Story:
Hello Kitty and her sister, Mimmy, are in class when they hear the story of strange lights that were seen in the sky and the theory from their classmate is that it's aliens and flying saucers. This leads the girls to watch the night sky for unidentified lights which they find but may come from a very unexpected source. That being two ne'er do wells trying to escape London using a stolen aircraft.
The narrative is pretty solid given that the film is clearly intended for very small children. It has a simple structure, a moral lesson and some comedic moments. The big issue I have with it is that it definitely borders on being over-simplified to the point where it's under-estimating its audience. I don't think it quite crosses it since it does present the antagonists as sympathetic and doesn't quite get into overly moralising territory.
Now, does this film have anything to offer older audiences? Maybe if you're studying Japanese and you want to find an anime you can watch with no subtitles but still kind of understand. Aside from that, it's kind of cute but not really compelling for older audiences.
Characters:
The only real worthwhile characters in this are Kitty, Mimmy and the two thieves. I will ssay, I don't know why both Kitty and Mimmy exist. They sound very similar (in spite of having different actresses), act the same and serve exactly the same function. You could literally just have Kitty and the story would barely change. I do appreciate that the thieves aren't portrayed as randomly evil for the evils the way a lot of villains in works for younger audiences are.
Art:
The whole thing looks very simplistic but cute. It definitely doesn't have a high budget or a huge amount of effort but there is a certain charm to its simple aesthetic and I can't claim that it hurts the franchise given how massive it is.
Sound:
The acting is actually really good. Hayashibara is a legend and the rest of the cast all deliver their lines capably. The music is pretty dull.
Ho-yay:
This doesn't have any romance and definitely shouldn't.
Areas of Improvement:
1. They should give children a little more credit.
2. Kitty and Mimmy really need more to differentiate them besides having different coloured ribbons.
3. Some decent music would have worked a treat.
Final Thoughts:
So, what did I think of our first Hello Kitty work? While I don't think it offers much to those of us who are older, unless you need something with simple language to help you study Japanese, I also can't be overly critical of it since I do think it provides pretty decent quality entertainment for very young children and that's, ultimately, what it's going for. As such I'm going to score on the generous side and go with a 7/10.
