THE BOY AND THE BEAST. (2015) WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY MAMORU HOSODA. VOICE ACTORS: JOHN SWASEY, ERIC VALE, LUCI CHRISTIAN, BRYN APPRILL AND SEAN HENNIGAN. REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©
'We were raised by beasts but born with human hearts.'
This is an action adventure fantasy film that also happens to be an animé that grossed extremely well in Japan in the year of its release (2015). It also won Animation Of The Year at the 37th Japan Academy Prizes. All good so far.
Now I'm going to tell you about something negative that someone's said about the film. According to Jacob Chapman of ANIMÉ NEWS NETWORK: "The Boy and The Beast is the kind of movie you put on to please a kid with its loudness and color, but you promptly leave the room to do something else.'
Well, I wouldn't go so far as to leave the room during it, but I wasn't entirely crazy about the sort of 'fantastic beasts' element of the film either. I usually prefer animé about more domestic subjects like love and romance, family relationships and school/college life, the ups and downs of everyday daily life and ordinary people.
Fantastic beasts and their cohorts need not apply, usually, but in this case they did. The film is full of 'em, in point of fact, so it was definitely a case of having to put up with them for the two hours. Yep, this is a long one! By the time it was over, I felt like drastic surgery would be required to separate my butt from the couch cushions. But I actually enjoyed the film in the end, so fasten your seatbelts, my friend. It's gonna be a bumpy ride...
This is the story of a young boy called Ren who's lost both parents, his mum because she died and his father through divorce. Ren, who's only nine years old, refuses to go and live with his legal guardians, choosing instead to wander alone through the streets of Shibuya in Tokyo with only a small adorable mouse-like creature, Tatara, for company. Sniffle...
Ren is filled with hatred for all humanity. You can hardly blame him. Life has hardly treated him well thus far. Maybe he'd do better in another world, a sort of parallel universe, maybe? Well, it's funny I should say that because that's exactly what happens, believe it or not.
Ren's perambulations lead him to find the gateway into another universe known as the Kingdom Of The Beasts or Jutengai. It exists peacefully and anonymously side-by-side with the world of humans. The beasts all fight each other but they don't fight humans. Thank God, because they'd probably win. They're bleedin' beasts, for f**k's sake...!
Here in Jutengai Ren meets Kumatetsu, a lazy but self-taught loner of a beast who just so happens to be looking for an eager young apprentice to initiate into the noble art of sword-fighting. Looks like Ren has come along at exactly the right time so.
Kumatetsu needs an apprentice and Ren needs a place to crash and, um, sword-fighting skills. Well, I suppose it could come in handy if he was ever auditioning for a part in a re-make of an Errol Flynn movie. All that swashbuckling and what have you.
Eight years pass anyway and Ren has morphed into Kyutu, a tall handsome lad with superlative sword-fighting skills. Kumatetsu's still a bit of an a**hole with a chip on his shoulder large enough to feed a family of five for a year, but the pair are powerfully fond of each other after all this time nonetheless.
Things begin to change for Kyutu round about now. He starts to go to school in the human world and discovers in himself both a love of learning and an interest in girls. One girl in particular, I should say, a nice quiet studious wee lassie by the name of Kaede who helps him to catch up with his studies. She's the perfect bird to bring home to meet-the-family. And speaking of which...
At this time, Kyutu is re-united with his birth father, who apparently has been looking for his son for many years. Kyutu now feels a strong connnection, or pull, to the world of humans. But he's still close to Kumatetsu, his mentor from the Beast Kingdom. Kumatetsu needs Kyutu more than ever now as he's just about to battle the powerful Iozen for leadership of the Beast Kingdom.
Will Kyutu cut his losses and stay in the world of the humans, or will his debt of gratitude to Kumatetsu and his genuine love for him draw him back into the Beast Kingdom to help his old friend when he needs it the most? And even if Kyutu does help Kumatetsu, are all their
problems over when the battle for leadership is completed, or is a whole new set of difficulties about to unveil itself? You'll have to watch the film to find out, dear readers.
I preferred the domestic stuff that happened in the human world to the fantastical beasts and the fight-scenes in Jutengai, bnt I've already intimated my preferences for scenes of everyday life and suchlike over people kicking and punching each other and stuff. The Moby Dick stuff I absolutely loved. The shadow of the giant whale making its way silently and sedately up the high street was my favourite bit by miles.
The stuff about humans having a 'darkness-hole' was funny but confusing. I kind of lost track of who was doing what to whose hole by the end of the film. Also, the bit where Kumatetsu was revealed to be 'the sword in Ren's soul' was kind of confusing too.
How can you be a sword in someone's soul? Wouldn't it be, like, the teensiest bit pointy, especially if you sat on it by accident? Ah well sure, what do I know? I'm probably just talking out of my darkness-hole as usual...
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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.
Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, film blogger and movie reviewer. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, womens' fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra's books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO
You can contact Sandra at:
http://sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com
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