Ryu to Sobakasu no Hime/Belle (Mamoru Hosoda)

[Stark700]

Ryu to Sobakasu no Hime ("Belle") movie announced for Summer 2021, by Mamoru Hosoda

The official website is up
https://ryu-to-sobakasu-no-hime.jp/

https://twitter.com/StudioChizu/stat...35797898338305

[Cosmic Eagle]

https://twitter.com/studio_chizu/sta...179663367?s=19

PV looks good

[Magin]

While I'm rather behind on his films, and they're not nearly as huge in the West as say Hayao Miyazaki or even Makoto Shinkai... I tend to enjoy Hosoda's films a ton.

[Helius]

YouTube

https://youtu.be/hM8T-6OvWpo

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YouTube

https://youtu.be/nBgL2Ei7Nv0

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The promos look great indeed. There's definitely a Summer Wars vibe with the VR theme.

[Magin]

So I recently learned something about the title that I absolutely love.

Turns out, it's a triple pun.

Of course, the English title is basically being called Belle. Obvious Beauty and the Beast themes here.

What is not so obvious at first glance... the main girl's name is Suzu. Suzu in Japanese means bell. I hope you can see where this goes.

[Helius]

Theme song "歌よ (Uta yo)"

YouTube

https://youtu.be/aFWDB1ndmfI

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The music is pretty much what got me excited for this film... that and the fact it's from Hosada Mamoru.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Watched it.



A simple but nicely done movie. Suzu's CV sure is one really good singer. This movie reminds me a lot of Summer Wars actually

[Magin]

I saw it myself... it was a good movie, but it was not a Great Movie. Of course, keep in mind my Japanese skills are still low-level, so I probably missed a bunch of nuances.

Oh, and Hosoda needs to get better at directing before he opens his mouth again. He gave an interview recently where he was criticizing a "very famous director", and everyone believes that was in reference to Miyazaki. Well, this movie was definitely not Ghibli level. In fact, I went in with high expectations... and was disappointed. It's NOT a bad movie... I just felt it had a lot of issues. But take Cosmic Eagle's word more than mine; I don't know how much I missed. I'll write everything that I understood in the spoiler tag.

Spoiler for Belle:

The biggest problem is that the trailers imply it's one movie... when in fact it's a VERY different movie. In fact, it felt like two movies crammed into one, and thus the results were underwhelming. Since this is all spoilers, this is what the theme of the movie ACTUALLY was: Suzu was raised on music, then a traumatic event happened (and that event was a plot device and a half...), and she can't do anything with music... she can't even sing, at least not in reality. Enter the VR world U, and she becomes a songtress in this world, since Belle is he alter-ego that can still sing. And ultimately, the movie is about Suzu being able to sing again. With a few twists and turns along the way, of course- including a kinda dark twist.

So let's talk about the good points first: animating a virtual world is where Hosoda's strength lies. The VR world of U was fantastic... even though japan STILL hasn't mastered 3DCGI. But it was a very colorful world, with all the avatars. Second, the soundtrack and songs were fantastic- I loved Belle's singing.

But... again, I have a LOT of issues. The first one is the animation itself. As I mentioned, the VR world is fantastic... in fact, I'm pretty sure that's where the majority of the budget went. because, all the Real World scenes had sub-par animation. And, I'm not sure if more time was spent in the VR world than Reality, but that's a major reason why it felt like two movies, and all the Real World animation was relatively sub-par. To be entirely fair, after masterpieces like Demon Slayer and Evangelion, I've been spoiled by fantastic animation.

The next problem is the traumatic event itself, and it was pure stupid BS, hence why I'm calling it a Plot Device. Suzu's mother is responsible for a young Suzu being heavily into music, from singing to playing the piano. And you learn before all this that she's dead. How did she die? A child was stranded on a sandbar in a raging river, and Suzu's mother puts on a life vest to save the child. I'm sorry, but this just about broke my suspension of disbelief. I don't care that this was anime, YOU DON'T GO INTO A FUCKING RAGING RIVER UNLESS YOU'RE A PROFESSIONAL! And even then, professionals go through a bunch of steps. yes, there's the whole "But she had to save the child" (and she did) argument... I still think it was a horrible way to kill off her mother.

