Why I Didn't Love Belle.

Belle is a film that I really, really wanted to love... But couldn't. Mamoru Hosoda is one of my favourite directors to date and I was expecting great things from Belle. Which is why I'm harsh because I know what he's capable of. Here is my analysis/review on Belle!
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[@naochan133]

I just want to add that the plot of Suzu overcoming her trauma wasn't lost or forgotten; her mother died to protect a little girl that she didn't knew and Suzu was left with resentment over her mother throwing her life away for a stranger when she had a daughter to take care of. At the end, helping the beast, Belle understands what is like to see someone in pain and having to help them even if they are complete strangers. I noticed you didn't mentioned it and wanted to point it out that the plot do is still about Suzu overcoming her trauma even if her initial reasons to be interested in the beast do feel flimsy.

[@RareGacha_YT]

exactly, though i think i'm biased cause i was crying through out the whole 3rd act TwT and i watched it on pc, plus the copy i got was blurry

[@zamafendy6755]

yup..the thought was same as mine. the introduction of The Beast kinda sudden and having Belle curious about him so much is so out a place at first for me. but in the last song when Belle stop singing..the memory flash back of her mother unfortunate event..got me understand. Finally Belle had the answer to the question that been traumatized her for years. the answer to WHY did her mother try to save that child.

[@RareGacha_YT]

@@zamafendy6755 for me i realized when she was texting with her dad :'D

[@RavusRiven]

1000%

[@turtle8231]

Yeah I like how they tried to convey this message but to me it still feels so forced? I don't feel like they expanded on this enough

[@LorcanaPandemonium]

Belle is undoubtedly a messy movie, but I kind of love it in spite of that. The emotional highs are incredible; A Million Miles Away especially is peak cinema. And ultimately I feel our lead does get a satisfying resolution and storyline, even if the surrounding stuff is more mixed. It stumbles under the weight of too many ideas and ambition, but I can't help but appreciate that ambition nonetheless. Not up there with the anime film heavyweights, but enjoyable and I'm glad I watched it nonetheless.

[@thefool2523]

I feel the exactly same way now. it was messy but I loved the mix of emotions and messages but I understand why it wasn’t the greatest.

[@vixiestarfire]

What were supposed to be the emotional moments in the movie I just couldn’t feel anything for the characters at all… 😩 they were beautiful moments but the overall execution is rushed and sloppy af omg I wanted to connect to the movie so bad but I just got frustrated while watching

[@SlightlyWilsonGaming]

Definitely agree with that, got obsessed trying to comprehend how I felt about it afterwards. Been many years, but Ive decided I should make a video review myself to try and put the feelings into words.

[@HueyFreemansDeadAlt]

@@vixiestarfire Same here. Every time there was a “peak moment” I found myself laughing because I couldn’t take this seriously. I had such high expectations for the film due to it being a Ghilbi film but I actually have a headache now from how badly made it was. Now I find myself looking at all the reviews talking about how bad it was because I need to satisfy my frustration.

[@wallacefam2689]

You can see why the side stories are actually important when they all come to head at the end. And each part is actually a part of her and help to give clarity to the ending theme. I also enjoyed and valued this film. I respect the recurring themes of the need to take action to help those who can’t help themselves on their own and the efforts shown by the characters in actually doing as much as they can to help the people in need- how Suzu’s mom knew that everyone standing around wasn’t enough to help the child and that someone needed to actually Do something to save them right away. And how Suzu and the boy she likes also realized that and tried to take action the best they could to not just give up but to do whatever things they could to help those children, even if at the time it may have seemed small or insignificant. We all need to do the things we can to help those around us.

[@athyar1531]

What really took me out of the magic of the film for a bit was how unrealistic it was that Suzu- herself a child- was able to single-handedly “solve” the abuse situation by facing and scaring off (how??) an aggressive adult. And how Kei says he’ll fight now - wasn’t he fighting this whole time? I get that he got courage from Suzu coming to see him, but she didn’t and couldn’t really do anything that different from what others had done for the children before (ie talking to his father). It was a very unbelievable happily ever after for me. But still love this film - best I’ve seen in a while.

