yet the world of U is surprisingly bland and centrally located given the potential I've seen in other series.

The Story: Truth is the story is complete and deep on many levels, but the movie still feels incomplete and too crammed to be the artistic piece that movies like Spirited Away are known for. Belle's tale has a lot of ground to cover in a short two hours, and this beautiful soap opera needs more time to really give us everything they were going for. Belle is torn between a lot of things, the real life struggles of the characters, the relationship between Belle and Beast, the struggle of the fame and fortune, and even the tragic histories that defined them. If done in a mini-series or a four part saga, I think the movie would have accomplished the master storytelling it could be, but in one installment, there was a lot of things that felt rather blunted and not quite wrapped up like they could have. That haphazard finish blunts the beauty of Belle's story somewhat, and gives it a more generic feeling that others have stated.

The VERDICT:

Belle is beautiful in many ways to be worthy of seeing in your lifetime. The movie really hits a lot of audience types, diving into relative realms of problems that plague the world today. Its characters, at least the primary, have a lot of layers to it, and the voice acting brings a fantastic performance to anchor on to. Then the music and animation, for the most part, help deliver the full ambience that gave me goosebumps and stuck with me as I left the theater. These moments are the true bread and butter of the film and the biggest theater presence. However, the story needs more time, more parts, or something to really give it all it was promised. The story is very compressed and hasty, giving you some great meat for the main plot, while the subplots feel withered and dried out. Buildup, character usage, world building, and action are very lacking though and I can't say I was disappointed in several of the things they had been teasing me with. Still, the move hits deep and shows much of the craft of the Eastern animators and their art.

My scores are:

Animation/Adventure/Drama: 8.0 Movie Overall: 7.0.

Deeply emotional and cheesy in equal measure with consistently breathtaking animation

[Quinoa1984 · 7/10 · 13 January 2022]

Never tell anyone that you can't heap on the empathy in virtual reality by singing incredibly sappy and cheesy pop songs...

There's a part of me that wants to rate this even higher, or even possibly lower. At times this is staggeringly gorgeous - and I'm not sure if I'm in a minority opinion that the scene scenes taking place in the real world are much more eye catching and appealing than those in the U Dimension (except for the climax, where it walks a tightrope of like Care Bears energy and one of the most heart-soaring moments in modern film, but again animated with emotional gusto, like that thing at the end of movies where everyone is there to applaud/say goodbye to the hero) - and at other times it's that mopey-dopey teenage girl stuff that's not my thing. Have you ever seen an Anime where the teenage heroine freaks out because (gasp) a boy maybe looked her way or (extra gasp) people may know who she is from a virtual reality world in the real one? Lots of that here.

It's also completely open about it being so all-in on being Cornball and I admire and was involved by that. It may not address abuse and trauma and even grief necessarily in the most mature or well-rounded sense, but who would my old ass be to argue or look down if some young kid or teen somewhere found the messages about overcoming such rancid figures productive and meaningful (in real life as well as the web which is where all the horrors of the world multiply)?

It manages to use the main empathetic meat of Beauty and the Beast, primarily the Disney one (they even copy, brilliantly, that one image of the Beast showing regret after kicking Belle out), while not making it so verbatim it neglects its own characters. I guess this is to say if an anime has to do an homage to that, might as well do it with a pop singer and a giant dragon!

I'm not sure if it's great overall, and it's message about a daughter following in a mother's moral footprint is heavy - if, again, presented with a go for broke attitude for its emotional compass (this is BIG, and it's fitting if possible to see it in IMAX as I was lucky to do). I also wonder if it could bother to reckon with people living as a New Body in U. But I'll surely remember that little and pivotal scene where Suzu comes up with the song and how that is animated and edited is staggeringly good.

hum...

[a-19899-62865 · 6/10 · 12 October 2021]

Sorry for my bad English. I'm not a Native speaker.

Great image and sound mastering.

Ordinary music arrangement and character design.

But the plot... not great.

Weak characterization and the topics changed around too fast makes it like an unfinished story.