And apparently this happened when Suzu was six. So she's been traumatized for at least 10 years, I think.

Oh, speaking of suspension of disbelief, this was a major, major problem with the movie. There were a lot of points where my own suspension of disbelief was pushed almost to the breaking point, and that's a Bad Thing for any movie. Even though he's a veteran director, Hosoda needs to brush up his skills because of this. The next examples occur in the world of U. Basically, it's hard to care about anything happening in the virtual world... when it has no relation to the Real World. or in other words: if an avatar is killed virtually, what's the problem? You just make a new one. Which is a big issue of why when the Dragon/Beast finally does make its appearance... well, after the initial meeting, Belle/Suzu works on finding him and trying to find out why he's in pain. Okay, I realize this is the Beauty and the Beast tie-in, and that it's a major plot point but... it;s just an avatar for fuck's sake! If it dies, the player creates a new one! That said, there was ultimately a real-world tie that gets it all worked out, and we'll get there.

I should mention, we also have the Gaston character who has some sort of "revealing" weapon. If I had understood that better, maybe I wouldn't have been so irked about the virtual world issues.

Oh, and back to the Real World animation. I said that it felt like all the budget went to the VR world? Well, other issues I had: it felt like all the characters were designed by discount CLAMP artists. You have your long arms and legs... and on top of all this, there were a TON of still-frame shots. Let me be more accurate: these were more like frozen-frame shots. Plus, any body movement, whether arms, legs, or mouths, had very little and often indistinct motion/detail. of course, this was all found in the VR side of the movie.

I should mention: a while ago, there were a whole slew of shows that could basically be described as "Idols, but with X!". That's how I felt about this movie: it was Another High School Students And Their Issues, but with VR and Beauty and the Beast!

So now for my last MAJOR issue (but not last overall issue) that had me going WTF?? in the Big Finale (which is never a good thing). At this point, Suzu's childhood friend has figured out she's Belle, they've uncovered who the Beast actually is, and then Blond Gaston and his enforcers have wrecked the Beast's castle and know Belle is somewhat close to him. Meaning that 'Gaston' (actual name: a I believe MLB player named Justin Fox) thinks of Belle as being guilty too. I really wish I had understood an earlier interrogation scene and what precisely his gauntlet does. As all the avatars form this weird bubble round Belle, and everyone both virtually and in the Real World tell Belle/Suzu she has to sing... the best guess about the gauntlet is that it reveals the person behind the avatar. And Belle willingly uses it on herself at the end... and a virtual Suzu is now in U. At least, I think. Because here's what the scene implies: the real Suzu is frozen by her trauma at this point. On one hand, the movie implies that somehow Suzu's actual body becomes digital... when we've had NOTHING WHICH IMPLIES THIS IS EVEN POSSIBLE. Plus with the way all the real world characters were looking, it was like they were looking at the screen of the computer instead of Suzu's actual body. There's not really any flash of light in the Real World or anything. At least Suzu does sing, and everything managed to get reset as she finds her voice. After this, the Belle avatar comes back, and you do see Suzu getting up in the Rael World. So I'm heavily, heavily confused on what actually took place there, but it felt like the movie was breaking its own rules (i.e. you can have an avatar, but you never physically can enter this digital world... probab;y has something to do with the gauntlet).

The last issue I have... so, how does everything tie together? Well, earlier on in the movie, we see another family where the mother has passed, leaving the father with his two children. Turns out, the father is an abusive dick. When we learn the real identity of the Beast, it turns out that the virtual pain is a reflection of how the actual person (a teenage guy) was being beaten by his father. Suzu wants to save him of course, but the guy basically says, "Those are just meaningless words". So, Suzu goes from the southern part of the island of Shikoku all the way to Tokyo. She manages to find the kids, and then the dickhole of a father finds them. he does once again start physicially beating them ALL (Suzu included), until she finally just stands up and looks at him. He's about ready to throw one more punch... and yet somehow, this teenage girl is able to stare him down. Um, Hosoda, that's NOT how abusers work. The father would've ABSOLUTELY punched her... but I suppose that would be too dark for this movie.