[@lilyb6137]

To be honest, I'll say that's the only thing I don't like about the film, I love how raw everything felt with it's 'messy' plotline being all over the place, but the ending felt like a kids educational video where you tell the bully to stop bullying and they just immediately agree

[@Bob-uk7lk]

she stood up to the adult, something his children had never done. he didn’t know how to react. furthermore, kei’s “fighting” is probably more of a standing up for himself/calling the police type thing.

[@gabiausten8774]

I agree, cuz home abuse is just able to be solved through one single option…DISTANCE! And there is nothing a kid can do.

[@hyuumari]

The dad had the "rule" that his house has its own rules, and the failed previous attempts of ppl saving the kids made them accept that. Beast knowing Belle and learning from her actions means now he for sure know he can't accept his dad's rules. Also, it's s implied the Dad is the Jude(?) The blond, I don't remember his name, therefore he knows who Belle is and her true identity since he was the one that unveiled her. He gets afraid when 1- a teenager stoods up against him, and 2- he slowly gets who this unknown girl is, an influent person (also remember he lost all his sponsors when he unveiled belle) Anyways, there's a lot to the movie that's between the lines, I hope my writing is comprehensive bc English is not my first language

[@nerasomnia]

I think there’s a big issue in anime regarding how children being returned to their abusive parents is a common trope. The first ones I can think of are Belle, Assassination Classroom (Nagisa and his mom), and Higehiro. I wonder if this is indicative of a bigger issue. Japan only recently enacted a law banning corporal punishment for children (2020) and that came after Belle began production.

[@HueyFreemansDeadAlt]

I wouldn’t be shocked. There’s a lot of issues in Japan, that you can see within anime. Another instance of this, bullying. Art truly imitates life.

[@TsugMt]

It could be, but it could also be a cultural difference. For example, in many cases, policemen in Japan don't mess with domestic problems as they generally think those kind of problems unless they're VERY big, that they're more a family problem that they should fix themselves, and it seems many japanese also think this way, and as they don't want to get into conflicts they let others handle their own stuff because entering into other's problems can be seen as rude. So yeah, I guess it's both a law problem and a cultural difference but they have to be the ones to fux it, not to be the same as us necessarily but to find their own solution...

[@notationmusical]

I agree. My problems with the film was that while I thought it was a nice concept to pay homage to Beauty and the Beast, I don't think we explored much of the Beast's character as much as I would have liked. The mystery behind the Beast was more of the focus of the story instead of the character. It would have been nice to get both of Belle and the Beast's perspectives equally, then opening up about their struggles.

[@DEMONFOXALEX]

There is no back story of the beast at all, from the original books to Disney and the 2017 French reboot, the beast goes back on the same method about a spoiled rich kid with no admiration sympathy or compassion then you get the beast based on the curse words of a witch or a curesd it self, Bell a heroin has to save him from his hatred of his resentment and his anger throughout society that's it, nothing there which has always been, there a young girl from a small village sit to save a young man's life from causing something that will literally be a catastrophe for him, that's the story of the beauty and the beast no backstory of the beast whatsoever you can't embellish a story of the beast just because you want to remake it that's not how it works it's inspired by the original book you get me.

[@notationmusical]

