Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror

Oblivion Island is a movie that pops a question in my mind after I saw this movie; Why can't we get original and creative films like this on Hollywood? Well that's because nowadays, Hollywood is nothing more than a bunch of lazy dumbfucks that rather make garbage for the audience, while original movies get the middle finger by the audiences and they don't ever get mentioned again for generations to come. Oblivion Island gives hope that originality in filmmaking isn't dead and Production I.G has created a film filled with so much wonder and creativity that it deserves to be seen by the whole worldand not just the US. The story is about Haruka, a 16- year old girl who lost her mother at a very young age and forgot all about the mirror that she had as a gift from her mother. Feeling guilty for not taking care of it, she decides to visit the shrine to pray for the return of her mirror to Lord Anari and which according to a real life Japanese legend, if a precious item was lost to you, an offering to Anari may bring your precious item back to you. Later on, she follows a strange little fox into the woods and when she founds a small pound between the rocks, she gets sucked in into Oblivion Island, a world where everything is built around objects and items that were neglected by their rightful owners. Now, Haruka and her new friend Tao decide to find the mirror before The Baron, the ruler of the island, gets his hand on the mirror first and use it to destroy the island in order to make a new world. While the story in Oblivion Island is not incredibly complex, it does have an incredibly deep theme that is rarely seen in movies these days: The theme of neglect. Oblivion Island's message is about never neglecting our precious childhood objects, since this film takes place in a world where items like broken dolls, mirrors, stuffed dolls and other kinds of objects are abandoned by their owners for no reason and that is sadly true to be honest, since nowadays parents buy toys for their kids cause it's "hip" and "cool" like the commercials advertised, instead of being gifts that you're suppose to take good care and treasure them like when you were a kid back then. The story combines real-life Japanese folklore with a mix of Alice In Wonderland storytelling to the film and it does feel like I'm watching an anime film of Alice In Wonderland, but about a world of abandoned objects instead. The main characters are pretty good. The chemistry with Tao and Haruka is heart-warming and their friendship develop well enough throughout the movie that you will care deeply for them, even that little plush doll Cotton is a very simple yet deep symbolic character in the film (which you have to see for yourself in order to understand it since I don't wanna spoil the film for you). The other characters are mediocre at best, plus the villain is weak and uninteresting, as he just wants to take over the island in order to make a new one. The animation by Production I.G is breathtaking. The amount of creativity and effort put into the animation will make Studio Ghibli jealous and the designs of the characters are magnificent. The island is also a stunner, the way the place is made is just unbelievable and did I mention that this film was in 3D when it was released in Japan? Cause if I watched this in 3D, my eyes would have been blown away with so much color and detail. The music is good, but not as jaw-drooping as you would have thought it would but to give credit, it does offer some gorgeous piano tracks that brings a lot of emotion to the story. The English dub for Oblivion Island is not that bad, Christine Marie Cabanos and Cassandra Lee were perfectly cast with their roles as Haruka and Tao, while Patrick Seitz delivers an awesome over the top performance as The Baron that gives the character enough charm than the Japanese version and Julie Maddalena gives a heart-warming performance as the doll Cotton. As for the other voices.... Well, they were ok, but their voices did not even fit for the characters at all and they come off goofy and bland. While it's not a masterpiece like other anime films, Oblivion Island has enough charm, originality and effort that some of the flaws can be overlooked, thanks to the charm of the story and the message it's trying to tell to it's audience. If you want a movie that's rich with imagination and creativity, I highly recommend this film to every animation fans of all ages. See this film cause we won't get a creative film like this in the US for a long time. As for the Oscars and The Academy Awards, they better nominate this movie or bad things will happen to them...