So, the way this all wraps up, is that Suzu finally gets back home, and once more she is encouraged to sing.

Now, if you read that LOOOOOONG spoiler, you might think that i thought it was a bad movie. Again, it's NOT terrible. I've just seen two other FANTASTIC movies, and this one didn't live up to expectations.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Magin

Hosoda needs to get better at directing before he opens his mouth again. He gave an interview recently where he was criticizing a "very famous director", and everyone believes that was in reference to Miyazaki. Well, this movie was definitely not Ghibli level.

To be fair, the reason Hosoda criticized that "very famous director" has little to do with film-making and more to do with said famous director having the bad habit of glorifying his female characters instead of treating them as flawed human beings. And to be honest, Hosoda kinda has a point.

[Magin]

This is true... but being a director means the whole package as well. It's very true that Suzu is heavily, heavily flawed... but Hosoda is quick to forget that one of his most famous movies (Summer Wars) has a heroine who is glorified. I can't speak for some of his other movies like Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Mirai because I haven't seen them... but Hosoda is in danger of being a hypocrite, as much as I like the works I have seen. Of course, there's the whole point that he may have said this just to get buzz around his name.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by Magin

I saw it myself... it was a good movie, but it was not a Great Movie. Of course, keep in mind my Japanese skills are still low-level, so I probably missed a bunch of nuances.

Oh, and Hosoda needs to get better at directing before he opens his mouth again. He gave an interview recently where he was criticizing a "very famous director", and everyone believes that was in reference to Miyazaki. Well, this movie was definitely not Ghibli level. In fact, I went in with high expectations... and was disappointed. It's NOT a bad movie... I just felt it had a lot of issues. But take Cosmic Eagle's word more than mine; I don't know how much I missed. I'll write everything that I understood in the spoiler tag.

Spoiler for Belle:

The biggest problem is that the trailers imply it's one movie... when in fact it's a VERY different movie. In fact, it felt like two movies crammed into one, and thus the results were underwhelming. Since this is all spoilers, this is what the theme of the movie ACTUALLY was: Suzu was raised on music, then a traumatic event happened (and that event was a plot device and a half...), and she can't do anything with music... she can't even sing, at least not in reality. Enter the VR world U, and she becomes a songtress in this world, since Belle is he alter-ego that can still sing. And ultimately, the movie is about Suzu being able to sing again. With a few twists and turns along the way, of course- including a kinda dark twist.

So let's talk about the good points first: animating a virtual world is where Hosoda's strength lies. The VR world of U was fantastic... even though japan STILL hasn't mastered 3DCGI. But it was a very colorful world, with all the avatars. Second, the soundtrack and songs were fantastic- I loved Belle's singing.

But... again, I have a LOT of issues. The first one is the animation itself. As I mentioned, the VR world is fantastic... in fact, I'm pretty sure that's where the majority of the budget went. because, all the Real World scenes had sub-par animation. And, I'm not sure if more time was spent in the VR world than Reality, but that's a major reason why it felt like two movies, and all the Real World animation was relatively sub-par. To be entirely fair, after masterpieces like Demon Slayer and Evangelion, I've been spoiled by fantastic animation.

The next problem is the traumatic event itself, and it was pure stupid BS, hence why I'm calling it a Plot Device. Suzu's mother is responsible for a young Suzu being heavily into music, from singing to playing the piano. And you learn before all this that she's dead. How did she die? A child was stranded on a sandbar in a raging river, and Suzu's mother puts on a life vest to save the child. I'm sorry, but this just about broke my suspension of disbelief. I don't care that this was anime, YOU DON'T GO INTO A FUCKING RAGING RIVER UNLESS YOU'RE A PROFESSIONAL! And even then, professionals go through a bunch of steps. yes, there's the whole "But she had to save the child" (and she did) argument... I still think it was a horrible way to kill off her mother.