@@DEMONFOXALEX Yeah, I totally agree with you that there's no backstory on the Beast, but I never said that there needed to be a backstory in order to explore a character. The movie's also not a remake, but a reimagining. In fact, Suzu had a backstory, in which Belle/Beauty never had at all in the original stories. In the first arc, Suzu overcoming her trauma of singing and loss over her mother has nothing to do with Beauty and the Beast until people start calling her Belle because it means Beauty. I really enjoyed this arc because this is where Suzu's character shined. When the movie does, however, start to focus on the tale of Beauty and Beast, the mystery behind the Beast becomes more important than other related plotlines, such as Suzu having a crush, romantic confessions, or even the times when Suzu is in this singing group. When the Beast gets introduced, he breaks into Suzu's concert, which actually gives a reason why the police of U tries to stop him and a bunch of exposition from the rumors is on the Beast. From there, Suzu is so interested in the Beast that she approaches him despite him constantly telling her to leave him alone. The movie makes us think that the real identity of the Beast is Suzu's crush, which would work thematically, but then subverts that the real identity of the Beast wasn't a spoiled kid at all. He was a boy abused by his father and puts up this persona that scares anyone away so that they won't hurt him. And it would have been nice to see how he views Belle or Suzu as a person but we don't see that as much when so much of the time was focused on the mystery. There's even a whole plotline where Suzu and her friend are going through many people on the internet and that just takes up a lot of screen time. In the original stories, there were many interactions with Belle and the Beast, and the Beast changes from being selfish and keeping Belle locked in his castle just for his curse, to selfless and loving. (In the Disney version, he even gives Belle more books to read and tries to become more of a gentleman). And then finally when he lets Beauty leave, he is in love with her, but he puts her feelings over his because he wants to see her happy, and he's willing to be a Beast forever. My biggest problem wasn't who the Beast was, but that if they were going to go that route, then the movies just ends up less satisfying in my opinion. If you liked it, then great. I even like some of the songs and the animation is beautiful, but narratively, it just doesn't work for me. (sorry you had to read this, this was long)

[@coffeelatte8616]

That would be 4 hours long animated movie i guess.. 😂

[@notationmusical]

@@coffeelatte8616 I don't think it needs to. You could easily take away all the other unrelated plotlines and have the main storyline still work.

[@floppa4934]

I agree with this

[@IzobelSquires]

I do think that the whole beauty and the beast bit is actually relevant to the story of the trauma of belle with her mother. I saw one comment on Reddit explaining it, and I’ll just repeat it here. Belle was going through a lot of depression because of her mother’s death, she was angry and confused especially because her mother “sacrificed” herself for a random child when Belle was begging her mother to go home. In the end of the movie, Belle was finally able to move on from this because after helping the Beast, she finally understood how someone could just sacrifice themselves for a total stranger. I think there are issues with the movie too, I think this is just an interesting insight.

[@KevinNyaa]

That's an interesting insight if you can feel/make the connection, but the whole middle of the of film feels extremely messy for me.

[@darkhime6700]

This is how I took the movie too. She became interested in the beast because she somewhat understood the pain the beast was going though. She seemed to really lash out at her dad and keep him at arms length and I feel like she felt that in the beast. That's why she was interested in him. She wanted to understand what pain he was going though. when it finally came to her needing to find the kids to help them I believe that's the biggest turning point, she finally understood her mum and that's why she opened up to her dad too. that built up resentment had subsided, she finally understood and felt more connected to her mother. That's how I took it anyways, that because of the trauma she's gone though and living with depression she was able to see the underlining emotions others were unable to see.

[@Jesei1211]

But she didn’t sacrifice anything? She went home as if nothing happened. Her mother lost her life. The mothers sacrifice also didn’t mean sh to me and it made me angry that the viewer was supposed to agree with her decision to leave her family behind to rescue a rando child who’s parents also somehow didn’t care enough.

[@IzobelSquires]

@@Jesei1211 yeah, belle didn’t sacrifice herself like her mom did but she understood the strong feelings that drove her mother to save the kid. I don’t think her mother was planning on dying out there, though. She might have stayed with her daughter if she knew what would happen.

[@fandomgirl_2.568]

Exactly

[@ariffuuu]

For me “Belle” ended a bit too….suddenly(?) I don’t know what it is and i surely don’t know how it could be improved but i felt like it was missing something.

[@ricemocha8685]

Same here! I think it was because they paced the whole tracking down the boys thing, way faster than it needs to be, and they made the confrontation of the beast’s father, short. What makes it feel even more cut off, is that we don’t know the aftermath of those two boys

[@alpha_jasperflair1097]

Same it feels incomplete

[@hysteri]

Yeah I just wanna know if the boys are okay. That’s why I’m here 😂

[@tirramasu7948]

Honestly for a 2 hour film I have to agree

[@shabbbsy]

Needs a patch

[@cadence_la]

I agree with your points. It’s beautiful, cinematically, and has amazing singular moments but I feel the film was tackling a lot of themes but didn’t truly get to the heart of any of them. Like starting too many projects at once that ends up feeling disjointed and incomplete because as soon at a theme is being explored, it moves on to the next.

