Reaction & Review | Belle

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the 200th episode of Reaction & Review! Holy shit, guys, I cannot believe we made it to this point. I am just...stunned that I was able to make it to 200 episodes. I keep saying this, but I honestly thought I would've stopped after, like, 10 episodes or so before packing it in. But no, I'm still here writing this series, and I am very thankful to anyone who has kept on reading these reviews, regardless of whether or not they get any comments.

So now that I've made it to this historic milestone, what movie am I gonna cover for the 200th episode? Well, you kinda know what it is already by looking at the cover, so it kinda already takes the mystery out of it. However, it is a movie that I wanted to save for this particular milestone, and now we're finally at that point. Tonight's movie, for episode 200, is an animated movie from 2021. That movie is "Belle".

Oh yes, guys, I have been wanting to cover this movie ever since it was announced several years ago. Why? Because it's from one of my favorite directors, Mamoru Hosoda. The same man who also directed such awesome movies like "Wolf Children", "Mirai", and "Summer Wars". I wasn't that big a fan of "The Boy and the Beast". I honestly thought that one was sort of his weakest film. But still, the man knows how to make great movies, and I'm hoping this one is definitely gonna follow suit.

Now as for what I know about the movie itself, the one thing I've heard about it is that, apparently, the plot is like an online version of "Beauty and the Beast". Now I should mention that out of all the films from Disney's renaissance era, "Beauty and the Beast" is one of the only ones that has aged the best. At least, to me, it has. But as for what else I know about this movie, I have kept myself away from looking at any clips or trailers of this thing, because I want to go into this movie as blind as I possibly could. And so far, it has worked tremendously for me, as I finally get a chance to see this movie for myself.

So, guys, it is *finally* time for me to sit down and actually watch this thing, and I am damn near excited that I finally get to watch it. Now I know it's possible that this movie could potentially be a letdown, but I am still hoping for the absolute best here, given it's director, along with the studio that made it. So the only thing left for me to do right now is for me to shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, ladies and gentlemen, for the 200th time, it is time to kick back, relax, and let's check out "Belle".

2 minutes later

Wait a minute...an open virtual world, where you have your own online avatar to explore and communicate with others around the world...my god, this is literally almost the exact same opening as "Summer Wars"! No, guys, I'm not kidding, it *literally* is almost beat for beat the same introduction as what was seen in "Summer Wars". I never thought'd I'd say that about a movie from Hosoda, but holy shit, I'm kinda surprised about that. But I'm still gonna give it a chance, and see where it goes.

13 minutes later

Huh. You know, guys, I just noticed a pattern with several of the movies that I've seen from Hosoda. It seems as though they like to comment on the explanation of the main character's names. For example, in "Wolf Children" Hana's name meant the Sun. In "Mirai", Mirai's name meant future. And in this movie, Suzu's name is another word for Belle. I honestly didn't even know that last one, but I do kinda like those details. And if anything else, at least I have an idea as to how this movie got that title in the first place. You really do learn something new everyday, don't ya?

5 minutes later

So let me f I understand this. Belle, which is Suzu's "U" avatar I should mention, starts singing the moment Suzu creates a "U" account. And immediately overnight, she suddenly becomes this online sensation through her singing. What I find kind of hilarious is that a moment before she suddenly got famous, there some random avatars that commented about how she either sounded annoying or didn't look ugly. I honestly thought it would've taken her awhile before she suddenly got famous. But then again, considering how YouTube can make stars out of literal nobodies, I guess maybe I shouldn't be complaining about that.

10 minutes later

Well, guys, I am able to say this much so far. The animation, the music, and most of the acting has been really awesome. The animation, in particular, looks fucking amazing to look at! The story is a little bit on the weaker side, so far, but I am genuinely hoping for it to get better as the movie goes along.

20 minutes later

OK, you know what, I'm actually really digging how they're making this explanation about Suzu holding hands with her childhood friends seem like a computer strategy game. I have no idea if the footage I'm seeing is from an actual game or not, but I will say that the way it's being presenting is actually kind of funny and clever. I really wasn't expecting that.

