Apr 30, 2016
I watched Wolf Children after hearing praises for it from other reviews, and came in with high expectations, but by the end of the movie I was left feeling disappointed. It is very well put together and has some great animation and background art. The story and characters is where the film let me down, and led to a lack of the emotional punch I had hoped for. I teared up once, but it was otherwise very difficult to feel sad over events in the movie that you can tell are coming from a mile away.
The story is about a single mother struggling to
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raise two Wolf Children alone, but that's all it is. It is a very conventional and predictable story. That being said, I still thoroughly enjoyed the first half of the story, it was relatable and endearing enough to keep me engaged. Only the disappointing ending ruined the second half of the movie, it felt like I was waiting for something that was not delivered once I had finished the movie.
What bugged me the most was the characters. The father is insignificant enough for me to overlook flaws, but the mother character (I have forgotten the names) felt like a person who could not actually exist. She's bright, cheerful and determined to care for her kids, a pretty common mother type character. The problem is that she is the main character of the story and she is only ever a mother. She somehow appears to have no life before her children, no family or friends to trust in difficult times, despite her cheerful nature, and is willing to drop everything for her children. Even after her children leave her there is no sign of her growing as a person or creating any other close relationships with other characters. She has no real interests and is only motivated by her children, causing her to fall flat as the lead character.
Her daughter is the one who decides to live as a human, and that's basically her character arc as she is rather short shifter near the end. She learns to live as a normal human and finds someone who accepts her as a wolf (couldn't see that one coming at all). Her son is the one who decides to live as a wolf because he can't get along with others. The thing that annoyed me most was possibly the decision of the son because (Spoilers) he decides to live as a wolf for the rest of his life, completely abandoning his mother, and the mother is still happy because she's seen him grow up and become an adult. This seemed completely unessecary to me, and made me too upset with the son to feel any sadness while watching him walk away from his mother. He obviously cares for his mother, and she doesn't move anywhere else, so why can't he just live as a wolf and visit his family once in a while as well, not abandon the woman who gave up her life for him?! It felt like a cheap emotional moment that would not have happened in reality.(Spoilers end)
In the end I found Wolf Children to be an enjoyable movie, that never strays from the norm, and can't pack the emotional punch of other anime movies I have watched. The movie can be beautiful to look at and make everyday life seem charming. It's not a waste of time, and most people actually seem to adore this movie, but just don't go in expecting anything more than a pretty good movie.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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