[@lxh08]

I heavily agree with this take, the disjointedness of the film was incredibly offputting and left me asking so many questions on the decisions taken. For the villains, what was the purpose that the "Admin" gave them the revealing green gem stone thing? Wouldn't the story have had significantly more interest if Bell had chosen to reveal herself without the green stone? It's not like that's not a possibility, the movie displayed so many individuals who chose to reveal themselves to the world U, so why not her? Why not let her reveal herself without the stone, without the villain? Like you said in the video, there isn't a need to have Bell to have an interest in Beast either. Nonetheless, the film was a solid 5-6.

[@alexprus7953]

Also I can't stop thinking about possible consequences of this villain's actions, which are never really addressed? Everyone seems to think that "revealing" the Beast is somehow necessary, when it could lead to them getting attacked both online and irl? I'm just really confused by this part. The absolute lack of any actual safety regulations is mentioned, sure, but it's not explained. Why is there no police in U? Why isn't forcing people online to reveal their private information not considered illegal? It might seem like nitpicking, but it really ruined the immersion for me.

[@yagami255]

@Lx H beautiful said. Just watched it. I agree with you on all points which is why I give the film a solid 5 as well.

[@sweetpixiesmile]

I think it's fine. I didn't initially like Belle either, but after talking with my teenaged daughter, I've come to appreciate it. I think part of it is my age - this means I'm more aware of plot elements, but I also bring a lot of baggage. But as we chatted, my daughter pointed out things that I missed initially, and further exploration brought more interesting and deeper meanings to light. It spoke to her in ways it didn't to me. I see the Uverse as a graphical representation of current online social trends and fads... and that can be sometimes uncomfortable, detestable and intriguing. They key of creating an avatar that most represents your true self is interesting as the user has no control over it and may even disagree with it. I agreed with a lot of your criticism with the inclusion of the Beast plotline. To me, the Beast plot felt awkward and cranked in, leaning on many tropes. But to my daughter, she understood and felt connected to Belle's interest in Beast, how she sometimes will instantly obsess over an internet personality. Even if the interest was solely on a platonic level. However, the actions of all the characters in the Beast plotline makes sense when you compare it to internet culture. Still not a fan, bnut I better understand how it hit for other people. I wouldn't say I really like the movie (the visuals carry the movie far more than the story and some plot points were way too close to Disney's Beauty and the Beast) I also like and appreciate the movie substantially more than my first reaction.

[@JustBasicJoseph]

So many things wrong with this movie. But I loved it. Best movie of the year for me a 7/10. The music is the best I’ve heard in a long time in a movie. Suzu’s character and story was really well done. All the other side characters, beauty and the beast similarities, and justice league police are what made the movie worse for me. It dilutes to what should’ve been a more simplistic story. Loved the review! I’m sorry that you didn’t feel or love Belle the way you wanted. But for me I was really glad to have watched in theaters, it was actually worth the money.

[@KevinNyaa]

Glad that the other things in the film didn’t bother you as much as it did me. There are still great parts like the performances which are really touching.

[@yawn9327]

Isn't it a bit sad that the best movie of the year for you is a 7/10 with a lot of wrong things in it tho ? Must have been a crappy year

[@curesaul5749]

I went to watch Belle on my birthday weeks ago and I really enjoyed the film. The visuals were just stunning, and the score was peak cinema that puts Disney to shame. It was also the first Japanese animated movie I watched in theaters. I'm glad I invested a moment of my life to watch it. After some time I can say The middle of the film is sort of were the story gets questionable and all over the place. Which is underwhelming due to how good the introduction to the movie and Suzu's character was. But the third act does wrap everything quite nice to the point where I did tear up a bit in the theaters. Overall I still like the film and I'm excited to check out Mamoru Hosoda/Studio Chizu's future films because the other films they made look very good. Also side note. Suzu's English VA did an incredible job with Belle. I was surprised to discover that this is the first acting job Kylie McNeil has been a part of. She's a great singer on top of being a great voice actor. I'm excited to see what she does next in her bright future.

[@bookmew1081]

I loved the film too & it's really sad that it didn't get award nominations when it really deserved them.