Oblivion Island isn't so much a movie as it is a 90-minute revealing of some impressive cgi technology - or perhaps just a really long toy commercial. The movie begins with our young protagonist, Haruka, being read a children's fantasy by her bedridden mother. The book tells a story of a man whose treasured comb was returned to him by a fox after offering an egg at a shrine. The townspeople begin offering eggs to the shrine in hopes of having their items returned as well, but little do they know that the foxes are actually responsible for stealing the items that are considered 'forgotten' bythe people. Haruka assures her mother that the hand mirror she received as a present won't share the same fate, since she'll treasure it forever. Flash ten years into the future, where Haruka is now a teenager. Her mother is no longer around, and she seems unsatisfied with her workaholic father and her disinterested friend. For a change of pace, she visits the shrine to pray for her hand mirror to be returned, since, as expected, she forgot about it and subsequently it had been lost. Haruka falls asleep at the shrine and wakes up to a scrounging fox-like anthromorph. The fox grabs some stray items, including Haruka's keychain, and scurries off. Haruka follows the creature into a parallel dimension, where the fox panics and tries to disguise her, or else he could get into trouble for leading a human to their world. After escaping danger, the fox tells Haruka to return to the human world, but she insists on staying to look for her mirror. Haruka promises to give the fox, who introduces himself as Teo, her keychain if they find her mirror. He agrees and they set off to search for it. On the way, Teo is bullied by three street-gang members, and Haruka helps him get away. The bullies guess - correctly - that Haruka is a human, so they head off to expose her. There's a pointless scene where the bullies chase Teo and Haruka which leads to the only funny moment in the movie, where their cylindrical vehicle flies off a roof, lands sideways on a tower, and slides down it, like a ring-toss game at a carnival. Teo and Haruka escape to a theater that is performing a play with one of Haruka's forgotten toys - don't ask why - and the bullies bust in, despite not knowing that their targets were in the theater. Haruka reunites with her toy, named Cotton, and the bullies chase her while causing a lot of property damage, even though she had already revealed herself to be a human, which calls into question the bullies' motive for chasing them in the first place. The duo escapes and retires to Teo's house, where Teo reveals that the mirror is in a underground thieves lair - why he doesn't reveal this earlier when they're searching for the mirror is anyone's guess. Teo then steps outside where he's kidnapped by the evil Baron, who tells the fox to use Haruka to get back the mirror so that he can steal it. Of course, Teo will be rewarded handsomely. The next day, the pair travels into the lair and the movie is tragically cut short when their cart derails and a giant stuffed monster forces Haruka into a pit of lava, killing her instantly - that is, until the lava is revealed to be syrup. The teenager climbs out and rips the stuffing out of the monster to discover that her mirror is inside of it. She retrieves the mirror and attempts to escape with Teo, but they are headed off by the Baron, who kidnaps Haruka to be a slave and steals the mirror. The Baron reveals his plan to use mirrors to control a robot army (mirrors are like a power source), and then proceeds to administer an amnesia gobstopper to Haruka by means of a Rube Goldberg machine. This gives Teo ample time to sway the townspeople into committing treason against the Baron, and they use Teo's reward money to build a plane that will propel him to the Baron's dirigible. Meanwhile, Haruka's toy, Cotton, rallies an army and inexplicably boards the Baron's airship without having any means to do so. The baron dismembers the sentient toy, and Haruka escapes into Teo's airplane. Then, amidst cannonball fireworks and balloons, Teo's airplane crashes into and disables the Baron's airship. The film then goes into a metaphysical sequence which explains the moral of treasuring memories, after which the Baron is defeated and Haruka retrieves her mirror and returns to the human world. So that's Oblivion Island. Haruka and Teo are the only characters who have more than a few lines, the plot is full of holes, and the story, for the most part, is unoriginal. For a children's movie, Oblivion Island is not charming, interesting, or funny. There are no attempts at puns or jokes at all, and since there is hardly any gripping drama, the movie ends up being a sort of fantasy adventure - the kind you might see if you had a high fever. However, the visuals are absolutely stunning, essentially making the art and animation the only attractions of the film.

Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror is a cute, imaginative, and well-done children's film. I find it exciting and refreshing that more child-friendly anime is being licensed stateside. A brief overview of the story is that 16 year old Haruka travels to another dimension where neglected items are used by its inhabitants, as the citizens cannot make anything of their own... so they use what humans no longer care for. Haruka wants to find her late mother's hand mirror, and thus begins her journey. The story is very straightforward and simple, which is appropriate for the target audience. Before putting the DVD in I admit thatI was a bit apprehensive about the computer animated art style. Once I started watching though I really enjoyed the art. I guess I feared having to sit through a whole movie with what could have been poor CGI, and thank goodness it was anything but that. The film is visually very attractive. You'll even see some bits of scenery in 2D, but it doesn't look misplaced or jarring. Also, the music is really fantastic; I loved the music and was rather impressed. There were some very nice orchestral and instrumental pieces. The pop tune during the ending credits was welcoming as well. As a children's film this really is fantastic. The plot is very basic and simple however, so if you can't sit through a kids' film in the first place I would steer clear. I also want to mention that the ending was sweet too! I would recommend this to anyone wanting to see a creative, yet traditional children's movie.