Review: BELLE Is A New Take On The Classic BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Belle is the latest anime by Mamoru Hosoda about a shy girl named Suzu who enters a virtual reality to reinvent herself. I enjoyed the movie overall, while I have a few complaints it was worth watching and I think will definitely be worth seeing at a movie theater. I watched the subtitled version so I can’t speak to how well they cast the English dub outside of the few clips that have been released. Spoilers ahead so stop reading if you haven’t watched the movie yet and don’t want to know what happens.
First let's talk about animation. This movie is visually beautiful to watch. It was a delight to see not only the vast virtual world, but the landscapes for the real world were really well done too. One of my favorite scenes is at the end when Suzu is singing her song to reach out to the Dragon and the crowd of people are so touched that their hearts start to glow. Soon Suzu is surrounded by a sea of glowing hearts. It was a really moving scene to have at the climax of the movie. There are a lot of scenes with obvious inspiration from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast which were fun to see, but some were taken to another level. For example, during the dance between Belle and the Dragon, they end up flying into the air and being surrounded by stars because this is a virtual world after all.
The music was really great and probably the thing this movie will be known for. I really enjoyed each song sung by Belle/Suzu. They were varied enough to keep them interesting and each one really contributed to the moment they were being sung. I already mentioned it, but the final song, “A Million Miles Away”, was by far my favorite. It’s an emotional moment when Suzu is finally able to sing about her mother, who died when she was a child, while trying to reach out to the Dragon to get him to trust her that she really wants to help him.
Story wise, this movie is interesting but meanders around a bit. It’s mainly about Suzu and her journey of overcoming the grief at the loss of her mother. But it’s also about her trying to get close to and finding out who the Dragon character really is. After he interrupts her concert she is very determined to find out who he is. Although that desire started with wanting to unveil him, it ended with becoming friends and eventually learning he is a victim of abuse at the hands of his father. I wish we had had more scenes of Suzu/Belle talking with the Dragon to give us a better sense that they are actually getting to know each other, but I’ll have to accept that the music was supposed to take the place of those scenes. Like I said, the story wanders around a little bit, dabbling in the real world and then in the virtual, it just felt like it could have been a little tighter. I did find a moment really funny when in the real world Shinobu, a very popular guy in school and Suzu’s friend, touches her hand for a moment and the entire female population of the school blows up. It’s depicted like a video game with tons of factions going to war about how he would like a girl like Suzu. It’s not until Suzu and her friend assure the more reasonable girls that nothing is going on that everything finally calms down, but it’s a fun little moment.
At the end of the day, I really enjoyed seeing the Beauty and the Beast story told in a more platonic way. Suzu doesn’t end up romantically involved with the boy behind the Dragon. We end up with an almost sibling relationship, each one having helped the other gain the courage to stand up to the foes in their life. In the Dragon’s case, his father, and in Suzu’s case it’s her incomprehension of the events that led to her mother’s death. I really wish there had been some follow up with the abusive Dad though, some way of knowing that the kids got to safety.
Overall, I would give this movie a 7/10. It was beautiful to watch and listen to and overall the story was good. You can go watch the movie in theaters in North America starting January 14 in both sub and dub.
