Mirai no Mirai

Mirai no Mirai -- literally Mirai of the future in English -- is a children's movie about Kun, a 4 years-old boy who gets a little sister named Mirai and then becomes incredibly jealous because apparently his mother + father doesn't have any time for him anymore.

Kun spends his days yelling, crying, begging for attention, teasing his little sister and being annoying in every imaginable way until several different time travels occur and Kun gets to meet alternative timeline versions of his family members, including the older version of his little sister... after which he still does this exact same thing, but we get to ... see why. The worst part is that it all makes sense.

It's hard to decide which part of this movie sucks the hardest, but I did anyway; Old saying goes "your life doesn't suck, you're just surrounded by assholes." and this is very relevant here. Typical for kids movies, Mirai's entire story relies on parents who are portrayed to be a complete failures when it comes to parenting. They are total douches and it's a miracle that our kid isn't any more fucked up in the head than he already is. Without spoiling much, he thinks he is a dog, has a terrible attitude problem and sees people who aren't real. Great.

Let me repeat what I said a moment ago: the worst part is that it all makes sense. Apparently, the message here is that people around you as well as your family members influence you and make you who you are. The more you know the less hateful and more understanding you will become. Which is a good idea, but.

The story and characters in this movie are nauseating, fake and so incredibly bad I most definitely wouldn't recommend showing this even for its supposed target audience -- meaning children aged 2 to 7 -- unless their parents wish to be as good of a parents as seen in this movie, in which case I recommend. There are countless more psychologically accurate anime series as well as light kids movies which do better, even amazing job showing how much living environment and people close to us effect the growth of children. This one uses time travel magic tricks and bad parenting instead of anything even mildly genuine. This is just heartless + its story is more like "do this, but the opposite" which doesn't work -- at least not in this case.

Production-wise, the art design follows the safety route of kids movies, being down grated version of Ghibli in every way. OST choices are incredibly boring. Kun, age 4, is voiced by a nearly 20 years-old seiyuu first timer and (s)he doesn't sound like a 4 years-old in any way. Speaking of the Jap audio.

When it comes to enjoyment, there is a scene in the movie where the dad person browses memes or something and just goes "hmmmp" whenever Kun says anything. That's me when watching this movie. If you want to see a movie about enraged little boy who doesn't get the love he wants and starts developing some sort of mental illness to fight against solitude, then go ahead, this is perfect for you. As for me, it's not very good. Also, Academy nominated this for Oscars candidate so you know I am right.

I'm just now watching "Mirai", the anime movie nominated for the Best Animated Film Oscar as an apology for snubbing "Your Name" the year before. This... This is "We have 'Your Name' at home" energy. Which is a bad sign because I thought "Your Name" was just, y'know, fine.

This is 90 minutes of kids screaming because they're being in turns unreasonable and emotionally abused. The kids being unreasonable part I can understand, because they are especially little and little kids can get quite loud. But the main kid just screams So Much, and his parents largely ignore his feelings. Which is where this goes into ... shades of emotional abuse, what with the mom frequently threatening him with over-the-top punishments in response to temporary inconveniences. That's just a recipe for inter-generational trauma and, to the movie's credit, we find out that it is exactly that because her mom treated her that way.

Mostly, I thought the movie was trying to use its time and family themes to say a bunch about how we're connected to our ancestors, but it didn't land for me. The time travel cutaways just had no rhyme or reason to them and they began to run into each other. That said, one of the only times the movie really did work for me was near the climax where we got to see the individual family stories and lore play out. The great-grandparents' engagement because the grandmother decided to lose a race to the grandfather with a war-busted knee was especially good.

But as a whole? Frustrating watch.

Mirai no Mirai, a title that catches the ear, but apparently, the show is not as catchy as it sounds.

It's hard to believe but afar from the poorly done soundtrack and story, what ruined everything is the character's behavior--or how they were made or portrayed.

Kun-chan, a four-year-old older brother who doesn't know how to be a good brother, has a totally crappy attitude. Well, I thought that was fine as the story moved forward, but I guess everything just didn't fit at all--even until it ended.