A little pity. ;-;

Coming of Age can be tough in the real world and in the virtual one

[ayoreinf · 8/10 · 31 August 2021]

Let's get it right from the start. This movie does have faults - the plot does lose its relation to common sense some times (at least once, but in a very key moment) and it does sink a few times in to very shallow cliché such as the basic premise of the virtual world which makes this story move - translating our inner qualities into a singular personal avatar that really represent who we are. But once again I find myself watching a movie, realizing it has faults and feeling these faults don't matter one bit. I rated it 8 stars but it felt much more like 9. Because Mamoru Hosoda understands the human soul like very few do. I've seen already one of his earlier films - Mirai No Mirai where the very same deep understanding is demonstrated, I rated it 9 but I must admit this movie was much more moving than Mirai. Because the earlier movie is much more analytical and easy to relate to intellectually, while this one works on a pure emotional level. I'm rarely moved by an animated film like I was while watching it, because the characters were real - it has a lot to do with the superb Japanese voice acting, I'm not sure it'll work so well when dubbed but in Japanese it was raw and real and spoke of real issues of grief as a formative experience and about learning to stand for your beliefs against overwhelming odds and about how the smallest support from one's friends can mean the world and work wonders.

One more point that wasn't made by the previous reviewers - it's called Belle (in English) because it's using the French La Belle et la Bete as a major point of reference. It's not Beauty and the Beast in a straight forward manner but the idea of Beauty's love as a releasing power is at the core of the movie. See it and you'll see what I mean, because I won't be adding on that issue.

Deeply moving with a beautiful story, music, and visuals unlike nothing else on the big screen

[colewaters · 10/10 · 16 January 2022]

Belle is a beautiful movie filled with great music, a fantastic story, a great cast, and some of the best visuals that I have ever seen in any anime or any animated film. When I went into this movie I didn't know what I was going to be watching, but what I witnessed was one of the best animated films I have ever seen. If all anime is like this or better then I am a fan. I highly recommend this movie and to take tissues. Is what's really sad is that I was the only person watching this movie they should of advertised it better because they really have something on their hands with Belle I mean it is a cinematic masterpiece.

Parents I strongly believe if you let your young ones watch anime then they will fall in love with this movie and I also strongly believe you will as well.

Belle is a Feast for the Eyes and Ears

[DoubleOscar · 8/10 · 28 September 2021]

Hot off the high from his first Oscar nomination for 2018's Mirai, Japanese director Mamoru Hosoda returns with a touching virtual-reality riff on the classic beauty and the beast tale. But don't let the familiar source material lull you into a false sense of security; Hosoda is not playing it safe just because he has a reliable tale to fall back on. In fact, after years of constant comparison to the films of Studio Ghibli and their unrivaled consistency and pedigree, it seems like the Oscar nomination may have renewed some confidence and ambition back into the veteran director.

Like The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, this film follows another likable teenage protagonist, Suzu who, unfortunately, is unbearably grief-stricken after the death of her mother when she was six. After over a decade of lament, Suzu still has trouble understanding why her mother would put herself in the position that led to her untimely death. She often finds herself crying uncontrollably, only able to compose herself time and time again with the help of her longtime friend, Hiro.

Suzu's relationship with her mother is portrayed through many wordless montages, only accompanied by the gorgeous work of the film's trio of composers, Taisei Iwasaki, Ludvig Forssell, and Yuta Bandoh. As devastating as it is to lose her mother, Suzu's grief is amplified by her own inability to find her singing voice again after the tragedy, despite her efforts. The despair and loneliness she deals with on a daily basis eventually lead her to try U, a new virtual universe that already totals over 5 billion users.

U's technology works by conducting a biometric scan of its user, then creating a personalized avatar. For Suzu, her avatar appears as a beautiful and slender woman with pink hair, really only recognizable as Suzu due to the splash of freckles underneath her eyes. Once in cyberspace, the urge is irresistible. Suzu begins to sing-- And she sings beautifully. So beautifully in fact that it is only a matter of days before Suzu finds herself with millions of followers, all ready to pack virtual auditoriums as Suzu gives performances under the moniker of Belle.

Described by Hosoda as "the one I've been wanting to make," the giddiness of a director finally allowed to make their long-gestating dream project is palpable onscreen, particularly in the film's virtual world sequences. In the real world, the animation is classic hand-drawn work, but in U, Hosoda translates the world's infinite possibilities into a spectacularly dynamic CG landscape, complete with a kinetic camera that swirls and moves in ways only possible in an animated world.

