The Deer King

This review does NOT contain spoilers. This film harkens back to the old Ghibli films in its look and themes but is very much its own thing with a modern approach to animation. The director has made a point to highlight how this film's plot echoes the current times and that it only adds to the impact this film has on its viewers. The story is interesting and the animation is beautiful. If I were to give any criticisms it is that some of the side plots and minor characters go slightly underdeveloped to an extent where it is sometimes confusing if you are not payingvery close attention. This is 100% a film that benefits from being returned to and rewatched just like the old Ghibli films. You will notice and appreciate more/different things on a rewatch. Being an adaptation of a novel, I suspect some of the minor plot points feel a bit short or unclear because the film doesn't have the same time to get into them all the way but it never harms the film overall. Easy contender for best anime movie of the year!

Dear King feels like a love letter to Studio Ghibli. One of the first things those interested in this particular Anime title notice is that it utilizes a style very similar to the one used by Studio Ghibli. The story, despite the high rating, is also very family-oriented, but the Studio Ghibli movie that Dear King first and foremost reminded me of as I watched the movie wasn't Princess Mononoke but Grave of the Fireflies. The movie does, after all, cover the effects of war following a man who lost his wife and son before becoming a soldier in a war that led to him beinga worker down in the mines. This leads to him meeting Luna, whom he adopts as his daughter. Nor is the movie afraid to get nitty-gritty when it comes to the details, being very detail-orientated regarding what is going on and building up the two clashing cultures within the movie. Of course, certain elements seem trivial to certain viewers, such as the second prince's encounter with Van as a young soldier. Yet, in the end, these things are actually important to the narrative, with these small details woven into the plot that set up the ending in a way that makes sense. Suppose there were two things that might turn viewers off. In that case, it may be the narrative point of view, that the narrator of the story is the doctor, as well as the fact we're still coming off the ramifications of the illness that actually delayed the release of this movie to the point delaying the movie until things died down makes sense, also resulting in the movie coming across as attempting to say something about what was going on despite not having been meant to do so in the first place, having been adapted from a novel by the same name. Back to the movie feeling like a love letter to Studio Ghibli. This will of course make the movie of interest to fans of Studio Ghibli, but I think there is a chance that fans will also see elements from one of their favorite Ghibli movie in Dear King. Some of this is intentional, while some comes from the source material, but perhaps making the movie into a love letter to Studio Ghibli, which is in part known for it's adaptions of classic works makes sense in a work one might actually expect to be picked up by Studio Ghibli for adaption.

Despite what its ratings might indicate, Shika no Ou (The Deer King) is a movie with a lot of interesting, worthy things to say, and is very deserving of your time, provided you're willing to forgive (or at least look past) the pacing issues typical of novel-to-movie anime adaptations. This is a film that, even with a nearly two-hour (quite long, by anime movie standards) runtime, still feels too tightly compressed, though stretching the story out over an entire season might have been a worse choice. Those who deride the movie for its purely visual similarities to Ghibli's Princess Mononoke ignore the widegulf between the themes of the works. On the surface, Shika no Ou is very clearly about the triumph of science over superstition, but at the same time it demonstrates the value of traditional practice, and the necessity of paternal duty. Yes, viewers who appreciate positive father-daughter stories will especially enjoy this one. It's hard to remember that the original novels were written nearly a decade ago, and the movie had already been in production for several years before the emergence of COVID-19; that's how poignant this film is at times. Strong recommendation.

5.5/10 The Deer King is an unfortunate bundle of squandered potential on all fronts of its story. It would not be hyperbole to call it "Walmart Mononoke Hime" There are WAY TOO MANY 'riding' scenes, where character are in chase/pursuit and barely anything happens, and they last too long. "Look, this guy is riding a deer! holy shit!" x5 The pacing falls apart at about the halfway mark after dragging its feet through a slow slog of unnecessary scenes as the writers clumsily try to curry your interest in the world. It just screams budget issues as the pacing ramps up while the writers scramble totie up all the loose ends. The protagonist's character development falls flat. He is established as a large, brooding, quiet warrior with a tragic past, which isn't too hard to get right, but somehow he fails to be memorable in any way as his personable is slowly revealed to be that of an archetypal anime dad. Throughout the story there are several significant plot points with great potential for interesting conflicts, but they are all glossed over and pushed aside as the studio slowly ran out of money. There is tons of buildup as you are groomed into expecting some sort of moral, a question to be left with, or a message-- but you, as the viewer, are let down one minute at a time as nothing is elaborated on. Visuals wise, yeah, they're decent, sometimes good in a few places, but overall it's nothing special. It almost feels like the director is doing everything in their power to make fight scenes as short and sparse as possible and then replacing them with riding scenes. It pains me to say this since the setting and world building is unique (for modern anime), but for most people this movie is just not worth watching. It's a 2 hour nothing burger and there are loads of better things to do.