Like a other people, I thought this would be more about Mirai and Kun, but it really wasn't, lol. it doesn't really matter to me though, because I didn't think Mirai's future self was really interesting anyways? Kun and future Mirai's interactions weren't amazing or anything, although the last bit was nice.
So obviously this is going to be very biased, but I could not get into the movie, from the first moment Kun opened his mouth. The voice and character did not match at all imo. It took me out of immersion, well actually, it didn't allow me to get immersed in the movie in the first place because of the voice. But I thought maybe I'd get used to it, yet I felt like there was another problem I had with Kun...his lines. I'm not sure how he really spoke in Japanese, but the English subs did not make it feel like he was a kid to me. I've worked with kids beginning from 1.5 year old, and while he is 4 years old, he sounded and spoke older than some of my 7 year old students. The moments when he threw tantrums were accurate of children that age (kids a bit older can still act like that), but the way he spoke most of the time flowed too well, it doesn't have the cadence(?), the inflection, and lack of rhythm children at that age typically have. If they went with actors/actresses for the VAs as most other original anime movies do for realism, then why stop there? Why not get a real child to voice Kun? Especially how they actually had real children voicing the kids at the park, which made me confused. No, I'm not saying to have a 4 year old voice Kun. Surely they had time to find an 8-9 year old kid to voice Kun, just as Barakamon did for all the kids in the anime, or maybe even 14 year olds could do a pretty good job, like in Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi and Seirei no Moribito. I wouldn't have minded if an adult voiced an older child, like in Sanzoku no Musume Ronja. But a 4 year old voiced by an 18 year old? It really doesn't work, imo.
Kun's behavior and tantrums are realistic though. I liked how he was really knowledgeable about trains, too. It reminded me of a 3 year old toddler that I had worked with and how he knew many things about airplanes that I didn't even know of (granted, I know almost nothing).
I liked the theme of how everything in the past is connected to the present and the future, but overall, the movie fell flat to me. I think the execution was a bit lacking. I love slice of life and family stories and I don't think there needs to be a "point" to every story, or even character growth, if it's in a movie such as this. I understand why there's no real character growth here especially since Kun is a 4 year old. How much character growth can a 4 year old get, lol. Even if he grew up to not be the most agreeable teenager, it doesn't really matter. Families don't always change for the better, they might just stay the same way for a good chunk of the time when the kids are still kids. It's actually quite realistic that no one really changes in the movie. I liked the "time travel" to the past part with the mom as a child (as it correlates to how she disciplines Kun, also that was just sad to see, brought back some unpleasant memories) as well as the part with the MVP, the great-grandfather. But the movie didn't feel cohesive. The whole train station part made me go ?? I honestly don't have the words to explain how I feel about Mirai no Mirai. It was neither about Mirai, the younger sister, nor was it really about the future. I read most of the review after watching the movie to see if maybe I'm missing something, but I don't really think so. Maybe in the end, it's because I didn't feel any emotional resonance with the movie.
My favorite things about the movie are the amazing great-grandfather and the design of the house. I love unconventional layouts, and that house really hits the spot. Great job, Hosoda, hiring the architect~ Okay, and yes, Hosoda's directing was nice, too. I didn't focus on it as much this time around, though, since I was too distracted by how Kun didn't feel like a real kid to me :'D |