And apparently this happened when Suzu was six. So she's been traumatized for at least 10 years, I think.

Oh, speaking of suspension of disbelief, this was a major, major problem with the movie. There were a lot of points where my own suspension of disbelief was pushed almost to the breaking point, and that's a Bad Thing for any movie. Even though he's a veteran director, Hosoda needs to brush up his skills because of this. The next examples occur in the world of U. Basically, it's hard to care about anything happening in the virtual world... when it has no relation to the Real World. or in other words: if an avatar is killed virtually, what's the problem? You just make a new one. Which is a big issue of why when the Dragon/Beast finally does make its appearance... well, after the initial meeting, Belle/Suzu works on finding him and trying to find out why he's in pain. Okay, I realize this is the Beauty and the Beast tie-in, and that it's a major plot point but... it;s just an avatar for fuck's sake! If it dies, the player creates a new one! That said, there was ultimately a real-world tie that gets it all worked out, and we'll get there.

I should mention, we also have the Gaston character who has some sort of "revealing" weapon. If I had understood that better, maybe I wouldn't have been so irked about the virtual world issues.

Oh, and back to the Real World animation. I said that it felt like all the budget went to the VR world? Well, other issues I had: it felt like all the characters were designed by discount CLAMP artists. You have your long arms and legs... and on top of all this, there were a TON of still-frame shots. Let me be more accurate: these were more like frozen-frame shots. Plus, any body movement, whether arms, legs, or mouths, had very little and often indistinct motion/detail. of course, this was all found in the VR side of the movie.

I should mention: a while ago, there were a whole slew of shows that could basically be described as "Idols, but with X!". That's how I felt about this movie: it was Another High School Students And Their Issues, but with VR and Beauty and the Beast!

So now for my last MAJOR issue (but not last overall issue) that had me going WTF?? in the Big Finale (which is never a good thing). At this point, Suzu's childhood friend has figured out she's Belle, they've uncovered who the Beast actually is, and then Blond Gaston and his enforcers have wrecked the Beast's castle and know Belle is somewhat close to him. Meaning that 'Gaston' (actual name: a I believe MLB player named Justin Fox) thinks of Belle as being guilty too. I really wish I had understood an earlier interrogation scene and what precisely his gauntlet does. As all the avatars form this weird bubble round Belle, and everyone both virtually and in the Real World tell Belle/Suzu she has to sing... the best guess about the gauntlet is that it reveals the person behind the avatar. And Belle willingly uses it on herself at the end... and a virtual Suzu is now in U. At least, I think. Because here's what the scene implies: the real Suzu is frozen by her trauma at this point. On one hand, the movie implies that somehow Suzu's actual body becomes digital... when we've had NOTHING WHICH IMPLIES THIS IS EVEN POSSIBLE. Plus with the way all the real world characters were looking, it was like they were looking at the screen of the computer instead of Suzu's actual body. There's not really any flash of light in the Real World or anything. At least Suzu does sing, and everything managed to get reset as she finds her voice. After this, the Belle avatar comes back, and you do see Suzu getting up in the Rael World. So I'm heavily, heavily confused on what actually took place there, but it felt like the movie was breaking its own rules (i.e. you can have an avatar, but you never physically can enter this digital world... probab;y has something to do with the gauntlet).

The last issue I have... so, how does everything tie together? Well, earlier on in the movie, we see another family where the mother has passed, leaving the father with his two children. Turns out, the father is an abusive dick. When we learn the real identity of the Beast, it turns out that the virtual pain is a reflection of how the actual person (a teenage guy) was being beaten by his father. Suzu wants to save him of course, but the guy basically says, "Those are just meaningless words". So, Suzu goes from the southern part of the island of Shikoku all the way to Tokyo. She manages to find the kids, and then the dickhole of a father finds them. he does once again start physicially beating them ALL (Suzu included), until she finally just stands up and looks at him. He's about ready to throw one more punch... and yet somehow, this teenage girl is able to stare him down. Um, Hosoda, that's NOT how abusers work. The father would've ABSOLUTELY punched her... but I suppose that would be too dark for this movie.

