Wolf Children

I saw this film yesterday and, having enjoyed it immensely, was pleased to read that it has won the award for Best Animated Feature Film at the 45th annual Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival (a Spanish film festival). This perhaps comes as little surprise given that it is the work of Mamoru Hosoda, acclaimed director of "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" and "Summer Wars" (both of which also won the same award at previous Sitges festivals). I dare say that Mamoru has exceeded himself with this film, taking observations and musings from his own life - the film supposedly being based on thoughts hehad when, at one point in his life, he was 'surrounded by all these women who suddenly became pregnant' - and translating them into a beautiful tale of young parenthood, unusual childhood, and the powerful changes self-discovery incurs on adolescent life. The story is both simple and elegant, with a well constructed plot that follows the above mentioned periods of a young family in a emotionally dynamic and charming manner, evoking joy and humour in equal measure, and just the right amount of melancholy and distress. This is helped by the endearing, often cute - in a fashion non-stereotypical of modern anime trends, and thus refreshing - and naturalistic characters (again, no ridiculous anime archetypes to be seen here really, and the one 'expy' in the film is a rather respectful and very amusing pastiche of Clint Eastwood). Indeed, despite the fact that the eponymous kids are indeed wolf-children, their stories are those of many a young person - the desires to fit in with society and conversely to take ones own path through life are explored in a counterbalanced fashion between the two siblings, which adds great depth to their intertwining tales. Even if we are too young to have experienced the hardships and joys of parenthood, or fortunate enough not to have experienced the loss of a spouse or parent at a young age, most of us will still likely relate in some way to the young lives of Ame and Yuki. The elegance of the plot and tone of the story are complemented perfectly by the exquisite animation, which was in fact created in 3D and then augmented with 2D (apparently the opposite of the anime film norm). The effect is that the simple, familiar art style one might associate with a Ghibli production or Mamoru's other works is given that extra bit of depth, that touch more of aesthetic richness, and so when a scene that makes full use of the visuals comes along, one is treated to breath-taking feats of visual artistry, thus augmenting the whole experience as a whole. Underpinning all this is an equally impressive soundtrack, as well as superb sound design - I felt that the subtle crescendo of the rain in the first sequence in which Hana searches for a missing loved one was almost harrowing in its evocation of her growing despair. As a composer myself, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the effective use of interesting metres and rich textures throughout the movie, and thought the music did a great job emphasising and revealing the emotive nature of the film. I saw the film in Edinburgh as part the Scotland Loves Anime festival, but because it had already aired in London last week, it was ineligible for that particular festival's award. If it had been, there is no doubt in my mind that it would have taken that home as well, for as a film (read: piece of visual art, as opposed to Otaku fan service) it was invariably better than all the others on offer. Indeed, it is without doubt one of the best animated films I have ever seen, on par with if not better than many of Ghibli's best efforts. I thus implore anyone who has read this and not seen it to go watch it at the first available and convenient opportunity. I'd be greatly surprised, and even perhaps worried, if it fails to warm you heart to at least half the degree that it did mine.