[@curesaul5749]

@@bookmew1081 For real. It deserved it more than Raya. But that’s a Disney movie so it’s a guaranteed spot for it.

[@bookmew1081]

@@curesaul5749 What about Mitchels vs the Machines & Flee? How did they get nominated while Belle didn't? I don't even understand what logic would lead to both of those being nominated. I hadn't heard of either of the non-Disney picks prior to a few days ago. I know these awards don't like to recognize Animation that isn't aimed at children & it also seems that they don't like acknowledging Japanese Animated Films.

[@suieat6817]

​@@bookmew1081 I have not seen Flee but I can absolutely say I enjoyed Mitchels VS. the Machines dynamic animation and emotional beats to their fullest. I do agree with you in major Western award nomination gloss over Japanese and other Eastern films. Belle had beautiful composition and animation (fight and scenes bogged it down in my opinion) but its flaws splits the watchers. I am in the cynical category in which I can only see the jarringly poor writing which overclouds the positives. I believe the worst problem being that it felt quite shallow in exploring its themes, especially the extremely delicate ones it presents, so much so I consider Belle in the same vein as Raya when fleshing them out. But where I enjoyed the fun dynamics the main characters had in Raya, I found Suzu to be quite 2D and the background characters as simple plot pushers with arms and legs.

[@lunaoliveira7965]

As someone who has lived very closely to a family where there’s a lot of domestic abuse going on, the ending felt very depressing to me, hence why I was so disappointed by this movie. As Suzu left, what probably happened was that the dad beat the sh*t out of those children. In most situations like these, actively standing up to the abuser makes the abuse worse. It’s so awful but so true. They’ll only be free when they’re able to leave that house, and the movie doesn’t imply that’s going to happen anytime soon.

[@SugaryND]

I agree with what you're saying but I still almost cried when I watched Belle in the theatre. The story was messy but the atmosphere felt so powerful to me. I felt the songs and visuals alone built up a kind of mood I haven't seen before and for that I loved it. I think the music especially really made this movie good in my eyes

[@greyhoundanimations4425]

I agree for the most part. Me and my friends saw this in the theaters and right after the lend me your voice song, we all looked at each other and asked “ where is this going?” However I love this movie not because of the story of characters, but because the songs (english versions) really helped me. I lost a friend a few months prior to this movie coming out, and the songs just perfectly worded how I was feeling. A million miles away was just beautiful. I was actually singing along with the audience in U.

[@KevinNyaa]

All the songs are amazing, which makes me think what this film could have been if the writing was so much more cohesive.

[@billiejean6520]

Totally agree with what you said, the Movie was Really Flawed and was really pushing the beauty and the best vibes. The reason is because Mamoru Hosoda loved The movie ( Read and watched in a interview) and wanted to do his own take of it with the touch of virtual reality since we have that in out Generation. Great concept but the execution could’ve been better. Overall I still love the Movie heck so far I’ve seen it Six times so I guess it’s doing something right.

[@ShadowXLugia]

Firstly, I wanna say thank you for posting an actual criticism video rather than one that has no substance behind it. Its interesting to hear others perspectives on how they view a story, not every character is going to feel super relatable. I personally didn't like the story of wolf children myself for reasons that felt similar of not fully understanding a characters motives. Though its a movie I'd like to try and give another chance. There a quite a few points I would like to state that I agree with, this movie definitely could have benefited with more world building. I also felt that it was a bit odd that she just found the boys randomly while screaming on the streets? And I dunno if its just a japan thing, but it also felt odd that she was willing to travel all that way, alone to go and confront an abusive stranger? Aside from these points though the one major one that surprises me is how often I hear that the beasts part feels shoe horned? Other than the ballroom scene, I felt the story was entirely different. I think there is a disconnect with the audience in understanding why Belle is so intrigued with this individual in the first place. With this colorful cast of online persona's, Beast stands out like a sore thumb and not in a positive way. A world where you can be you, authentically and not be tied down to realities rules. I think Belle's curiosity in the Beasts stems from a wanting to understand why someone would purposely go out of there way to cause destruction in this sort of world when it is meant to "start a new life" . As another person puts it, Belles actions mirrors that of her own mothers. I think its pretty clear to see that through the Beasts actions that his pain shown through even in this digital world which struck her curiosity. And when your a young person discovering a new interest in anything, our minds can obsess about that thing. The Beast struggled with anger but, it was also subtly implied that his pain stemmed through loss. Belle was able to show him love and compassion when it seemed that no other person was willing to do so. It also seems as though it may had been a familiar type of love, one that the beast knew would only lead to more pain. And it was through this pain that allowed Belle to connect on a deeper level with the Beast, even though they were strangers. Suzu didn't seem to connect with anyone on this sort of level before and It gave Belle the strength to overcome her trauma. Without the beast, Belle may had kept her two identities separate. She learned through this digital world, WHY her mom made a haste decision to help a stranger.