If none of this so far sounds like the beauty and the beast you know and love, don't worry. The "beast" of this tale makes his grand appearance right at the end of the first act as he crashes through a giant dome that acted as a venue for one of Belle's performances. A figure only known as "The Dragon" is seen being pursued by self-proclaimed "Justices" of U. Though he is said to be wildly aggressive and ruining the sanctity of U, Belle immediately believes there is more to him than meets the eye, recognizing a pain that she herself has seen before. Intrigued by The Dragon, Belle suspends any future performances and instead devotes her time to discovering the identity of and connecting more with the mysterious beast.

Outside of U, Suzu must balance her newfound stardom online with the meek reputation she has with real-life friends and classmates. Where the usual high school relationships and drama could, in the hands of a less skilled director, grind the imagination and creativity shown thus far to a halt, Hosoda surprisingly manages to make the grounded portions of his film just as engaging and playful as the virtual primarily by mining the material for a surprising amount of laughs.

Where the film does falter a bit is with its final act, and while the two storylines are engaging in their own right, there is a feeling that they are too dissimilar to one another to possibly connect in a believable way by the end. And for the most part, this is true. The film employs some eye-rolling contrivances in its race-against-the-clock finale, but when the last scene's emotions hit and Suzu fully blossoms into the strong woman she knows she is, the machinations that led the film to that point are largely forgivable.

When all is said and done, it is not going to be the final moments that stick with you from Belle. It's going to be the wonder and visual inventiveness of the virtual sequences -- the sprawling endlessness of the online world and the guiding hand of a director keen on pushing his film beyond that. Hosoda may have spent much of his career in the shadow of the great Studio Ghibli, but with Belle, he certainly makes the most of his chance at the spotlight.

Looks Great! Cool Style!

[Megan_Shida · 7/10 · 12 August 2022]

I really thought the animation was great and I loved a lot of the stylistic choices. A lot of the ideas involving the internet and music were also very cool. There is just A LOT going on with the story. There's a lot of elements of Beauty and the Beast, The Matrix, and other ideas and I don't feel like they always came together smoothly. All in, I'm happy to have watched it.

A spectacular and soaring anime extravaganza

[themadmovieman · 8/10 · 23 October 2021]

From one of the best directors in modern anime, Belle is one of the most spectacular movies in the genre for a long time. Complete with typically gorgeous animation, an electrifying pace, riveting character depth, sweet humour and a handful of wonderful songs, this is a film that you won't be able to take your eyes off from start to finish.

But why exactly does Belle have this spectacular star quality? After all director Mamoru Hosoda has managed time and again to tell incredible stories, from The Girl Who Leapt Through Time to Summer Wars, Wolf Children, The Boy And The Beast and Mirai.

Not only is Belle the latest addition to Hosoda's incredible repertoire, but it's also one of the most dynamic anime films of recent years, blending the classic animation style with timeless storytelling and blockbuster-level action and thrills.

It's a film that really transports you to another world, with the as-ever spellbinding visuals delivering some of the most immersive fantasy you'll have seen in a long time, bolstering the film's originality from what at first feels like a mish-mash of different stories.

In the early stages, it's easy to see Belle as a bit of an update of Hosoda's own Summer Wars, along with influence from Hollywood's Ready Player One. What's more, the film also borrows heavily at moments from Disney's Beauty And The Beast, although that's more as a clever homage than a simple reinvention.

However, because there's so much going on, Belle proves itself to be a lot more than a remake or update of those films mentioned above. In fact, what's most impressive is the way in which it so effectively balances its focus between life inside the virtual world of U, and the characters who live in the real world.

Much like Summer Wars, the action in the virtual world is brilliantly complemented by the emotional stories of the characters in the real world, in this case a group of high schoolers who are living through all the typical trappings of a coming-of-age story.

This is where much of Belle's emotional heart comes in, and while the action in the virtual world is absolutely spectacular, you care for the characters because of how they're developed in the real world, with a wonderful group of friends whose own back stories play in wonderfully to the central action story.

Playing out at an electrifying pace for the vast majority of its runtime, Belle nears edge-of-your-seat levels of excitement, although its finale admittedly isn't as exhilarating as the thrilling conclusion to Summer Wars.

That said, Hosoda directs Belle with such confidence that it's a mesmerising watch at every moment, boosted further by a couple of spectacular and memorable songs that are both fun to listen to, and play nicely into the film's narrative arc.

