Forum - View topicREVIEW: The Boy and The Beast
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Sahmbahdeh
Posts: 713 |
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Oh... This is disappointing. I was looking forward to this but now... Well, that sucks.
Also, just curious, for what reason has your name been changed on the site? |
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Maidenoftheredhand
 Posts: 2634 |
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I saw the film and loved it. So did everyone with me. I wouldn't let one review discourage you from making up your own mind. Other reviews have been more than positive
http://variety.com/2015/film/reviews/the-boy-and-the-beast-film-review-1201601172/ http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-boy-and-beast-movie-review-20151204-story.html http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/boy-beast-bakemono-no-ko-826108 And also Hope only gave Wolf Children's story a C+. Admittedly a D is downhill from that but hardly a significant drop animenewsnetwork.com/review/wolf-children/bd+dvd Note I would have given Wolf Children an A and Boy and the Beast a B based on my own personal enjoyment. So I guess I actually agree with Hope that Boy & the Beast isn't quite as good as Wolf Children & Girl who Leapt through time. I just disagree on the overall quality of Hosoda's films. Although my least favorite of Hosoda's films is Summer Wars. |
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Random 21
 Posts: 198 Location: Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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O-oh, it's really that bad? Damn, as a huge Mamoru Hosoda fan, this is a big letdown, I was really looking forward to this, since when it was first announced.
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Utsuro no Hako
Posts: 1052 |
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I dunno, it might be better to go with straight up Jacob Chapman. Keeping the Hope in there makes it sound like he's gonna assassinate one of the Beatles.
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jroa
Posts: 546 |
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Quite a harsh review, although certainly not without reason, but still a good read.
So far, the biggest conclusion seems to be that film critics and reviewers will naturally tend to expect so much better from Mamoru Hosoda and this time he didn't deliver anything special. Thus it all depends on whether or not you're willing to settle for much less than greatness. It appears that he just produced a relatively average anime movie, with a mundane script that isn't remotely high-bow enough and has some painfully typical anime writing shortcuts or other issues. That must especially hurt those with more sophisticated tastes, who favored the touches of subtlety and structural polish found in the man's previous work. But now it seems clearer than ever that Hosoda's direction wasn't really the main source of those elements. At least not in terms of writing, in any case, since he couldn't do that without the aid of a contributor who helped raise the level of the scripts in his earlier films. However...the movie might be a lot less frustrating to watch if regular audiences pretend it's not a Mamoru Hosoda production and thus immediately drop any formal requirements derived from that. Approaching it with an empty mind, both literally and figuratively speaking, could make the movie watchable even if it remains far from perfect or even memorable. |
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Themaster20000
 Posts: 870 |
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That's disappointing to hear. The script sounds pretty atrocious from the examples you provided. I'll still give a watch,by my expectations of it are pretty low now .
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Levitz9
 Posts: 1022 Location: Puerto Rico |
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It sounds like Hosada just really isn't very good at writing about paternal relationships. Summer Wars worked because it was a much wider family, not so much about maternity or paternity per-se but about families coming together when they're needed and burying the hatchet.
Wolf Children, as Jacob mentioned, worked, but fell apart under a bit of scrutiny because it was a movie about motherhood that didn't really address some of the darker aspects of it all (see: The Babadook). And now we have a movie that flat out has no clue what to do with paternity. Jeez. Hosada has made the full transition to Miyazaki-mode: the writing for the movie falls apart, but at least it's pretty and gives you feelz~! |
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Fronzel
Posts: 1906 |
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Hosoda grew up without a father and has only been one himself for a few years so I wonder if he just has a shallow perspective on the subject. Maybe he shouldn't have written this one on his own.
I've never been very fond of his work, so I might just skip this one entirely. |
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Maidenoftheredhand
Posts: 2634 |
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And also random question would you rather be called Jacob or Hope? I've been keeping Hope since you are still using that as your middle name but I want to refer to you how you want to be called.
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16963 |
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I was worried this film might wind up being a notch or two below his previous works since it was the first time he was doing the writing on his own. In my opinion usually when someone goes from writing with a group/duo to alone, or vice versa, there's a gap at first as you've grown accustomed to writing/directing in a different way up to that point. Plus honestly at first glance the plot just seemed more simple to me than his previous works. With Wolf Children and Summer Wars in particular I expected more the plot after reading the synopsis and story for the movies. When I read this one I immediately thought it seemed a bit light in depth before ever reading a single review. I still plan to see it because I've enjoyed every other movie he's directed but after reading Jacob's review I figure I better lower my expectations a bit going into it. Can't have a home run every time as they say.
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vonPeterhof
Posts: 729 |
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I really wanted to like this movie, in no small part due to the fact that it was the second anime movie I saw in a theatre in Japan way before its overseas release (incidentally the first one was Love Live, which I was also slightly underwhelmed by). And I guess I did like it in some ways - I thought the opening exposition with animated flame figures looked really neat, the action scenes (especially the whale-thing) were impressive, and I agree that the beast-people were pretty charming. But yeah, the plot and the themes did feel incoherent and disjointed, and I'm glad to see that it wasn't just me and my mediocre Japanese  I guess I'll be looking forward to rewatching the highlights of the animation on sakugabooru.
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macattack
Posts: 257 |
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Hope Chapman has been identifying himself as Jacob Hope Chapman for the last few days, but I guess this is the first time he's been using the new identity on the site. The conclusion should be obvious from here. I'm not surprised he didn't like this film when he was fairly harsh on Wolf Children which I honestly loved. Everyone wants Hosoda to be Miyazaki, but he's really... Hosoda, for better or worse. |
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Penguin_Factory
 Posts: 732 Location: Ireland |
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Daaamn that's disappointing.
On the other hand JO and Zac didn't like Wolf Children but I loved it, so perhaps our opinions on this movie will diverge as well. |
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AiddonValentine
 Posts: 2340 |
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That is the thing that bothers me about Hosoda; I think he's been thrust into this "Miyazaki-heir" identity prematurely, especially since his directing style is not like Miyazaki nor does he touch on similar themes except possibly in the broadest sense. His and Okudera's writing is also very different from Ghibli and Miyazaki.
Going on from that, it seems we have the first true stumble of Hosoda's career. It happens to every creator at some point or another, so hopefully he works past it by improving as a writer or just admitting he needs help working out his ideas. It happens a lot. As for the film itself, it seems Hosoda was kinda going for this "stern, but ultimately affectionate" archetype you often see in fiction...but forgot that stern does not equal petulant. There's rough around the edges and then there's just delinquent. He's got a weird vision of fatherhood. |
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JacobC
ANN Contributor
 Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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For people asking how to refer to me, JO or Jake or Jacob is fine.
I did like Wolf Children! I just didn't absolutely love it. :'D I thought a B was a totally fair and not at all negative response to the movie. B's are good! But yes, a C- is much more active dislike. I own Wolf Children and I really like several aspects of that movie even if the perfect mother stuff bugs me. I would never voluntarily sit through The Boy and The Beast again. |
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