[@Dubbel12]

Ive been very jaded when it comes to anime movies. Im just used to them being amazing almost every time. But yeah.... Belle wasnt amazing. It was... good? Visuals were great and soundtrack too, but I wasnt buying the story at all.

[@jp-wc4ce]

I also didn't love Belle but mostly for different reasons, the biggest one being that i never truly believed what happened in the virtual world carried real stakes. there were multiple times where I found myself wondering why characters didn't just log off lol. and similar settings CAN have high stakes! but i found the way U was handled, presented, integrated and (like you said) designed really prevented me from getting invested and was pretty immersion breaking at times. it didn't help that everyone talked about "unveiling" as something relatively low stakes that didn't have the potential to ruin somebody's life or anything lmao. there were other issues besides that but that was the main one for me. anyway great video, I'll check out the rest of your channel!

[@folcwinep.pywackett8517]

Wow! Exactly my reaction to this film. I am a huge Hosoda fan, have all his works in my library, and like you, I really wanted to love Belle, but exactly at the same midpoint, began to lose emo interest. I think Hosada's rigid adherence to retelling "Beauty and the Beast" worked against his story for me. Would have preferred concentrating on Suzu Naito and her struggles with loss. Of course "Belle" is hugely popular, and any contrary reaction is sure to generate some hate-mail type reactions by those who love "Belle"! Strange how love generates hate!

[@Dragonk116]

It was pretty disjointed, I feel like they tried to do 2 different stories at the same time and it just kind of clashed with each other..... I get the point they where trying to make but as you said it came across as disjointed.

[@Air_Dan]

I did enjoy the film and visually it is beautiful and the songs are pretty good. But yeah I felt a barrier to get to a deeper emotional level for this movie. Like the story threads aren't connected enough. I really wish the Beast wasn't in the film. Not that the storyline with the two kids isn't an important one to tell, I just wish that it didn't share a movie with Suzu's story. I know the ending is suppose to be a parallel with her mom but it is so unrealistic because of course her friends and the choir group would go with her. They wouldn't;t send her alone. Also the kids are still stuck with the abusive father. Ya know the script writer could have made since Suzu is so famous after her reval her getting scratched by the dude could have gone viral and then he goes to jail. I felt like there was an amazing movie in this script but the visuals and music carried it and Suzu herself.

[@egoygoy7542]

Dude its not about just her trauma of the story. Its also about how her mother sacrifice her life for a stranger who's helpless and her(belle) understanding what she(mom) did and why she did it. asking what would you have done on a similar situation why the dragon doing what he does.

[@vegeta2998]

Exactly. This movie was dealing with with after math of her losing her mother which can be hard on a child. Her being distant and not understanding why her mother did that. Feeling like her mother deserted her. Then she finds a online place called U and goes in there seeing she can hide herself and try to gain all these followers trying to fill that hole she has. Then she meets beast who being hunted like a animal covered in brushes and also isolated from people. She gets intrigued in him wanting to learn more and help. Finding out him and his brother needs help. The boys feeling the helpless and mistrust of people. The isolation you get when your in their position and mistrust. She then begins to know why her mother did what she did. To help someone who is in need. She grows as a person and grows closer to her mother's death as well as her mother's decision

[@refiaren]

