Belle The Dragon and the Freckled Princess 4K 2021 JAPANESE

I thought about this fantastic anime film by Mamoru Hosoda for a week and came to the conclusion that I can only recommend it to teenagers, although I don't consider anime to be teenage entertainment at all. So if you're under 14 years old, pay attention to this cinematic novelty in case you are an unconditional fan of the classic story "Beauty and the Beast", but allow for liberties in the adaptation.

Hosoda calls his new creation "the culmination of all his previous works," where he explores the central themes for him - "romance, loneliness, life and death." Well, the script is indeed ambitious: it covers issues of virtual reality, digital anonymity, fathers and children, and duty, but, oddly enough, the execution does not go beyond standard sci-fi, diluted with high school romance.

The sweet fairy tale, the sentimental part of which, by the way, succeeds, is completely out of sync with the incomprehensible functioning of the global viar social network. I saw branches living separately from each other: the chaotic transition of characters from the real world to the virtual one is tiring, the constantly changing animation style is distracting, the hyperbolized actions of characters on both sides of the screen are repulsive...

Some of the critics think that the visual component is more important in Beauty and the Dragon, although there are questions about the animation as well. On the posters, the shots with their extraordinary design and beautiful texturing look fantastic, but as soon as the picture starts moving, the magic dissipates. Alas, not the most elaborate work.