I finally got to watch the movie on the silver screen. It's a pretty film, and I wish it luck at any awards it might get nominated for.
Ultimately, though, while I enjoyed Belle, I wasn't wowed by it. For starters, I'm disappointed that Hosoda rehashed familiar ground that he had already explored previously, particularly for the setting of U. As someone else pointed out, it instantly reminds me of Summer Wars, and the virtual worlds of both movies are functionally the same thing.
Narratively, I also felt that the story threads were pulling in different directions, and while they eventually did tie together, the payoff didn't feel satisfying. For example:
Spoiler for character relationships and plot points:
What was the point of having Shinobu around as a pseudo love interest? He barely contributed anything to Suzu's character development. It seemed to me that his main purpose was to be a decoy to trick the audience into thinking that he may be the "Dragon", until it was revealed he wasn't.
The "message" of the movie is a bit too on-the-nose as well, and lacked nuance. Yes, yes, I get it — it's great to have an outlet to get past your personal insecurities, while not neglecting to engage with the real world and the people around you. But it felt shallow throughout, because the people in Suzu's real world were unanimously supportive. There wasn't any dramatic conflict to be resolved on that front, so the resolution in the end felt too neat and tidy, and even unnecessary.
By that, I mean if the actual conflict was Suzu's need to resolve her insecurities and realise the vacuousness of pretending to be someone you're not, then I wish the movie invested more of its time on this narrative thread, rather than wasting air time on the more peripheral issues.
And while I understand that the sub plot involving Kei and his brother was meant to be a parallel for Suzu's own trauma, it ultimately felt unnecessary and tacked on. It's difficult to grasp why these two characters mattered so much to Suzu, despite her extremely limited interaction with them.
The plus points: The soundtrack and the songs are really good and suitably pleasing. The movie is at its best whenever Belle/Suzu gets to sing her heart out, especially towards the poignant finale. And the characters, while not particularly memorable, are at least good fun to watch.
Overall, I feel that, creatively, Belle is actually a step backwards for Hosoda. Most fans seem to dislike Mirai, but I still maintain that that was the film which Hosoda should be better noted for, because he took more daring risks with that movie than he did with Belle.
In conclusion, like others said, Belle is not a bad movie. But it's not a great movie either. It's just a little bit above-average at best.