All in all, I had a whale of a time with Belle. A genuinely thrilling watch from start to finish, the film is a spectacular combination of many of director Mamoru Hosoda's best films, along with homages to a number of others. However, with fresh storytelling, fast pacing, gorgeous visuals, riveting emotional depth and thrilling action throughout, this film certainly stands on its own as one of the most entertaining anime you'll have seen in a long time.

Lack of story made up for with color

[cartooncorona · 6/10 · 16 January 2022]

The movie in itself wasn't great. From the trailer I was concerned it wanted to be so much at once that the story might get lost in all the metaphors and parallels to real life. Not to mention the simultaneous story telling. The animation however was amazing. The different styles mixed together, the color and vibrancy more than made up for it. When you're not drawn into the story you're memorized by the animation. An old school meets never before seen story and together it makes up a unique movie that's never been done before.

Stark Contrast

[akunwafor13 · 6/10 · 13 February 2022]

Admist the colorful animation lies a mediocre plot and poor direction.

Highly forgettable, and its a shame because there were so many ways this film could've been better.

Acclaimed Anime feature films like "Your Name" complemented an intriguing plot with stunning visuals, "Belle" however banked on the visuals to do the heavy lifting.

Stunning

[jasminn_tan · 9/10 · 12 March 2022]

I realised belatedly that this was a fresh new take on Beauty and The Beast only when the Beast was introduced, so I thought that this would be a typical romance story. But it wasn't and although it had darker themes such as child ab*se, it was handled quite alright - nothing too explicit but the ending felt incomplete. The visuals were stunning and the songs were incredibly beautiful. That last song even brought me to tears.

C+ (flat 6). January 22' @Regal

[Celewa · 6/10 · 6 March 2022]

Spectacular visuals and animation but narrative is disjointed, particularly in the latter half of the film. Set up and themes don't quite land. Weak story.

Visually stunning, but...

[lenfoire33 · 6/10 · 27 January 2022]

Hamada's new film has emotion, sweetness and an artistry that combines 2D animation with some of the most stunning visuals in recent animation. Nevertheless, the plot and the storytelling fails to built a narrative. Lots of holes and some unnecessary comic scenes in the most dramatic sequences turns down what could be the best animated film of the year.

This is a movie you never want to end.

[kevin_robbins · 9/10 · 26 January 2022]

Belle (2021) is a movie my daughter and I saw in theatres the weekend it was released here in the United States. The storyline follows a futuristic social media that creates avatars of you in the universe that take on characteristics of your inner self. A shy girl who experienced tragedy that causes her to be an outcast becomes a super star once she gains access to this social media universe. She encounters a being in the universe that is tormented in a way that causes him to lash out against everyone and he has an inner strength that causes everyone in the universe to lose in fights and battles against him. Can Belle help understand and save the soul of the real life individual behind the character?

This movie is directed by Mamoru Hosoda (Summer Wars) and contains the voices of Ryô Narita (Your Name), Shôta Sometani (Themis), Tina Tamashiro (The Flowers of Evil), Toshiyuki Morikawa (Berserk) and Kôji Yakusho (13 Assassins).

The animation in this is breathtaking and the characters and universe are very well depicted. There is surprisingly a lot of depth to the writing and fantastic character development and depth. The evolution of the storyline is well portrayed and the final reveals of what is going on and why is well done and very sad. I loved the ultimate resolution and this is a movie you never want to end.

Overall this is a very unique and clever film that I would strongly recommend and score a solid 9/10.

The internet helps but also hurts

[isaacochoterena · 8/10 · 22 March 2022]

This movie shows that at some point we will be completely dependent on the internet.

The film manages to give a good approach that makes us interested in the story, this has a good development and has several messages about the dependence on the internet by allowing us to escape from our reality. It also tells us that being anonymous on the internet can lead us to believe our own lies, something that will consume us and end at some point. I don't like what it says about depositing our feelings and creating something on the internet will make us forget reality, I think that all of this will generate dependency and bring negative consequences. Although it highlights the importance of human relationships and how they help us prosper. The animation of the backgrounds and landscapes is very good, as well as the character development is good. Although the movie slows down a bit before reaching the end.

It is a very enjoyable film, which manages to deliver the positive and the negative of the use of the internet and its dependence on the new generations.

great ideas, confusing execution

[skyleesue · 6/10 · 27 June 2023]

While there are a lot of things to like about this movie, I found it too convoluted to be engrossed in.

