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Post by makotoshinkaifan on Jan 19, 2022 4:56:24 GMT -5
It's hard to figure out where to start, and it would be impossible to give a detailed explanation of the movie without giving away very big spoilers, and equally impossible for me to explain why it matters to me so much without getting into very personal life issues. It's still in a US theaters now so I would urge you to see it if that's a wise enough thing to do, unfortunately I don't see any sites that are legally streaming it.
The movie Belle, or The Dragon and the Freckled Princess in the native language, is many things; it is very far from perfect, but god damn it I love it, very much. And I will die on the hill that it is by far the greatest telling of the tale of The Beauty and The Beast, even blowing the 90s Disney classic out of the water by miles.
It's hard to feel comfortable giving even that much away because even that is a spoiler if you haven't seen the trailer and you didn't get the reference from the title Belle.
What isn't a spoiler though is that there is no magic in this version of the story. The imagery of a princess and a monster all come into play because they are online avatars that represent the psyche and biometrics of the person who creates them. And yes, if you put two and two together that very much has to do with why the beast (or Dragon in this version) takes the form that he does, and adds to the tragedy of people treating him like an evil monster. You might be asking yourself now, "wait, the characters are going online and one of them is being treated like an evil monster? This sounds like something that happens in real life..." and yes, that right there is a big part of why this movie is goddamn impactful for me. This film absolutely oozing with the themes of cyber bullying, anonymous dog-piling, using social status as a weapon against people with less than you, making assertations about people you don't know; and it gives some examples of the harm all of those things can cause. And it's not haphazard or an over-the-top message with those themes. Those ideas are woven expertly into the narrative of the film, which is a fucking thrill ride on it's own. I really want to hear from as many people as possible to find out if anybody could tell where the climax was heading to.
I feel like it is one of the most poignant stories that young people these days can see, especially the ones going through tough times.
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Post by makotoshinkaifan on Jan 19, 2022 19:02:51 GMT -5
There are many more things I want to say about it, but I want as many people to experience the whole thing unspoiled as possible. I'll happily answer any questions anybody might have, anything to get conversation going about this absolute tour de force of a film.
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Post by hydraspectre1138 on Feb 17, 2022 6:52:47 GMT -5
I haven't seen the film but from what I read and saw, this film feels like a much better version of multiple infamous films over the years.
It's an animated film which has a much better-looking and accurate portrayal of cyberspace (or rather, just one social media app/online game) than Ralph Breaks the Internet and The Emoji Movie did for the entire Internet/smartphone. In general, it's a much better animated film focusing on the Internet than both Ralph Breaks the Internet and The Emoji Movie. It's a much better modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast than Disney's 2017 live action remake. It's a much better modernisation of a classic fairy tale than Sony/Amazon's 2021 Cinderella film with Camilla Cabello. It's a much better Toho/Dentsu co-produced musical film about a serious subject matter that involves social media than Dear Evan Hansen, and this is coming from someone who loved Dear Evan Hansen. (even more funny is that Dear Evan Hansen went up against Belle for its Japanese release despite both films being distributed by Toho and it was utterly demolished by Belle) It's a much better Toho/Dentsu co-produced animated musical than Sing 1 and 2, Cats (2019), The Lorax (2012) and Trolls World Tour. (yes, Toho and Dentsu did help with those films)
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Post by avataraidan on Apr 1, 2022 21:12:52 GMT -5
I loved Mamoru Hosoda's work with Wolf Children being one of if not my favorite Anime movies alongside My neighbor totoro and In this corner of the world. Belle was a beautiful movie that I have seen over 3 times now. The score is phanominal, and the songs are really good with my personal favorites being U and Lend me your voice. the animation is beautiful, while not being as pretty as Makoto Shinkai's Your name or Weathering with you. It has a unique style to it. I really like the characters who have their unique personallities. The ending makes me cry ever time I watch it. I love this movie so much and I highly recommend it to any anime fan or animation fan in general.