So, the way this all wraps up, is that Suzu finally gets back home, and once more she is encouraged to sing.

Now, if you read that LOOOOOONG spoiler, you might think that i thought it was a bad movie. Again, it's NOT terrible. I've just seen two other FANTASTIC movies, and this one didn't live up to expectations.

Spoiler:

Justin's gauntlet uses the bio data copied by the app to unmask the real user in U. IE strip the avatar so the Origin (actual person...but still a digital copy. Coz no, you can't literally enter the digital world) is revealed. So you get essentially the person being cancelled online and offline, turned into a social pariah etc. I still can't believe how his gauntlet is backed by so many sponsors though. 10/10 capitalism.

Anyway, this is why I said the actual movie itself is pretty simple. It follows the main theme of Suzu overcoming her trauma and the sub theme of child abuse with the Dragon. The VR is just a plot device thing.

So why Suzu cares if the Dragon avatar is destroyed? Well is not just the avatar. Justin aims to expose the actual person behind the avatar, like a freaking stalker. And Suzu obviously cares for the Dragon.

And I think....Suzu rushing down to find Kei was supposed to parallel how her mum sacrificed herself to save the kid. Not a very good parallel I'll admit but Suzu seems to realize how her mother felt somewhat in that moment.


The last part was the weakest easily. I was like.....whut. You let such a weak shit abuse you for so long? Hah??!?! Also I was expecting Suzu to at least threaten the dad with a lawsuit and child protection services instead of just glaring at him....

But aside from that bit, if you focus more on the IRL scenes you'll see where the main thrust of the film actually lies.

Speaking of two other movies....is サイダーのように言葉が湧き上がる one of them? Going to watch that next. Looks not bad

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Magin

This is true... but being a director means the whole package as well. It's very true that Suzu is heavily, heavily flawed... but Hosoda is quick to forget that one of his most famous movies (Summer Wars) has a heroine who is glorified. I can't speak for some of his other movies like Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Mirai because I haven't seen them... but Hosoda is in danger of being a hypocrite, as much as I like the works I have seen. Of course, there's the whole point that he may have said this just to get buzz around his name.

But Hosoda wasn't criticizing the whole package - he was criticizing one very specific aspect of Miyazaki's catalog. You can agree or disagree with the criticism on its own merits, but I don't think it's valid to say "Hosoda shouldn't criticize Miyazaki about anything until he's demonstrably a better director than Miyazaki is".

[LG-MAX 2.o]

nah, you guys are all wrong. Hosoda is just trying to be controversial. To denigrate others to improve one's work and thus try to sell it. Classic market strategy, especially nowadays that people try to "be badass" and many like it.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by LG-MAX 2.o

nah, you guys are all wrong. Hosoda is just trying to be controversial. To denigrate others to improve one's work and thus try to sell it. Classic market strategy, especially nowadays that people try to "be badass" and many like it.

TBH even Miyazaki does that.......It's best to ignore whatever they say unless it pertains directly to their own work

[Ragashingo]

Finally managed to see this. Gonna just spoiler everything else since it's not out everywhere yet...

Spoiler:

I thought the first 20 minutes was utterly fantastic! In general the movie looks and sounds amazing, and the story beats in the first 20 minutes concluding with Suzu finding happiness for the first time in years was ridiculously good. I'd compare it to the opening of Pixar's Up. It had that same "they could have just done this and had a massive success!"

The middle was fine. Good even. There were plenty of entertaining moments from Suzu's new friendship with Luka to the long, hilariously awkward pauses where she tried to get her two friends to admit their feelings for each other. To Suzu's friend apologizing when she accidentally mentioned her mother then realized that Suzu's was (still) dead. Just all sorts of great moments that were really well done.