[Spoiler Warning] Story: Stories that span a long time (i.e. more than 5 years) have the opportunity to express a change in the characters and in the world around them. It's something that makes great films great. Forrest Gump is a great example of this use. Wolf Children is not. What this film does is give us short anecdotes of Hana as she experiences what it's like to not only be a single mother but a single mother raising werewolf children. You'd think this means the film would have many interesting events that take place; you'd be wrong. From the get go, the film feels like one longand arduous flashback. The narration makes this clear, but the pacing implies that it's not going to change anytime soon. That said, the pacing is this weird mix of flashback and actual narrative (an empty narrative full of fluff and good feelings with little dimension.) It goes on for the longest time, and we experience it for about an hour and a half. It's only then that we reach an interesting arc of character as the children are now old enough to think and be people. I understand that the majority of the film is spent on how Hana cares for her children, but a lot of this is mini story arcs that have a problem that's solved in less than 10 minutes. This sort of narrative reaches a point where the second I see an issue arise, I instantly know it will be solved within a moments notice. With no surprises, I waited for a conflict that set itself apart from the previous ones, and that's where we reach the last 30-40 minutes. This is when I felt more engaged. It's what I'd argue to be the real complicating incident. Yuki, Hana's daughter, ends up getting angry at a classmate and scratches his ear, nearly deafening him. Due to the previous conditioning I'd experienced (problem, then solution moments later) I was expecting this to be resolved very swiftly, so I was glad to notice that it became a primary event into her 'becoming of age.' ((This is not a spoiler because, in a way, it's the best 'complicating incident' this story has to offer)) Hana's son, Ame, goes through a 'becoming of age' conflict as well, and while I'm glad that the film is beginning to pick up, it's two different character arcs being jammed into the last third that could have been emphasized throughout the film. It too was a conflict I was expecting to find solved moments later, but at this point, I knew better. Audio and Soundtrack: Audio is fine. Nothing spectacular. Soundtrack becomes boring and there was 1 song in particular that could have been titled "brain-rend." That said, it's this sort of soundtrack that disappoints me the most. Not because it's classical and primarily piano, but because every song sounds similar and is devoid of character theme. Not only that, the songs feel as though they were an after-thought. The films pacing paired with the music do not meld together. The soundtrack in itself is one of two things: 1- The film was animated prior to the OST 2 - The songs were written prior to the storyboarding. If they were in perfect sync during production, then they failed horribly to put them together convincingly. Animation: It's beautiful, and that's the problem. Beauty erodes over time, and when the film shows countless landscapes that are hand-drawn with extreme care, it becomes stale. Outside of the setting, the characters move flawlessly and it feels fresh. That said, there are a few repeat scenes. This may be used for comedic effect, but to me, I've always considered this very lazy in animation. Other than that (and it's only in 3 or so scenes) there really aren't any complaints here. The animation here is top notch, and I really enjoyed it, despite the backgrounds growing unbelievably stale later on. Final Thoughts: I have the same complaints with this film as I did with Haibane Renmei. Slow pacing with swift resolutions throughout, and an interesting ending arc that should have been elongated over the duration of it's long running time. Interestingly enough, both of these animated projects are relatively highly rated and both I've found to be a strenuous venture. I wonder if I'm the error... Pfff, nahh. Just for reference: A 4/10, in my book, is a rating I reserve for works that are just below the sufficient mark. They've shown that they can properly do some things but fail so much in others that all it would have taken is some more work to fix the kinks. It's also a grade I reserve for works that I feel didn't jell with me personally, but others have gravitated towards. It's an acceptance that I think it's bad, but it's not 3- bad. I don't feel like I should need to explain this, but someone spammed me a long and arduous message about how I didn't love my mother. Please don't send me a message about how I don't love my mother. If you do I'll show it to my friends and we'll make fun of you. We always need a good laugh. If you want to discuss points of this work in a civil manner, feel free to send me a PM. While I didn't enjoy this work, I love talking about stories, no matter what kind. ((If you liked this review, friend me for new reviews on other works, both manga and anime!))