11 minutes later

So, guys, you happened to remember earlier when I said that this movie was suppose to be some sort of online version of "Beauty and the Beast"? Well, they are now going straight for that here, as we're getting the scene of them dancing together. Mind you, it's been like that for, like, the past 10 minutes so far, but now it's showing it's colors. Mind you, I am in no way saying that this is a bad thing. In fact, this scene that is coupled with Belle's singing is actually really making this scene rather wholesome. I'm actually really starting to like it.

20 minutes later

You know, guys, it's weird. The story here is really fascinating and everything, but there's just something about it that feels...off to me. I'm not entirely sure what it is at the moment, but I'll try to explain it later when I eventually cover this thing.

The Review

OK...well, guys, that was "Belle". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Oh boy, um...where to even start...? Well, I suppose I can start by answering this question. Is this movie good? Oh yes. I'd almost say that it's even great. But unfortunately, I don't think it's one of Hosoda's best, either. It's nowhere near as good as "Wolf Children" or "Mirai", but I would say it is better than "The Boy and the Beast". And as for "Summer Wars", well...it's a tough call, but I would say it's almost as good as that movie was, but doesn't exactly reach it. Now keep in mind, just because I say it's not as good as his other movies, this is just how I see it. I've heard a lot of people say that it's probably one of his best films, and that's totally cool if you see it that way. But as for my perspective, I can't really put it above most of his other movies that I've seen before, and it kinda falls on being just a little beat weak to me.

So, rather than me just summarizing my feelings about the movie itself, why don't we finally talk about it, shall we? And as usual, I'm gonna start with the writing. Now I've mentioned before a couple of times already that this movie is suppose be an online version of "Beauty and the Beast". And, in part, this movie is sort of a retelling of that classic story. In fact, there are scenes in this movie that are very reminiscent to the Disney animated movie. Such as when you see this movie's version of Belle entering the castle for the first time, or how she ends up discovering the broken portrait of what he use to like as a human, or how the Beast yells at her to "Get out!", or the scene of the famous dance sequence that they share together. All of that is very identical to how the Disney animated movie played out. Now granted, I understand Disney, obviously, was not the inventor of "Beauty and the Beast". However, I'm just using that as a reference because that's the version most people remember when they think of that classic story. And while this movie does have those scenes, in some parts, they actually enhance some of those scenes to make it stand out in it's own unique way. Most of that being the dance sequence, which was definitely really solid. I honestly think, in retrospect, it felt like a loving tribute to the Disney animated film. And while it may have scenes that are very similar to how it played out then, it still does just enough here to where it feels fresh and new, and I honestly really liked that aspect of the film.

Now I also mentioned that this movie, right at the beginning, felt very similar to another Hosoda film called "Summer Wars". Where both movies have very similar concepts with their own virtual worlds. The only real difference between the two is that "OZ", which was the online world name in "Summer Wars" was basically just a fancier version of the internet. And in this movie, "U" is basically meant for people to start over a new life through this virtual online world. In essence, it's sort of like an interactive message board where you have online avatars all over the world connecting with each other through social media. Now granted, I understand it doesn't sound *that* much different in how I described it to you guys. But trust me, there is a difference between how "OZ" and "U" works. And those who have seen those movies would know exactly what I'm talking about. So, when it comes to this movie using that similar aspect again here, I don't really mind it, as long as they're able to make it work in some way with the story. Now I will get a little more into that in a bit, but first, I will say, visually speaking, that "U" looks fantastic. It really does look beautiful to look at. Although I may be jumping ahead here, because I'm kinda getting into a little bit of the animation, so I'll save that part for later.

But for now, let's get back to talking about the writing here. The story here, apart from the moments where it's doing a retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" centers around our main character, Suzu. She is basically a socially quiet girl who is going through life at high school. We find out early on that her mother sacrificed her own life in order to save a child that was stuck on a rock in the middle of a dangerous river stream, leaving the child Suzu in her father's care. And since that moment of her life, her passion for singing had also crumbled away. Which then leads into the present day, where thanks to an online post from one of her friends, she is introduced to the world of "U" and is able to get an avatar of her own through this bio-metric feature of "U"' where it gathered the aspects of Suzu's freckles, and thus is how Belle exists. I would question why this bio-metric feature only really applied to Suzu's avatar, while everyone else's avatars looked vastly different from each other. But honestly, that's not really too big of an issue that I have much of a problem with.