The ending was... vastly disappointing! For a few reasons:
1. Why was the public unveiling of someone such a big deal. No, I get it in some sense. I operate as Ragashingo on the internet almost exclusively. I don't particularly want anyone to have access to who I really am. But if you all found out my real name and location and occupation... eh... so what? Sure, if I was super famous online or offline it might complicate my real life. But the movie was treating it like an online death sentence. At one point Justin (the guy with the unveiling weapon) even commented he was surprised that Suzu didn't vanish as if separating her virtual self from her real self would disconnect her from U or something... At best, I felt the stakes weren't set very well. At worst, I think we simply weren't told why it mattered.

2. Speaking of mattering, if unveiling someone was such a powerful act, something that would ruin careers, destroy fame, and possibly disconnect someone permanently or delete their avatar... why the heck was it even allowed?! And why was one unruly avatar (the Beast) so disruptive that what were implied to be a large number of major corporate backers were willing to unveil him?? As far as we were told the Beast just beat people really badly in virtual fighting tournaments. Why was it even acceptable to unveil him?! The privacy violations alone should have made Justin a villain. The Voices of U (its creators / leaders) should have banned Justin for having that kind of power which he himself said was only possessed by the Voices. And he was gonna use it on a kid whose only sin was taking out his pain of being beaten in the real world in virtual fighting games in the virtual world. This part of the plot... mostly that Justin would wield such power against such a innocent and insignificant target... was really messed up.

3. What did Suzu accomplish with regards to Kei, the boy who was being beaten by his father?? We weren't shown!! Kei said he'd fight back from now on. Does that mean he... was going to injure his father?! Did he actually go back to that man?! Did no one ever separate those kids from their physically abusive father?! We simply don't know! I thought the plot was going to go the direction of Belle abandoning her fame in exchange for saving the brothers. That she'd reveal herself to be a nobody and be rejected by the peoples of U but would save a life and in doing so learn some of why her mother did what she did. Or, that Suzu would do all that but in doing so would use the popularity of U to focus the world's attention on the abuse the brothers were being subjected to. But none of that happened. Instead of leveraging the virtual world... Suzu traveled across Japan to confront a man twice her size all by herself??! And her friends and family let her!?!

4. Finally, I didn't understand everybody singing and getting the glowing ball of light. Yeah, yeah... it kinda represents singing from the heart and letting ones true feelings shine... or something. But that's the problem. The "or something." What did it really mean besides people were moved by Suzu's song. They didn't understand why she was singing or why she unveiled herself or the trauma she suffered as a child and was overcoming. To them, it should have just been a pretty song, right? It kinda felt like something... like the public of U at large understanding Suzu's situation... got lost in a rewrite and never made it back into the plot.

I enjoyed the heck out of large portions of this movie but man the more I think about the ending the flatter it seems to fall for me. Art, animation, music, and characters were generally Best of the Best quality until the end... but yeah... there were some major gaps in the final third of the movie.

[Magin]

Yeah, regarding your issues with the movie, that seems to be the consensus.

Spoiler for Belle and the ending:

The first two thirds of the movie are great, especially seeing the contrast between the Virtual World and the Real World. Letting Suzu finally shine as she rediscovers her singing ability... that was fantastic. Of course, we also go full-on Beauty and the Beast for a while.

But the ending, while not terrible... it was pretty weak. At the whole Revelation power makes sense, at least in context of today's social media: there's a LOT of folks, myself included, who really don't want their online identities and real world identities put together. You may have heard the term "keyboard warrior", and that's one such reason. But then Suzu confronting a man twice her sized and he just... gives up after throwing one or two punches? Yes, Very Lame.

[Cosmic Eagle]

I seriously thought Justin's sponsorship backing was a satire of Google et al....

[TinyRedLeaf]

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.

[Guardian Enzo]

The hard truth is he's just not the same without Satoko Okudera.

[SeijiSensei]

I thought the best scene was

Spoiler:

Suzu facing down the abusive father with that look of strong determination on her face. That scene rather crystallizes her development.