I'm a lover of Hosoda's films (Summer Wars being my top tier fave/fave of all time) and I loved the musical aspect and the cinematography of Belle. But I do agree on its plot holes and it made me feel like this whole Belle story could have been better if it was made into a series. I love the [not-so-main] plot part wherein Suzu is suffering from grief and when she saw the Beast, she felt like he was similar to him and she wanted to help a fellow grieving person out. But the journey itself on how Belle and Beast developed their relationship was very rushed and the way on how Suzu recovered from her own grief was also too quick (she just sang.. and the grief is gone?? ...okay? hahaha). It could have been written better especially the part on how Suzu discovers Beast's identity (and don't get me started on how dumbfounded I am that they figured out fast where Kei and his little bro lived LMAO). I also felt that the insertion of those weird power ranger dudes are not needed to build the story. But despite the messy plot, I still cannot help but fall in love with the movie because of how beautiful the cinematography is and the emotions conveyed in the songs are justtttt so chef's kiss.

[@StasherDragon]

3:19 We saw mundane, day to day activities of the school children, but not what happens in U. It is mentioned that there are battles, but we don't see them. The multitude of avatars are moving from one place to another, but you don't see the activity they're heading towards.

[@AutumnRed]

I watched this movie yesterday and I couldn't agree more with you. I kind of liked it but I think it's more because of the great visuals and music than the story itself. And I think the movie actually had the potential to have been a lot better with some better work on the things you mention and that didn't really work in the movie. My favorite movie by Mamoru Hosoda are Wolf Children and the girl who leapt through time Also I think the final scene when Suzu finds the kids could have been much better if they didn't make it so easy, like creating some tension because they cannot find them even with the help of other characters would have been better than Suzu just going there and find them in the street waiting for her

[@CherryAnime203]

Great review and I agree with all your points. I was excited for Belle for the amazing music and art but was left feeling disappointed in the end. It wasn't a bad film by all means (it was just ok). However, the emotions didn't hit me as hard as they wanted to-the story was messily disjointed with out of nowhere character choices, unnecessary bloated cast that didn't need to be there, and plot devices for convenience sake. It doesn't help that the thematic narrative didn't compel me either. Despite that, I can see why someone could love it, just like how Summer Wars is my favorite Hosoda film despite its faults. If it had a more narrow focus and kept at a better pace, I think my opinion would have been different. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed the music, even if everything else didn't reach my expectations.

[@jeffersonvillarta7941]

The story of belle could have written better, that is why I want to rewrite it haha. But other than that, the movie was amazing and a unique experience compared to other anime.

[@ehmzed]

I too, didn't love this movie as much as I was hoping to because many things seemed to make little sense, but now reading in the comments what other people got, I'm appreciating the movie more and actually understanding it more

[@muupmuup3023]

Good review Kevin. However, the movie was not confusing to me at all. In fact, the part from where you thought nothing was making any sense made the most sense to me. 😅 just because she was so invested in the beast doesn't mean she forgot about her mother. They tried to showcase that belle was actually exactly like her mother even tho she felt "betrayed" by her. She cares for other people just like her mother did. Compassionate people can tell a lot just by looking at someone. When she glanced at the beast she knew he was in pain that's why she was so desperate to find out who he was, so she could save him from his agony. It was like, if she's gonna die she's gonna while trying to save him. For someone like belle, revealing your true identity would be the worst nightmare, but still, she sacrificed, she didn't care what happens next, once again just like her mother. Then she finally broke free when she realised why her mother did what she did. This anime was the reality check we needed for this generation. How we are so quick to judge and how fast words spread these days. How advanced the technology is, etc. For people who's gone through some kind of family abuse, this movie hit them hard. (Plus, I think the whole beauty and beast like part was so beautiful, you wouldn't normally expect that part in movies like belle, but that's exactly what added the extra depth behind all the pain, using a famous fairytale to describe real life problems, I think it was brilliant). Anyways that was just my opinion, I watched this movie a few hours ago. I loved it, but haven't seen many videos made about it compared to animes like A silent voice, etc. So, I wanted to check if there was a marketing problem or what 😅

[@celine.existe]