The story starts with a rather plain looking college girl and her romantic adventures with this dashingly attractive young man. It turns out that he’s a wolf-man, but the lady doesn’t care because golly, he really is quite a catch. Besides, wolves are cool, so it could be worse. He could be an uncool animal like a sea-cucumber man. They have kids together but raising them in the big city is a bit of a pain, especially since they keep turning into wolves when they get annoyed. So they move to the countryside and start a new life there. It is one half about thetrials and wonders of raising children and providing them with the environment in which they can thrive, and one half about gosh darn isn’t the countryside and nature wonderful. Its closest comparison would be Totoro, what with the family with two kids moving to the countryside away from the smelly city. The mother in Wolf Children is really quite an extraordinary character in how determined and admirable her attitude towards life is. The trials she goes through in order to raise her children the best she can is the main focus of the movie. The kids do lead a fairly happy-go-lucky life under her, ditching off school to wander around the forest, but it comes under the main theme of providing an environment in which your children can pursue any goal they wish. It all has a very strong focus on family values, and it comes across as all being rather hopeful and inspiring. In fact, maybe a bit too much… Here is where I reveal that I am a horrible human being, because I found the aggressively maudlin tone overbearing. Particularly the opening 15-20 minutes of the movie with the relationship between the mother and the wolf dude. It laid on the sap way too thick. It reminds of those movies that are made entirely to win Oscars, with their overly sentimental tone. The way these movies try to draw emotion become almost robotic in their predictable nature. Wolf Children doesn’t have a single twist that isn’t even remotely surprising. That obviously doesn’t preclude it from being good, but it is a nice way of demonstrating how much it plays to this same factory-churned heart-tugging attempts. There are parts to this movie I do genuinely like. The interaction between the two kids when they’re still young is charming as hell, particularly in how they formed opposite personalities in the way siblings do. The older child runs around and lot and is very charismatic, while the younger brother is quiet and withdrawn. It’s rather like myself and my younger sister, where videos of us would be her sitting around reading books patiently while I run around in the background screaming about Sonic the Hedgehog. Wolf Children perfectly captured that boundless energy and curiosity that children have. But the other parts that I might otherwise have liked are fed through this maudlin machine and flip around to be too sentimental. The struggle the mother has to go through to get a garden working is really overdone, or more specifically the part where it says how wonderful the people of the countryside are. Not a message I’m opposed to by any means, but it comes off as way too overblown emotionally. The final part in the movie with what the younger brother eventually decides suffers from the same problem. I won’t spoil, but this is a really huge part of the movie that marks a massive emotional decision on his part and his mother’s, which they still somehow manage to overstate. I would like the movie to let me experience these emotions myself, not to have it smashing me over the head with a saucepan yelling “ISN’T THIS TRAGIC? LOOK AT HOW EMOTIONAL THIS IS! CRY DAMNIT!” I wouldn’t say it’s a bad movie. There was never a stage when I wanted to leave the cinema and visit a trendy coffee shop instead. But the way the movie smashed repeatedly about how emotional everything was paradoxically left me feeling even more indifferent towards the film.

[contains Spoilers] So I made this account specifically for writing this review, it will be my first review so bear with me! It will be a little long, but it might save 2 hours of your precious time! First of all, before I watched this movie I had great expectations, seeing this high score, great reviews, I thought that I was going to watch a masterpiece but no, this probably was a piece of something else! Art is fine, not bad, and it actually might be the only thing I liked There are some well drawn scenes and landscapes sound is meh since all tracks sounds the same Now Let'smove to the important things : the plot and the massive lack of character development! The story starts with hana, a very ordinary college girl, nothing really special about her and nothing special will be given about her through the whole movie And she isn't a special case, all characters in this movie won't be given any kind of back stories. and not just that, her character doesn't suit her actions too, she doesn't have a wild character, she is actually a little shy. So That normal college girl spots a calm cool looking guy sitting in a lecture, when she tries to talk to him he tells her that he isn't a student in a very shady way! Nothing creepy about it! In fact, it was never explained what is he doing in the college! Hana keeps chasing that cool looking guy around until he finally starts hanging out with her, and someday he decides to tell her his secret , but what is it? He transformes in front of her into a wolf! and she doesn't even scream or feel scared! I wouldn't really care if she had characteristics that