Animation is Film 2021: BELLE
animation is film 2021With the rise of Japanese animation in the past decade, which has seen anime go from a niche form of content to a global sensation, a handful of artists have defined themselves as being leaders of this push, with their filmographies growing to household name levels. Easily, the largest of these named outside of Studio Ghibli is that of Mamoru Hosoda. Not only has Hosoda created some of the most popular non-Ghibli anime films to date, including The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Wolf Children, but Hosoda also scored Japan's first non-Ghibli nomination for Best Animated Feature. Out of everyone, Hosoda clearly is on the best path to, at least, critically be called the next Hayao Miyazaki and looks to continue this pathway with BELLE. Screening as part of the 2021 Animation is Film Festival, BELLE is a modern retelling of the classic Beauty and the Beast story dealing with themes of trauma and bullying.
Suzu (Kaho Nakamura) is a 17-year-old student trying to navigate the world of teenage drama and romance while feeling like a shell of herself after the tragic death of her mother. Largely, Suzu is quiet and timid but thanks to an online world known as "U", Suzu finds her voice again and blows up into U's top celebrity, but known as Belle. While in the game, Belle meets a mysterious player known as The Beast (Takeru Satoh) who is being hunted by players in the game and, slowly, the two grow to know each other and Belle decides to set off to try and help The Beast.
If there has been one problem for Hosoda in the past, it has been finding the balance between reality and fantasy within his projects. Often messy and confusing, Hosoda has already sruggled with the online game setting in his 2009 feature Summer Wars, and sadly, BELLE sufferers from similar issues. Possibly the most disappointing aspect of BELLE is its world. The virtual world of U, supposedly having over 5-billion members, feels incredibly hollow and forgettable, which is a shame. At no point does the world of the game break being a catalyst for Belle to sing songs and face the general public with even the point of the game being unclear. Projects like Ready Player One at least took the time to show what its game was and why it exists, but in BELLE, it feels like this aspect was not just overlooked but instead completely ignored. While the overall animation quality is stunning, the actual visuals of U are rather forgettable and dull with no sense of evolution or inspiration.
Sadly for the film, the plot is not much better either. Being a very clear retelling of the Beauty and Beast story, the audience has a predisposed understanding of the plot and what direction it will take, so to try to turn the story into a mystery of sorts is quite disappointing. The real-world identity of The Beast is unknown, and the film spends the vast majority of its longer 121-minute runtime introducing various characters who could be the individual – this falls completely flat. When the options are presented as being a random woman online, a random baseball player, and the main character's love interest, there is simply no suspense and the audience is simply waiting for a reveal they know is coming rather than engaging with the mystery. Even if the film ends up going in a different direction, the ending feels obvious and the journey is boring.
This is really the easiest word one could use to describe BELLE overall: boring. The film clearly doesn't have enough content in its main story to fill a runtime so instead, it fills itself with strange mysteries and unneeded side characters that ultimately serve as nothing more than filler. Strangely, these elements often take the focus over simple things such as character development or a real third act, causing it to feel strangely empty despite the long runtime. The audience's relationship with the film's characters never evolves past the basic set up, and the experience feels incredibly unrewarding by the end. Much of the drama is also completely undercut by the film's primary location being a video game. Outside of every character being an incredibly passionate role player, the plot makes no sense with the ability to simply log out of the game existing in every moment of peril. Even if a character was to get hurt, what would stop them from simply respawning? If there is an explanation baked into the game, it is never revealed and largely the film feels like it is playing poker with monopoly cash.
While the story is undeniably weak, there are some positives within, mainly coming from the film's technical merits. The animation, per usual for Hosoda, is beautiful with some of the costume design feeling inspired and memorable. The song performances from Belle are also rather effective and while narratively they are not always worked in well, their emotional power remains strong. The voice acting is also solid enough, with Kaho Nakamura and Tina Tamashiro being the largest standouts. They feel empathetic and personable, giving the film the small emotional core it does carry.
While Hosoda might continue to receive overall praise, his works continue to remain rather disappointing. Especially when put into context as the follow-up to his Oscar Nominated feature Mirai, which arguably was his best outing to date, BELLE feels incredibly frustrating. The story is boring and empty with the film feeling more like a film trying to say something rather than a film actually saying something. The stakes are never realised and the characters feel instantly forgettable. Nice animation and songs just are not enough to feel like a success anymore, and BELLE ultimately fails to accomplish anything more.
