[totoum]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

Stop hyping this so much. I don't want to be disappointed!

I'm really trying not to hype it too much

Even went on the lookout for some negative feedback somewhere but I'm having a hard time finding any,of course it being a premiere the audience were already fans, so in some ways I guess the positive reaction is to be expected, he's pleased people that already liked his work,we'll have to wait and see if he's able to capture more people with this movie.

A couple of spoilerless trivia from the Q&A with Hosoda (japenese--->french----> english translation so hopefully nothing much got lost in translation):

-He first got the idea for the movie 3 years ago while he was still working on summer wars, he wanted to do a movie about bringing up children but felt that that alone wasn't enough,that's where the "wolf children" idea came in,he's fond of wolves and thinks they're missunderstood, often only portrayed as cunning and violent when in fact they can also be delicate and care about others.He thinks that in some ways they're close to humans.

-The country side you'll see in the movie is based upon the region Hosoda grew up in.They were looking over different regions to use and it was the first time he had been back there since he left highschool,he thought he knew the region well but by going back he discovered he didn't and working on the movie made him fall in love with the region all over again.

I'll go over the movie again in more detail,no major plot points (appart from 1 thing but it's in the synopsis),just a broad description of the movie and its themes but I'll put it under spoiler tags in case someone wants to go in completely blind

Spoiler for movie:

As a starter I'll say that this is Hosoda's most slice of life- ish movie yet, there's basicly three parts to this movie (that's an arbitrary divide done by me) that's narrated by the daughter Yuki:
-A prologue about how the mom met the dad up to the dad's death (I expect people to know about this since it's in the synopsis),you see some parts of this in the trailer.
-A part about raising the young kids,at first in the city and the in the country,a lot of the focus in this part is on the struggles of Hana as a parent and also having to adjust to a remote country life.That's where a vast majority of the trailer comes from.
-The kids are now older (11 and 10) and they share the spotlight with their mom as full blown characters after the previous part that really centered on Hana.This part is a real coming of age for both of them and another step in parenthood for Hana.It's barely shown in the trailers, you can just see a couple quick shots of Yuki and Ame in the latest trailer.
All 3 parts could have been a movie by themselves if you ask me but Hosoda but them all together for an even greater result,it's like we're getting a "3 in 1 movie"!

I call the first part the prologue in part because it felt like the shortest part(no idea if it was since logically I was too busy looking at the screen rather than my watch) but also because it really sticks out from the rest.I mentioned how Yuki was the narrator of this movie and her narration is mostly present in this part.It's her that tell you about how her parents first met,her narration is accompanied by the OST,at some key moments there's a break and you get a scene with dialogue.
So the presentation really made the part feet like a prologue to me,but in no way did it take away from it,it allowed Hosada to really try and tell the story visually.I had also wondered how Hosoda was going to compress 13 years in just under two hours and this was one of the few effective tools Hosoda had in his arsenal

The second part is the most comedic part of the film and many laughters were heard in the theatre,most of them based on the children and their antics.Yes raising furries can be quite troublesome but it's played for laughs rather than drama,same with having to adapt to the country life in a place where nature isn't forgiving.That outlook comes from Hana,she's a quiet but a quite positive thinking and determined woman.

The third part is more dramatic but there's still plenty of fun.It was already present in the previous parts but it's here that Hosoda explores the issue that shows he didn't just put in furries for the hell of it: being half wolf/half human can create some real identity issues for a kid. Ame and Yuki will have to face them.
From talking to people after the screening it seemed pretty evenly divided with those that preferred Ame, those that preferred Yuki and those that liked both evenly.
I personally had a preference for Yuki,watching her grow up from her 3 year old self to her 11 year old self was quite a marvel.

I'll finish with something I'm sure was evident to everyone but the visuals look great,there is some CG (notably the opening shot) but it's never intrusive.There's some great facial animation as well with some close ups that last a long time and it's up to the animators to express the character's emotion.

Can't wait to see it gain(but I'll have to!!).