A kid having a bad attitude is normal, but Kun-chan's attitude doesn't just go at all. His attitude, the way ... he thinks, the way he talks, and even his voice doesn't fit a four-year-old at all. He sounded so old, and his actions are not young-like either.

Not that everything was wrong, but it is a mediocre show. Maybe it was fine with the comedy and the drama, and the lesson to be picked from the show; the characters just ruined everything.

Yes, I'm giving it a 5/10 because I think the other parts of the show can still save the bad parts. I guess a 50/50 isn't bad at all.

Mirai no Mirai is the latest output from director Mamoru Hosoda. Who has a pretty decent to good track record as far as I’m aware. Girl Who Leapt through time I enjoyed, Summer Wars was decent, Wolf Children I liked a lot, & Boy & The Beast I thoroughly enjoyed. So I have fairly high expectations for this movie. Lets a go

Story: 2/10

The story of Mirai no Mirai is really cool in concept. A young boy gets brought to the future to get taught life lessons from his older sister the aptly named ‘Mirai” along with various other people in his life. Really interesting concept ... on paper. Too bad the execution blew. The problem with the story is the repetitive structure of the movie. Kun learns something, goes back to being a brat, learns something new, goes back to being a brat, rinse repeat until the final time he goes into the future to learn a new life lesson, credits roll the end. The structure is one thing, but it’s the fact the life lessons are just thrown out the window with little, if any scenes at all that showcase Kun’s growth after the life lessons take place. The movie also doesn’t flow well due to the narrative structure. After the life lesson takes place the movie abruptly cuts to the next sequence of events. It’s really distracting for me & just adds to the botched execution of what was otherwise a good concept that this movie had.

Characters: 1/10

The characters in Mirai no Mirai are completely uninteresting. Now look, I don’t expect Kun to be a very developed character at age 4. He’s only beginning his life at this point & barely knows anything. But that does not excuse how aggravating & 1-note he is. Lets take Ponyo & Sosuke from Gake no Uke no Ponyo. While Ponyo & Sosuke are just as one note as Kun is. What makes Ponyo & Sosuke likeable characters is that they don’t act like complete brats throughout a majority of the movie, or forget the life lesson that they just learned from a trip to the future from their older sister. Sosuke & Ponyo are lovable little characters who bring a lot of charm with them & actually do something more than bitch all day. One could make the argument that Sosuke & Ponyo act unrealistic considering that they’re 5 years old in the film. But if Kun is what a “realistic” child is supposed to act like that I’d rather get fingered in the ass by Edward Scissorhands than watch this movie. Because not only is Kun uninteresting as a character, but he’s absolutely aggravating on top of that, which is the worst combination in my mind.

The rest of the characters are so unmemorable & devoid of personality that even Mamoru Hosoda himself couldn’t come up with names for the characters (aside from 3 of them). “The Father” is exactly what he sounds like. “The Mother” is exactly what she sounds like. “The Grandfather” & ‘The Grandmother” are exactly what they sound like, I think you get my point. The only other characters who I can remember by name without having to look them up online are the titular character herself, & Yukko, the family dog. The only reason I even remember these two were because they help Kun develop as a character through the time-jumps to the future (except not really because as I already mentioned Kun basically forgets all of his development once the sequence of events are over & the film moves on to the next sequence of events). Much like Kun, these character are completely 1 dimensional & devoid of personality. Mirai is the generic older sister character & Yukko is just a person. Dare I say it, but this movie might actually have less personality in its characters than Girls & Panzer does. Because at least in that Hogwash I have nicknames for certain characters like “Mono-Cunt” & “Winky-Bitch” (really those are the only two)..

Art: 8/10

If I can give this movie a genuine piece of credit, it looks beautiful & the animation is top notch. I didn’t notice any discrepancies throughout the film, the character art stayed on model the whole time, & the layout of the house that Kun lives in was really well designed & interesting. I really don’t have much else to say about the art to be honest. It’s the one redeemable aspect of this movie, & a compliment I can give it that doesn’t come off as backhanded

Sound: 4/10

The sound design was alright. But the voice acting I didn’t like. Particularly Kun which, I get it, he’s 4 years old. But as I mentioned earlier in the review, Sosuke & Ponyo exists & their voices aren’t anywhere near as grating as Kun’s voice is. The rest of the voice acting is really lacking & flat. The delivery isn’t bad, but the voice actors just sound like they’re phoning it in. Aside from Kun I really struggle to remember much about the voice cast outside of Kun, & I only remember Kun’s performance because I hated it so much.