Speaking of which, let's get into the issues that I had with this movie. As I mentioned earlier, this movie is partially a retelling of "Beauty and the Beast". And that part, in itself, I don't have much of an issue with. It's really just some of the other stuff that I kind of had an issue with. Mainly, the story felt like it was all over the place. We have the stuff involving Suzu's high school life, then there's also the aspect of her love life which really doesn't go anywhere. And then there's also the 3rd act of the film. Now I won't go into too many spoilers here, because I will say most of it was rather intriguing. But it's at the point where the film had a tonal shift from being a rather sweet slice-of-life story while combining some of the aspects of "Beauty and the Beast", to a rather dark and tense moment that felt like it just came out of nowhere. Now admittedly, I will say, again, that it is rather intriguing to watch. And hell, I was heavily invested into what was going on during that moment. But, now that I'm actually talking about it, it does feel a little bit out place. Not only that, but the whole thing felt really rushed and unfinished as well, and I have no idea if there was suppose to be more than that or not. But I will say that it could be seen as a huge turnoff to some people in regards to the film's sudden tonal shift.

Another thing that sort of holds this movie down for me is more of a personal bias. I mostly hate teen romance stories, and, very rarely, do they ever work. Now I understand this movie is suppose to be a slice-of-life flick, but the teen romance stuff really doesn't add much of any substance to this film. In fact, this movie sort of has the same problem I had with a Studio Ghibli film that I watched which was called "Whisper of the Heart". Where with that movie, the main character was trying to write a story about the Baron, while also struggling with her schoolwork. And it would've been a great movie there if they had cut out the bullshit teen romance angle between her and the main male character. Now this movie, admittedly, handles it slightly better here in which it's mixed in with some of the film's humor. And the humor that is here is actually pretty funny in some areas, even in stuff that features the teen romance angles. Mind you, that's not saying a whole hell of a lot, but I will say at least it's not as badly handled here as it was in "Whisper of the Heart".

Now as for the characters, most of them are developed really well and are very likable. Suzu is honestly the most well-developed character in the entire movie and you really do care about her both in her real life, and as her "U" avatar, Belle. The Beast in this movie is more of an enigmatic character unlike the Disney version. And I will say, by the end, when you do get to know about him, it is some *very* interesting stuff. What followed after is rather debatable, but it still mostly works up to that point. The other characters aren't exactly, like, super developed unlike our main characters, but most of them do get some brief moments to shine. Probably the best supporting character would have to go to Hiroka, the one who wears glasses and also acts as Belle's manager in "U". Her childhood friend, Shinobu, though, is kind of on the bland side. Part of the reason why would have to go to the acting. However, I'll get to that in a second. But out of all the supporting characters I do remember, he's the only one I would have to say is really bland and kind of dull.

Overall, guys, the writing here is not as strong as I was hoping it would be. Now mind you, even though the story has it's weak points, it's not really enough to hold the entire movie down. Like I said, the characters are mostly really likable and have depth, and the retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" is also done really well, too. So I can say that the writing here, while kind of flawed, is still really good on it's strong points. And what also helps this movie is the acting. Specifically, I have to talk about the English dub for this thing. The dub here is mostly really good. The only bits of it that I felt were rather weak was the actor voicing Shinobu. I don't know if it was a case of poor voice direction or not, but Shinobu's English voice actor sounded kind of bored almost anytime his character was on screen. He just had one kind of tone for his voice and it mostly never changes up until the last few moments of the film where his character started to let loose a little bit. Now I have no idea if that's how it was like in the original Japanese version of the movie, but it is something that is worth noting, and I feel like the English voice actor for Shinobu just didn't have much to work with here. Everyone else though, is great. They give out 110% with their performances, and it makes the dub overall feel like it has life to it. Again, minus Shinobu's dub actor, but I'm not really gonna harp too much longer on that issue. So yeah, the English dub here is mostly great. Of course, there is an option on the DVD/Blu-ray to switch it over to the English subtitles with the original Japanese audio. So if you don't like one version over the other, there is that option for you. However, I still think the dub is definitely worth watching. So it's just something you have to take for what it's worth.