fits that but how come that a very normal college girl doesn't feel a little scared when she sees a werewolf? Not just that , here comes the other shock, she has sex with him in his wolf form! I don't know from where should I start, the fact that he didn't transform into human while doing this? Or the fact that she did this? How should this be a cute love story? Let's move on to the cool wolf guy, you might wonder why don't I mention his name, guess what? he was never given a one! She didn't call him with his name once! Somehow that guy is supposed to be a main character but also somehow we don't learn anything about him, literally nothing except he just had a little difficult childhood! No back story, no emotions, just a plain character. The guy says that werewolves aren't like those rumors and they can actually control their transforms and live normally among humans but somehow all werewolves are killed and that cool looking guy is the last one! Why were the werewolves killed if they can live like normal people? No one knows! Back to the story Hana the college girl gets pregnant, and she gives birth in her apartment alone with the guy, no hospital no doctor, and no neighbours too! How couldn't they hear her while giving birth? It doesn't matter! Isn't it wonderful giving birth to a werewolf while you're still in college! Well you might expect to see that college girl face some difficulties now or have some anxiety, nope! She actually decides to give birth again! But here when tragedy happens, the wolf guy dies, we should sympathize of course, but how if all of this actually happened in the first 15 minutes? And to a character that is so plain? how did the wolf guy die ? It was never shown! how did hana go to college? Where are her parents? These questions weren't answered either. So now we have hana the single mother, she doesn't know what to do with her wolf children, the government tries to check on her children, they aren't vaccinated, what does hana do? She moves to a nearby countryside where the government won't somehow be able to find her! And buys an old broken house, You might wonder how does she have any money it is the wolf guy was saving money, enough money to feed a family and buy a house! And somehow too she fixes it with a hammer and some wood because she is a super-powered mother. She is also capable of taking care of two childs alone! Throughout all of this, Hana doesn't show any signs of frustration! The next 40 minutes of the movie move so damm slowly! Now let's talk a little about the wolf children personalities: We see that yuki the daughter has a wild character, she moves a lot, she is naughty and gourmand On the other hand we have ame the son, has a weak body, doesn't eat much and shy and in one scene he tells his mother that he doesn't want to be a wolf Somehow, these roles will be switched! Without any true arcs, The boy will be the wild and strong one and will fight for living in the woods while the girl will become obedient and she will hate being a wolf because she hurt a classmate for no logical reason except stupidity of course, And I can't see this as anything except a stupid stereotype :"boys are wild, girls are shy" (the story of the classmate that yuki hurt) Yuki meets a boy in class, the boy tells her that she smells like fur, she gets so damn frustrated for no reason, the boy tries to talk to her again so she transforms and scratches his ear almost making him deaf! The boy's mother arrives, she seems truly worried about her son and she scolds hana for her daughter's actions. Back to the movie The movie keeps moving in a ridiculously slow pace and SUDDENLY everything is thrown at your face! During a storm, Hana chases her shitty son ame that decided to leave his mother in the middle of the storm and go and live in the forest, not giving a damn care about his mother, hana keeps chasing him instead of going to get her traped daughter in the school because of the storm, yuki the daughter, is trapped in school with the boy she hurt, yuki wonder where is the boy's mother so he tells her that she is getting married and doesn't care about him at all! Yuki somehow feels encouraged and a how's him her wolf form and everything is solved. During these forceful emotional scenes, Hana is almost eaten by a bear, she falls off a cliff too and faints! Then her shitty son finally finds her in woods, he picks her up and guess what? he dumps her outside the forest, ready to leave again not giving a damn care about his wounded mother, hana wakes up and she sees her son dumping her, she cries for 3 seconds and somehow accepts it! The boy doesn't even come back to hug her or anything! Oh did I mention that she dumped her daughter in the school in a middle of a storm? Things go on, the boy doesn't seem to ever come back again, he just howls from time to time to tell his mother that he is alive, and done! Oh did I mention that her daughter eventually dumped her too? Yes the two wolf children left their beloved mother alone in the old big house! What a beautiful family! This how the writer gives depth and makes character arcs! This is the movie! I don't know how did this movie get this high score and reviews , there are much better movies with less score and a lot of criticism for minor things. And I still don't know how is this an emotional movie, you literally can't feel anything towards any character except anger for their stupid actions and decisions since they are shallow and plain. My storytelling is even better than the movie itself!