Suzume - Reviews

The itself feels very repitive in some ways with other Makoto Shinkai's works, e.g. 'Your Name', 'Weathering with you'. IMO, things feel stagnant after 'Your Name', as though everything, every element (romance, character development, plot twist) were recycled. I do like the used of mystical creatures like dragons, god to depict the worldly phenomena in the film itself; weird thing is I never understand the intentions of using them as a plot device, is this just out of convenience?

Spoilers:

- The cat is being so unpredictable? One second, it was a threat, trying to get Suzume killed; and another second, it was trying to lead Suzume to her goal, What is this??? and why???? Did the production team ran out of ideas in terms of storytelling?

 
- The romance between Suzume and Souta (Howl's Doppelganger?) feels abrupt and forced. All this while she was interacting with a wooden chair, and closing doors together, did that make them fall in love? Seems like a convention in all Shinkai's work? but is just overused.

- The whole story feels like a loop. The story does not start without Suzume accidentally sets the stone cat free, but then in the end the stone cat gave up on its freedom willingly to seal the door. So, what is trying to be told? Cats are unpredictable? Or the cat was touched and wished to grant Suzume and Souta a happy ending?

- Apart from Souta and his family, why was Suzume the only one who sees the dragon? Was it because she been to the AfterWorld? Seems like she had some closeted mystical power?

- The disaster worm. It looks like a d*ck head. When something is long and has a round head, oh c'mon!

Overall, I appreciate the picturesque qualities of the film, is nice to look at, yet lack of depth and substance. I have never felt so disappointed with Shinkai's work.

As someone who enjoys watching Makoto Shinkai films, this one may be my least favorite. Though, I have some appreciation for it. 

Suzume pales in comparison to his previous works in terms of storytelling, character writing, and originality. It was not as emotional and epic as I expected. The dynamic between the characters wasn’t interesting nor was it as compelling... It had some charming moments but I did not feel any attachment to any of the characters. Personality where?

Now, I understand that this is pretty much not meant to be only a romance film in terms of (girl meets guy and they fall in love while trying to save the world) scenario... no. This film is meant to refer to the 3/11 Tohoku earthquake that happened in Japan 12 years ago, which caused major casualties and was pretty devastating.

The film is supposed to show the trauma people were left with, healing and moving on from such a catastrophic blow. I respect and appreciate Makoto Shinkai for trying to show that in his story, but in terms of Suzume's trauma and dealing with her struggle, ex. with her aunt, it felt very underwhelming and pretentious. The characters were not given enough personality, in fact, they were as two-dimensional as you'd expect and the story in general was confounded. 

The target point of this film (if you recognize it) is the 3/11 disaster, it does its job and thugs on your heartstrings but that's all. The moments that were otherwise supposed to be emotional (concerning the main characters) were not... Chair guy had one thing to offer and it was that he was just a pretty face. The cat, what was his goal really? I cannot tell even if you held a gun to my head... but I still love him <3 

In terms of animation and production quality, it would not be a Makoto Shinkai film without rain, sky, stars, falling, McDonald's, Radwimps, and overall gorgeous scenery. 

'Your Name' still holds #1 in my heart <3 maybe one day Makoto will make another film worthy enough to dethrone it... in the distant future maybe.

I'll keep this spoiler free but I'll assume that you've seen your name.

I really wanted this movie to be good. I had high hopes for Shinkai to pull off something great so I watched 0 trailers and went in blind. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. There were several reasons for which I couldn't become invested in this movie and I'll be using your name. as a good example to compare.

Story: This movie suffers from something called, events that don't impact the plot after they happen. The beginning sets up the stage well enough for us but what follows is a series of "one thing led to another" until we reach the end of the movie. It could very easily be divided up into blocks and two of these blocks could be ignored with no impact to the movie whatsoever. It gives it a jaring feeling. In your name., everything matters. Rather than being a series of blocks, it is a series of weaving threads where several are running at once and not all of them are resolved before others start until the end of the movie.

Animation: If this wasn't Shinkai, 10/10, unfortunately this must be compared to his other works. If you have seen them, this won't work any new wonders for you. Grand city-scapes, detailed shots of time passing, and great color and movement throughout. It's basic Shinkai though.

Sound: No theme really stood out to me other than the main song which was played a lot. Nothing else really came up for me as great. Compare that to your name. where every 20 or so minutes you get a great song that drives the plot forward and really serves a purpose. It wasn't bad, just wasn't great.

Characters: This is where the movie really suffers. Tell me about Suzume beyond her being an orphaned high school girl. Tell me about Satou beyond being a dude. He's a teacher? Great... why does that matter? Tell me any side characters' name. I demand that my movies tell good stories about people and that those people's personalities change and grow. Taki wanted to be an architech, this is important because it allows him to draw the city scapes, he changes throughout the movie growing into someone who wants to create cities that will make people remember them. He begins without nearly so much vision. Okudera senpai? She serves as a collegue, crush, and someone who Taki thinks through. Every character's actions are in line with who they are. This movie, no one changes. Suzume's past has very little impact on her. Satou... well we know even less about him.

Verdict: This movie was not great. Was it terrible? No, just very flat and blocky. The humor is fun, the animation is beautiful, and you won't regret watching it once. Will it be the next stand out great work? Likely not. I give it a yellow grade, worth seeing if convenient to you or you need something to do but not something to go out of your way for.

A Great addition to Shinkai's films. (No Spoilers)

With the release of the latest Shinkai film, some high expectations were certainly set thanks to his previous work. I can easily say Suzume does not disappoint. As expected, the visuals are insanely beautiful for the entirety of the movie, and the soundtrack was very captivating as well. Both on par with Your Name and Weathering With You. Some visuals are assisted by CGI, such as backgrounds and big set pieces, but I'd argue the CG is very well integrated with the animation and only helps the overall product.

The cast is half and half for me. The relationship between Suzume and Souta felt really contrived and rushed, which I was a little disappointed with when compared to the last 2 movies. In all fairness, it has been said that Shinkai wrote the film with the intention of shifting the narrative away from being a romance, so it most likely is intentional. Unfortunately, this really caused the climax to feel subpar, as the driving force of the story relies on the viewer feeling a connection between a girl and her chair. Some side characters are very interesting, but others come and go, not leaving too much of an impression. I found it overall hard to get attached to a good portion of the cast, but by no means were they poorly written or boring.

The plot itself was very interesting, a very good change in direction from Shinkai's previous work, but honestly I felt it didn't get explained as well as it could have, and as a result the first 3rd of the movie started to get a bit repetitive. At certain points, Suzume did start to drag on a bit, but thankfully quickly recovers.

Overall it's a very entertaining film, visually stunning, and definitely has a well rounded cast, but at the same time I wouldn't say it passes Shinkai's previous movies. Personally I'd give it an 8.5, Your Name still being my favorite, but it is most certainly worth the watch.

This film is absolutely fantastic, and in my opinion, one of Shinkai's strongest works to date. When compared to his other films, such as Your Name and Weathering with You, it certainly holds up. While the story may be a little weak in some parts, the characters and certain elements of the film more than make up for it.

In terms of visual appeal, this film is truly stunning, with visuals that are just as good, if not better, than those in Weathering with You. The sound design and music, done by Radwimps, are also amazing and consistently deliver.

The characters are incredibly relatable, more so than those in Weathering with You and Your Name, and it's easy to feel for them throughout the movie. While the ending feels a bit rushed and there are some plot holes, overall, it's a solid film that I thoroughly enjoyed. I would highly recommend it to anyone.