First of all, was it just me or were the visual transitions extremely jarring? The pacing felt very off, feeling too slow and too fast at the same time. The pacing was so awkward that it was almost hard to watch. The plot also seemed confusing and messy but I did like the twist they chose to take on the Beauty and The Beast story.

Another thing I couldn't get into was the main character, Suzu/Belle. Now in this world where your mind matches your looks, I just find it really hard to believe that Suzu is the most beautiful woman. Towards the end I see it more, but all we know about her is that she is anxious and bullied. She seems like a better than average person, but she is flawed, and I don't believe she's the most beautiful woman in the entire internet world.

And I just don't get the virtual world. There's too many questions. First of all, who would choose to join this virtual world? Not only does it seem vast and empty, but also way more people would be ugly. And why does it show so many pretty characters like laughing at her and making fun of her in the end? It seems kind of mean to laugh at her for the reasons they are. It doesn't seem consistent

But the visuals were phenomenal. The animation blew me away. It was worth the watch just for the animation.

I think similar a disney film

[Watchcelebi · 6/10 · 4 February 2022]

It could be better. There is good story. Although it captures the magic of miyazaki movies, unfortunately it's not a good movie Sorry, your review is too short. It needs to contain at least 150 characters.

Another visually stunning film by Hosoda

[NgaiTranAnh · 7/10 · 26 February 2022]

12 years after the success of Summer Wars, Mamoru Hosoda is finally back with another anime film set in a virtual world. There are many reasons to be hyped for this movie: Hosoda has an Oscar nomination for his last film Mirai, the fact that the film received a 14-minute standing ovation at the Cannnes Film Festival and of course, me being a fan of his films. And while Belle was not what I expected, I had a great time in theaters nonetheless.

The first thing I have to mention is the animation and visuals. I do not know how the director keeps doing it, but his films keep looking better and better through the years. Right from the first second the film has already captivated me with its visuals. "U" - the virtual in the film was beatifully constructed and was brimming with vibrant colors and dynamic lighting, every single "AS" (user's avatars) is so uniquely designed that it makes "U" feels like a living and breathing world. The CG of the film looks fantastic. A lot of times CG can be quite distracting or sometimes astrocious (looking at you, Berserk) in anime, but this is not the case for Belle. I also love the idea that the scenes in the real world are hand-drawn while the "U" scenes are full CG. The CG really helped the virtual world feels unique and stand out, which serves the point of the film : You cannot change reality in the real world, but you can start over in U" (sorry if I messed up the line).

The music of the film is also incredible. Not only do the songs sound great, but they also convey the right emotions and thoughts of the characters as we progress through the story. While the score did not have any standout or memorable tracks, it was fitting to the film.

As for the story and characters, I felt like this film tried to juggle too many different storylines and themes at once but never really nailed any aspects. While the stories of the film are great on their own, putting them all together may not have been the best idea. There are moments when the film felt like a coming-of-age story, a love story, a story of broken souls trying to heal themselves or even domestic violence. For me it felt like Belle did not know what kind of movie it wanted to be. As for the characters, while they are wholesome and each has a unique personality, none of them are really emotionally complex (maybe except the main character Suzu) or are ones we can truly empathize with. Most of Mamoru Hosoda's previous films usually tackled on major theme, like family in Wolf Children or a coming-of-age story like The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. But this also shows that Hosoda is trying something new, and I always love it when a storyteller breaks from his/her usual motifs and experiment with new ideas and stories. And although it was not smoothly executed for Belle, I really hope he keeps taking on new challenges for his future films.

In general, while Belle could not quite reach the heights of Summer Wars or Wolf Children, it was still an incredible theater experience and like Mirai, once again shows that Mamoru Hosoda still has many ambitious stories he wants to tell, and I cannot wait to see what he does next.

Best Animated Film to be Released in Ages

[tdwest-69875 · 10/10 · 18 January 2022]

It's a tragedy that, like other Moraru films, Belle is going to be crushed under the weight of the movie industry only to be dug up a decade later to get its rightfully deserved time in the light.

Belle is understandably a disappointment to Beauty and The Beast purists because it takes the source material, both the story of the book and the familiar designs of Disney's animated adaptation, and shows neither of them any respect as it uses them only to establish and follow Belle's theme of digital facades. The pacing was perfect for the actual story being told and the emotional beats kept a natural tempo, striking the right chords at the best possible moments to hit the audience with powerful waves of emotion.