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Post by makotoshinkaifan on Apr 20, 2022 20:22:13 GMT -5
I haven't seen the film but from what I read and saw, this film feels like a much better version of multiple infamous films over the years. It's an animated film which has a much better-looking and accurate portrayal of cyberspace (or rather, just one social media app/online game) than Ralph Breaks the Internet and The Emoji Movie did for the entire Internet/smartphone. In general, it's a much better animated film focusing on the Internet than both Ralph Breaks the Internet and The Emoji Movie. It's a much better modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast than Disney's 2017 live action remake. It's a much better modernisation of a classic fairy tale than Sony/Amazon's 2021 Cinderella film with Camilla Cabello. It's a much better Toho/Dentsu co-produced musical film about a serious subject matter that involves social media than Dear Evan Hansen, and this is coming from someone who loved Dear Evan Hansen. (even more funny is that Dear Evan Hansen went up against Belle for its Japanese release despite both films being distributed by Toho and it was utterly demolished by Belle) It's a much better Toho/Dentsu co-produced animated musical than Sing 1 and 2, Cats (2019), The Lorax (2012) and Trolls World Tour. (yes, Toho and Dentsu did help with those films) I haven't seen all of those films you listed, but it is beyond a shadow of a doubt a much better look at social media than Ralph or Emoji better. It's not perfect, but there is very well insightful and heartfelt commentary on how social media changes people, and how people make connections over the internet. And it is by lightyears my favorite telling of a Beauty and the Beast story, by my metric way better than even disney's original Beauty and the Beast.
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Post by angelonius on Apr 21, 2022 1:10:24 GMT -5
Now, I wanna watch it.
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Post by makotoshinkaifan on Apr 22, 2022 1:06:59 GMT -5
Good! I think you should watch it. It should be released on DVD/Blu-ray now. Looking back at this post, I realize I barely actually talked about the movie, at least compared to everything there is to talk about with it. I just find it hard to go into detail without revealing elements that I think should be seen first before reading someone else talk about them.
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Post by makotoshinkaifan on Apr 22, 2022 1:38:37 GMT -5
I loved Mamoru Hosoda's work with Wolf Children being one of if not my favorite Anime movies alongside My neighbor totoro and In this corner of the world. Belle was a beautiful movie that I have seen over 3 times now. The score is phanominal, and the songs are really good with my personal favorites being U and Lend me your voice. the animation is beautiful, while not being as pretty as Makoto Shinkai's Your name or Weathering with you. It has a unique style to it. I really like the characters who have their unique personallities. The ending makes me cry ever time I watch it. I love this movie so much and I highly recommend it to any anime fan or animation fan in general. Hell yeah, I'm glad you loved it too! "A Million Miles Away" was my favorite song of the film, but I'm not being a fair judge on that point because that was also the song played during one of the biggest scenes in the film, after it's revealed who Ryu really is. It definitely helps that it's a great song, but what skyrockets it to my number 1 favorite song of the film is all about what lead up to Suzu singing it, the circumstances the characters were in when Suzu sang it, the deeper meaning of the lyrics and what Suzu was really trying to say to Ryu through the song. Honestly just thinking about it gets me choked up. "Lend Me Your Voice" has to be my second favorite song of the film. I agree that the animation is not as pretty as Shinkai's work, but that kind of goes without saying, I don't know of anything that matches the level of beauty in animation that Shinkai has in his latest films, but discussing Shinkai has to wait for another time! Hosoda really went above and beyond with this movie, for the real-world parts of the story Hosoda is using the same animation style he used for Wolf Children and Summer Wars, and he's really become a master of that style. Suzu and Luka both look so incredibly pretty, the choir ladies all have expressive and fun designs, and everything looks just the way it should. The artstyle for the cyberspace of U is what really gets me though; they seem to have been deliberately going for a more beautified version of the artstyle Disney used in Frozen and Tangled. They do this not only because this is a brand new take on a disney story, but to better communicate the kind of person Suzu is and how the people of the internet view her when she's using her avatar Bell. I also really like the characters. Ryu/the beast is by far my favorite character, he steals the show from Suzu, even if she is phenomenal herself. The side characters are fun too, I really like Kamishiin with his canoe and Suzu with her saxophone. The ending makes me cri everytiem too, and not just the ending, practically everything from Ryu/the beast's big reveal up to the ending was tear-jerking. I would go further and say not only do I highly recommend it if you're a fan of animation, but if you use the internet or just want to get some perspective on how different circumstances change different people, or on how misunderstandings and failures to communicate cause issues, then this is definitely a movie you can learn from
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Post by hydraspectre1138 on Jan 8, 2023 6:21:34 GMT -5
The soundtrack was actually done by the composer of the soundtracks to Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid V, Death Stranding, and Silent Hills. Ludvig Forssell does it again. Belle might be one of my favourite modern movie soundtracks, one of my favourite musical soundtracks, one of my favourite anime soundtracks, and one of my favourite arthouse cinema soundtracks. And both MGSV and Death Stranding are two of my favourite video game soundtracks of all time. And the Belle soundtrack, while having some DNA from the Kojima games, still feels very different from them. Since Belle is a teenage musical drama, while MGSV, Death Stranding, and Silent Hills are much grittier; being a military/conspiracy sci-fi action-thriller story, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi action-drama, and a psychological horror story.
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