Overall: 2/10.

Mirai no Mirai gets a 2/10, this movie sucked hard, & I thoroughly hated it. I hated that the awesome concept was botched down with a terrible, repetitive narrative structure. Kun basically forgets all his life lessons seemingly at the drop of a hat just so this movie has an excuse to be longer than it has any right to be. Oh yeah, this movie was a slog. The Boy & The Beast was about 2 hours in runtime & it felt shorter than this movie. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya felt shorter than this movie, which was 2 hours and 42 minutes yeesh. Top that with uninteresting characters, an annoying MC, & lackadaisical voice acting on top of that. Yeah, fuck this movie. My disappointment is immeasurable & now I’ll always have to think about this whenever Hosoda makes a new movie. It’s one thing to have a misstep, every director has those at some point. It’s another to have such a through & through fuck up on the level that is this movie. Before I inevitably get asked by somebody. No, this doesn’t mean I’m going to forget Boy & The Beast & Wolf Children. I’ll always love those movies & think highly of them. Hosoda is still a good director, but Mirai no Mirai is more than just “a misstep”

Im writing this review as im finishing the movie & im just pretty disappointed with what I've watched. Even if there were some supposed "emotional" moments im already mad with how boring it was. I saw & read some of the ratings thinking they were pretty critical & saw the studio that made it which i respected after watching wolf children but now i understand why people were so critical with this movie. I'm not gonna go into depth with the plot & shit because im too lazy & stupid to even write a whole analysis on the movie but I'll just give my experience. ... I put this movie on with me & my younger brothers with an open mind thinking this will be a nice movie to watch with my lil bros & there was a message i liked about being nice to your younger siblings or whatever but it was badly executed. I even fell asleep like in the middle of the movie then woke up to the kid now with his dead grandfather which i didn't bother to understand how & why so i just kept on going. Characters were shitty & the little kid can off himself because that little shit was annoying & soundtrack was like a lullaby wanting the audience to go to sleep. Animation was alright, which i liked but that was about it. I just finished the movie & the little kid named kun & his little sister in the future start flying around like a wannabe peter pan going through "memories"? Or something then it showed how the dumbass grandpa got his leg fucked in the war. In the end the little fuckers started acting like retards & screamed at eachother for no reason whatsoever. Sorry for being so insensitive & using crude language with this review but i want my 1 hour & 30 minutes back but those mini naps i had in the middle of the movie was at least a 6/10 because i was trying to keep myself awake. Im giving the actual movie a 4/10 for my personal rating saying "bad" because it's not the worse shit I've seen but for the actual review & overall im giving it a 3/10 just cause it says poor but im never poor, just broke.

Its about a bratty child, learning lessons. Which is probably important development for him as a person. But to everyone over 10, It's not a mystery why they're like that. And teaching them what is obvious to everyone else is just work.

Story:
4
Is there really one?
Im trying to think of what I could even say to spoil it. The first 20 minutes repeats itself 4 or 5 times over and nothing happens.
Its also very strange. It treats the viewer as having the perspective of the child and expects them to care or learn from it, but it also doesn't feel like a movie for kids.


Sound:
Idk. The ... main song thing that plays at the beginning and the end is good, but I didn't notice anything else.
5


Art:
3
Why do these babies look so weird?
Kun acts and looks like a weird mix of features and personality of a 8 year and a 3 year old and its very unsettling.

https://imgur.com/EtR3RgW


Character:
2
I dont care about this kid. I dont care about his baby sister. I dont care about his dog. I dont care about his parents.
I care the tiniest bit about his adult sister, but she somehow, despite the title, is a side character and gets like 15 total minutes of screen time.


Enjoyment:
2
There's nothing about this movie that seems like it could invoke any emotion other than annoyance.


Overall:
3

I like mamoru hosoda, I've seen every one of the movies he's directed. But this one is a bit of a surprise with how dry it is of plot, emotional events, sympathetic characters, emotional development. It's out of character for him.