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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buy | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:4679#1552] | |
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Marking my 2300th review here on Mikomi is the latest film from Mamoru Hosoda. Belle is focused on a socially awkward high school girl named Suzu Naito still coping with the loss of her mother as a child when she tried to save a child in trouble. Despite her shyness, Suzu has a small group of friends who are able to convince her to take on an online persona on the virtual social media site known as U. Here, she takes on the persona of Belle, a talented songstress who gains a massive online following. However, Suzu’s real life and virtual lives come in conflict with one another when she becomes involved with a mysterious U user known as the Dragon responsible for causing chaos throughout the site. Let’s get the main thing out of the way and dabble into the fact that it’s rather obvious Mamoru Hosoda chose to take some inspiration from Disney’s take on Beauty and the Beast with elements to Suzu’s encounter with the Dragon as Belle. Suzu’s online persona is based on the main female character of the film, the Dragon obviously the Beast, and even having a Gaston-like antagonist in the form of Justices leader, Justin. While helping to add to the aesthetics of the U world with the personas both Belle and the Dragon take, this element to the film’s storytelling doesn’t work as effectively here as Belle focuses on a much different theme compared to Disney’s take on Beauty and the Beast focusing on seeing someone beyond outward appearances. Belle’s actual main theme is learning to move on from personal loss and emotional trauma. Suzu’s character is still coping with the personal loss of her mother and her love of music being such a vital memory during her time with her mother that she lacks confidence to sing herself without the stress of the situation causing her to vomit. Her time online as Belle lets her escape from this real-life pain and be able to show off her natural singing talents that grant her a massive online following. Her interactions with the Dragon make Suzu realize she has more in common with him than she realizes due to both dealing with emotional trauma from their different situations. Unlike Disney’s Beauty and the Beast developing into romantic love, Suzu’s relationship with the Dragon as Belle plays out more platonic when comparing their situations and how Suzu comes to better understand her mother’s actions. The focus on Suzu’s relations with her classmates, family, and choir teachers also ties into Belle’s themes involving the pain of personal loss. Despite her internal struggles, Suzu is shown to have a positive support network understanding of her troubles and try to support her as best they can. This is in contrast to the Dragon’s situation that gets more focus when his character is explored later in the film, that shows him in a more bleaker situation and explains the persona he chooses to take on while online. Visually, Belle does a great job with utilizing two different animation styles to depict reality and the virtual world of U. 2D animation is employed for the scenes set in reality, while 3D animation is employed for scenes set in U. The 3D scenes are more elaborate and fantastical with the settings depicted and the various online personas that U’s occupants utilize, most notably the Dragon’s castle drawing inspiration from the Beast’s castle of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast to go along with the aesthetics of the setting. While many of the online personas depicted don’t appear human, there are subtle details in their designs to indicate whom their real-life counterparts are, such as Suzu’s freckles also being present on the face of Belle. In short, Belle is still a solid character drama involving Suzu coping with personal loss and learning to move on with it showing effective comparisons and differences in the circumstances that she and the Dragon have with their situations. The Beauty and the Beast inspired elements of the film’s story and aesthetics don’t always match up with the actual theme of Belle’s story. But this is still a worthwhile film to check out if you’re a fan of Mamoru Hosoda’s works. Last updated Monday, July 03 2023. Created Monday, July 03 2023. | ||||||||
