disappointment media
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • The Snake Hole
  • About

SUZUME -- A Gorgeous but Otherwise Underwhelming Anime Adventure

4/12/2023

1 Comment

 
Review by Sean Boelman
Picture
Anime filmmaker Makoto Shinkai is one of the most acclaimed working in the medium today, with his last two films — Your Name. and Weathering With You — having become international sensations. His newest film, Suzume, does not live up to the same level of quality, with plenty of gorgeous visuals but leaving something to be desired in the narrative department.

The film follows a teenage girl who is swept up in an adventure when she encounters a man whose job it is to close doors that lead to the afterlife before the apocalypse is released upon Japan. Like many of Shinkai’s films, Suzume boasts what seems like a high-concept premise, but it is written in a very low-concept way. 

Even at just over two hours in length, the movie breezes by because of its quick pacing. However, this breakneck pace seems to largely exist to distract from the film’s shallowness and lack of substance. It’s a movie that thinks it’s profound and poignant, but it’s mostly just a combination of various familiar tropes.

The thing that holds Suzume back — and it’s surprising given the past caliber of Shinkai’s work — is that the emotional core is not entirely there. Although the film is clearly trying to create a connection between the adventure Suzume takes and her past, particularly in relation to her childhood and the death of her mother, this thread doesn’t feel developed enough to work.
Picture
That being said, the voice actors do a phenomenal job in their roles. You can feel the emotion in both Nanoka Hara and Hokuto Marsumura’s performances, and the two mesh tremendously well together. In this genre, it can be easy for actors to be generic, but Hara and Marsumura manage to make the characters feel lived in.

Of course, the film is also visually stunning, but one would expect no less from Shinkai. The design of both the settings and the characters is fantastic, earning this an early spot among the most beautiful animated films of the year. On the other hand, the music doesn’t stand out as much here as it does in Shinkai’s other work.

One of the things that is lacking in the film is its action. One would think that a concept like this, combined with Shinkai’s typically great art style, would lead to some great action sequences. Unfortunately, the action feels largely bland — a big part of this being the fact that the “monster” they’re fighting is nondescript.

Suzume isn’t a bad film, but it is a tad disappointing considering the caliber of work that Shinkai has been putting out recently. Although the film has no shortage of gorgeous visuals, it lacks the compelling narrative to go along with it.

Suzume opens in theaters on April 14.

Rating: 3/5
               
1 Comment
Anonymous
4/13/2023 03:29:05 am

Learner on websites

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019

    Authors

    All
    Adam Donato
    Alan French
    Allison Brown
    Borja Izuzquiz
    Camden Ferrell
    Cole Groth
    Daniel Lima
    Dan Skip Allen
    Erin M. Brady
    Jonathan Berk
    Joseph Fayed
    Josh Batchelder
    Paris Jade
    Rafael Motamayor
    Sarah Williams
    Sean Boelman
    Tatiana Miranda

disappointment media

Dedicated to unique and diverse perspectives on cinema!
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • The Snake Hole
  • About