Suzume is STUNNING Anime Movie Review

From the director of Your Name and Weathering With You, I'm in. What is up, Fleek fans? Welcome back to my channel. Today we are talking Suzume. I just saw this film in theaters. Can't wait to talk about it. Let's do it. This is described as a modern action adventure road trip story where a 17-year-old girl named Suzume helps a mysterious young man close doors from the other side that are releasing disasters all over Japan. Very interesting plot there. The movie is rated PG for action, peril, language, thematic elements, and smoking. And I'll start right here. I have to see this movie again. I wanted to watch the subtitled version. That's normally the route I go with an anime movie on the big screen, but because of time and the little slot that I had, I had to watch the dubbed version, which was still good. I enjoyed it. But, you know, usually I prefer subtitles. We'll see. Like I said, this comes from director Makoto Shinkai, who directed Weathering With You, Your Name. Your Name kind of changed my life, man. I absolutely love the movie. I understand it's become, in some opinions, over-hyped over the years. But for me, it did everything it needed to do. It's in my top 50 movies of all time. Weathering With You, not as good, still interesting, very similar in certain ways. Suzume is a drastically different movie. It takes on much more of a fantasy element. It runs with it from the beginning of the movie. I do believe our protagonist is similar in certain ways, but where the film goes, trust me, you're not going to know what to expect. So at the beginning of the movie, Suzume, she's having this dream to where she's recalling something from her childhood that plays heavily into what her journey is in this film. But then she encounters someone special. And so does an interesting character. He comes along as this mysterious, semi-good-looking man. She has the rosy cheeks and she's kind of like, first of all, yes. Second of all, what role does this man have in my life? Because I feel like I've seen his face before. Now, how does that factor in? You have a lot of questions at the beginning of this movie, but obviously you're being treated because the animation is gorgeous. The music itself, maybe I expected to be more consistent all throughout the movie, but that song that they play, especially the one that they play in the trailer is pretty awesome. It was stuck in my head for, well, it's still stuck in my head. And she's interesting because of the relationship surrounding her at the beginning, kind of this strained back and forth between she and her aunt. The role that she has in her life is a fascinating one, but there are also relationships that she makes along the way as we're going on this journey. And we'll talk about that journey here in just a second, but it's just really fun to see an adventure like this. And I'm a sucker for someone going on a hero's journey and meeting people along the way and befriending them to the point to where we can go off on this little side adventure, this subplot, this storyline that may not factor too heavily into the main goal, but you'll love it nonetheless because you appreciate the camaraderie or lack thereof between the two. Now that being said, I do think one or two of those storylines goes on just a bit too long, right? There's one where she has to go off and babysit some kids and work at this bar. And I'm like, ah, it may be taking up just a little bit too much time. Maybe chopping 15 to 20 minutes off of the runtime of this movie would have allowed the pacing to shine through just a bit more because the main goal here, the focus is on this mysterious figure that she encounters who she comes back to later on in the movie and see something she's not supposed to see. He's trying to close this mysterious door where this big gooey demon looking thing is coming out and causing chaos. I don't want to say exactly what it's doing, but she finds that she has a role in this journey as well. So she goes along for the ride, but it's not the ride that she expects at all, because then you have this cat that comes in and says, I'm going to mess everything up. You what? I don't know what the marketing's looked like for this movie, so I don't know what has or has not been revealed, but I will say obviously Soto plays a major role in this story, but there's also this chair that plays a major role in this story and it makes for some very humorous moments. One thing that I love about this director in general is that that sense of humor can come into play and lift you up in moments that maybe become too overwhelming, too emotional, and the chair's role along with the cat's role trying to figure out what it all means as we're going and the moments where everybody's chasing each other. I won't say who is what exactly, just in case the marketing hasn't revealed that, but I really like that aspect of the story. It's ridiculous. I was describing this to my wife, telling her what happened along the way, revealing a few things here and there, and she's like, what? And you enjoyed that? I'm like, yes, I did because of the way that it all comes together. It provides humor, it provides emotion, and you buy it. And that's what I really respect and appreciate is just the fact that they brought all of these mad ideas together and created something fascinating and this emotional journey of finding your purpose and understanding that what you are doing may be bigger than what people realize. And sometimes your job, and they say it at one point, the movie's like, I'm not making money doing what I'm doing. It's just, it's what I have to do. So I respect and appreciate that. But there's also a point to Susamay's journey and where she realizes she has to be something more, and she is that, and she becomes that. But there is also a point after that to where she kind of turns it all on its head and makes a selfish decision, a decision that spawns off of this person that she just met a few days or weeks ago. There's a time gap between this. So obviously, they've gotten to know each other. But the rationale here of being so connected and emotionally attached from even a romance standpoint to this person that I recently met and basing this life-altering decision on that one point, to me, was my only issue, my only real issue. I have some minor nitpicks here and there. With this movie, the fact that she's only known him for a certain period of time and already feels this strongly, I get that type of bond. I get the idea of, well, this is what I have to do. But at the same time, it's still a selfish decision, the decision that she's making. And it's all based around this one individual who, I mean, the connection is there, but is it there on the level that the movie tells me that it is? And that's where the romance comes in. And that's where I think a lot of people will have issues with this movie. It's just not fleshed out. There just wasn't as much time between the two that I think there needed to be. I feel like I'm being too negative on this movie, man. It's a beautiful film. The animation is stunning. The integration of the CGI when it comes in and at times enhances what we're getting with the 2D. But I'm always going to look at a movie like this. I'm going to prefer the 2D because the 2D is where it's at, man. Those beautiful backgrounds, the stunning lighting on the characters, the shading, and just the techniques that Shinkai uses and has been using in his movies. That elevates the material. It elevates an already interesting, outlandish, and very different story, which I appreciate. Also, utilizing real-life disasters in this movie. It is earthquakes. And what happens with these forces can cause an earthquake to happen in not just one city, but multiple cities. And we do end up in Tokyo, but we get to explore and go on adventures, right? In his other movies, we're always based in these big cities. But this time, we're seeing different landscapes, different cities. So it's allowing us to see different backdrops. And that also opens up a world of possibilities of the visuals that we can get from a movie like this. So that was really interesting. Like I said, the score is really good. One or two songs that are very memorable. But overall, maybe I expected more. Regardless, it still helped out the story as an experience. And I can speak upon emotions. That's how I want to talk about this movie. It was emotional. It kept me engaged. I enjoyed her journey. I enjoyed the journey in general. And this is one that I was just so locked in on how interesting and different this all was. But it was also the relationships that formed along the way. And then just that little subtle sense of humor. It's like, did that cat just talk? Nah, it didn't talk. We're good. It's moments like that. And what's the chair doing? What's the chair doing? I feel like I've talked enough. I don't want to dive too deep in the story. Hey, if you're here, this is the first review you've ever watched for me. And you want to drop a like, man, that would help this channel out very much so. And it would just make me happy. So thank you. And if you don't want to make me happy, it would make me sad. So do it then too. Susan Maye has everything you need to make for an impactful, emotional, and effective story. The core relationship feels a bit rushed, but the creativity that spawns from their journey makes for a spectacular theatrical experience. I would say see this in a theater. I saw it in a packed theater, not one seat open, which was really cool to see. And again, I have to go back and see the subtitled version. I want to see those original performances, but I thought the voice cast did a nice, effective job. So I like that experience. Let's see if I like the other one. Thanks for watching. I forgot what I was going to say. Bye-bye.