Let's get into the animation. Simply put, guys, the animation here is fucking amazing. And similar to "Summer Wars", the movie switches from 2D to 3D animation whenever it needed to focus on it's virtual world. And I'm gonna say this again, the visuals inside the world of "U" look great. And the online avatars you see throughout "U" are all very creative-looking. Now if I had to pick between which of the two virtual worlds I would prefer from either movie, I would pick "OZ" over "U", mostly because of it's more colorful appeal. "U" mostly has a somewhat more darker look to it. However, it still looks great for what it was trying to go for. The character models look really good for both styles of animation, and the color pallets are great. The 2D animation is also really stellar. But then again, considering that this movie is from Studio Chizu, the same animation studio that also made "Wolf Children", "Summer Wars", and "Mirai", I was sort of expecting more of the same beautiful animation, and it definitely delivered on that aspect.

I don't ever get to talk about this much in regards to animation, but I actually want to touch upon the picture quality for a moment. Now to many people, this isn't gonna be noticed by them. But in my case, I did happen to notice it a couple of times, and it sorta stuck out at me. First off, I want to say that the movie, again, looks great, and the picture is mostly just fine. However, there are certain moments that stand out whenever anytime there's a zoomed in shot of a character's face. For whatever reason, almost anytime that these shots happen, the character's mouths look rather unfocused. Now I don't mean that whenever they have to talk, I'm talking about whenever their mouths are closed. The lines on their mouths almost always look really squiggly and I don't know why that is. I don't know if it was an issue of the copy I had on DVD, or maybe if it was just the TV that I watched it on that caused this problem, I don't know. I happened to notice this problem also sometimes whenever I watched "Wolf Children". However, in the case of that movie, it is barely noticeable, if at all. Mostly because, they didn't have a lot of closeup shots in that movie that focused on character faces. Whenever this movie does it though, it stands out, and it stands out in a somewhat terrible way. However, I should mention again that this is really only a problem if you happen to notice it. And when it comes to me, I kinda tend to notice some of the smaller details in movies that almost no one else would notice, or even care about. So again, it's just something you have take for what it's worth. Maybe it was just an issue on my end, but it was still very noticeable to me.

Sound-mix in this movie is great. The music is also gorgeous to listen to. One thing I kinda left out when I covered acting was Suzu's dub actress, who goes by the name of Kylie McNeil. Not only does she provide the voice of Suzu, but she's also the singer of her "U" avatar, Belle. And there are quite a few numbers of songs in this movie that are sung by her. And I'm gonna tell you, guys, she is amazing in this movie. Every song that she sings sounds almost breathtaking to listen to. I may have to look up the soundtrack later to give it another listen, because all of the songs in this movie were really good. And not just the songs that were good, the score is also really good, too. Most of it is orchestral music, and all of it sounds amazing. If there's another true positive I can give this movie, it would have to be the music. It is just that amazing.

So ultimately, guys, when everything is done, can I recommend "Belle"? Definitely, yes. OK sure, the writing is a little bit weak in some areas,  but I assure you that it is still worth watching, especially if you are a fan of Hosoda's movies. Or if you're someone who loved Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" and you want to see an anime version of that story, then this movie will definitely provide that for you. Plus, coupled with the fact that the movie has some awesome animation and stellar music, it really is worth checking out for all of those points alone. Now again, I want to stress that in terms of all the films I've seen from Studio Chizu, this one isn't as strong as some of the other films that I've mentioned earlier, but I would still come back and re-watch this again at some point. So yeah, guys, if you can look past the flaws that this movie has in terms of it's writing, then go ahead and find a copy of it somewhere, be it on DVD or Blu-ray. Preferably cheap, because the most I can find it for physical copies is about $13, and I'm not sure if it's worth *that* much. I would prefer finding a copy of it around or under $10. If you can find it for that price, then I would definitely say pick it up. Luckily for me, I rented a copy of this thing at my local library. And before you ask, yes, there are libraries that still do that. So take that for what it's worth. Anyway...as for myself, I think I'm gonna go and re-watch another film from Hosoda. I think I'll go ahead and watch "Mirai" again. It has been a little while since I last saw it, so I'm gonna go and do that next after getting this review typed up.

And with that, guys, we have come to the close of the 200th episode of Reaction & Review. And again, I want to thank anyone who takes their time to read these reviews, even if you may never comment on them for your own reasons. So with that said, let's see if we can make it to 300 episodes. I have no idea on what I'll even do if I actually end up reaching that sort of milestone, but hey, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, right? Anyway, guys, take care, and I'll see you all later. Peace.