The blend of 2D and CG animation is carried out beautifully, with the 2D animation being used to represent the familiar and comforting ground of the real world and the CG animation showing the depth, color, and vastness of the digital world.

Belle was clearly made by people that actually understand what the Internet is and how it works, this is the most accurate representation of the Internet I have ever had the pleasure of watching. It represents both the greatness and vileness of the web and the beauty that lies somewhere in the middle.

Spell-binding and sweet, with some plotting issues

[TheVictoriousV · 7/10 · 30 September 2022]

Mamoru Hosoda's Belle is a spell-binding, sweet, and visually marvelous reimagination of Beauty and the Beast (specifically the Disney version, which now gets a much better 3D revamp than the one from 2017) as an anime set in virtual reality.

If you've ever joked that the Disney Beast seemed to be an angsty emo kid deep down, it'll ring even more true here -- de facto, there's even an edgy anime avatar. (One of the Channel Awesome critics once spliced all of Beast's rants from Beauty and the Beast: An Enchanted Christmas together with Simple Plan's "Untitled", though I can't remember which one.)

In terms of films about VR, it isn't quite as poignant or even "spiritual" as HBO's We Met in Virtual Reality, but it touches on similar questions of whether VR avatars, which we can design and move about however we please, have made it possible for us to show our true selves -- provided it's not just wishfulness and delusion; an image of what we "want" to be but aren't really. First and foremost, Belle is a story of love and music, and for the most part, it's a beautiful one (tracks like "Gales of Song", "A Million Miles Away", and "U", both in English and the original Japanese, have been on repeat on my Spotify account). Strangely, though, the story of The Beast winds up feeling like a sidetrack.

Another complaint I have is that the animation inside the virtual world, which relies more on CGI than the surrounding scenes, occasionally looks stilted. Then again, have you seen VRChat?

The film tries to depict the confrontation between virtual and real worlds in teenagers in the form of an animation.

[hasanimasoud · 9/10 · 20 October 2021]

The story of the film is a very deep story dealing with an up-to-date subject, which is also very attractive by adapting the story of the demon and the darling, and has made the animation have a good script. The animation is very well made and full of eye-catching and emotional scenes that always impress the viewer. In addition, the animation creates a very good atmosphere for the viewer with beautiful and lovely music and songs. In general, the animation has both a gentle teenage romantic atmosphere and a fascinating adventure, and with its deep story, it points out important concepts that completely satisfy the viewer.

Missed the mark

[htran91 · 4/10 · 13 January 2022]

Pros: Well animated, both the traditional 2D art style and the 3D style. Songs are beautiful and well performed. The depiction of the the main character's struggle with her traumatic experience is powerful and moving.

Cons: The pacing is extremely poor. The story introduces a myriad of characters, events and conflicts one after another that cause a significant amount of confusion, while also focusing on side arcs that are not important to the main story. The transition between the 2D and 3D style happens so abruptly that it feels like you are watching two entirely different movies. Characters are extremely archetypical so much so that they are awkward and unbelievable. There is very little character development for any of the characters other than the main character, Suzu, which also is lacking. Key story elements are missing or introduced throughout the story at unusual times, making it difficult to understand character's motivations without significant assumptions being made. There are many instances of deus ex machina making the story even more difficult to take seriously. Overall, it seems that this movie suffers the most from being too short or condensed from a larger volume of work. Perhaps it would have been better suited as a long OVA or series to flush out some of the characters and story line.

Not as I expected from the beginning

[huyminhha · 7/10 · 1 August 2022]

Those epic sceneries and heart-touching music save this movie. Magnificent and splendid, but way too pale, from both plot building and character development. They had a great idea and material for the beginning, but what they did do not demonstrate or convey something which is worthy and deserved for what they were given.

Deeply Touching

[macieshirley · 8/10 · 15 January 2022]

While the plot has many predictable aspects, it was such an enjoyable watch. It's touching on the topic of loss was incredibly felt, and as someone who has known grief, it hit hard. The depiction of online life was very realistic and engaging. Left the theater with much to discuss and many tears shed. The animation was also spectacular. English dub was well done.

Visually stunning but the story isn't good

[katrinafreiberga-11795 · 7/10 · 17 April 2022]

The animation is very beautiful and the music is great but the story isn't fleshed out. It's quite hard to follow the storyline and we don't get to explore the characters.