(spoilers below) I agree pretty much with all that you said. I just read a comment that Belle's intrest in the beast came as a parallel to her mother who left everything to save a little girl in the river. And I can NOW see that. And that's the problem. I feel like the movie failed to convey the connection. Just a simple scene where we can see how she realizes that her interest comes from protection just as her mother. Which I feel is messily explained on the train where her father is like "your mom taught you to be like this". I also thought it was really ironic how Suzu is doing everything to hide she is Belle but then rudely demands the beast to tell her who he is. There is no transition or progression in their relaitonship. Then it is so good at conveying all of these emotions without the need to explain and then there are parts that are so overexplained too. I love the songs, the animation, the concept and the story they tried to tell. I just don't love how the story was told.

[@Grac-ur8hk]

I agree with this but have seen some comments talking about how helping the beast let Suzus resentment toward her mother fade and I think this aspect is to subtle, if the beast somehow reminded Belle of her childhood friend I though this would have been more cohesive. When I first watched the movie I actually thought the beast was going to be her childhood friend and was disappointed when it was not. Her trauma with her mother was rapped up but in a way that seemed like reaching. She could have saved somone she already knew and had the same effect with less of a wild plot, that's just what I think

[@stratoge]

Fair points brought up in the video and in all the comments. I'm on the side that some stuff confused me but I'm still entranced by it's emotional high moments, so I don't regret seeing it in theaters

[@AHeroWith1000Names]

Wholeheartedly agree with your thoughts! It's such a shame this movie doesn't know what it's doing. It throws so many potentially amazing concepts at you and doesn't go anywhere with them... Let's just hope Hosoda-san sees his mistakes and improves upon them in his next film.

[@memorian8472]

The adults in Suzu's life letting her run off to go protect children and take on an abusive ADULT MAN by herself really turned me off from the movie. I genuinely liked the movie even if it did become a bit convoluted but that last part made it sort of a miss. But i do have to say the music was great and definitely hits all those emotional beats for me, I don't think I'll ever watch the film again but the music has definietly been in rotation and still gives me chills.

[@EggsBenedict-te4nj]

Yeah that part confused me. All of Japan by that point were made aware of what was going on. Why didn't anyone inform the police to conduct a investigation and rescue? Like what if the dad went through with hitting her and didn't stop?

[@luciar.e.203]

For me didn't feel forced. I don't know for sure if is something cultural (most probably is) but for me it was very clear why Bell and the Dragon called unconsciously for each others feelings, and it shows in between lines but very obvious (like in the finals scenes), for example when the Dragon says "don't look at me" and the way Susu hides herself from others. There were differents ways of pain connecting with each other in this movie. To see this movie you have to be intuitive and not everything has to be explained in your face, Good directors/Authors tended to want to bring/provoke/evoke diferents self-explanations and emotions to the viewers. Like a good artist create their art gifting to the public/viewers the opportunity to give their own explanations about what they are seeing.

[@michaelfang1393]

Good takes, but I still stand in the zone that this is a pretty good Hosoda film throughout, over Mirai too. I like the film more than all those nominated Oscar's picks (and even Josie, The Tiger and The Fish is better than those Disney picks). I seen revisited Belle multiple times because I love the music. The story could be worked in a better end, but imo I think it's a solid film and to me, things do make sense in a way, after few rewatches, I kind of find things that stands out more to more. I think Mamoru still got more stories to tell for the the better. People are pretty divided for Boy and the Beast too and I think that film is my third favorite out of his behind GWLTT and WC, it's a great film regardless imo. It's also like Shinkai's Weathering With You after Your Name, I do not think anything will touch the skies of Your Name from those titles coming after, Weathering With You felt like it just went off the rails a bit and the music is still great.

[@bookmew1081]

Why wasn't Belle nominated for an Oscar? I agree it was better than most of the nominations.

[@michaelfang1393]

@@bookmew1081 Because Disney bought their spots. It's about the same asking why Your Name wasn't nominated for their 2017 award.

[@bookmew1081]

@@michaelfang1393 What about the 2 movies that weren't Disney that somehow ended up nominated? Do you think these award shows hate Eastern Animation?

[@michaelfang1393]

@@bookmew1081 I still do.

[@michaelfang1393]

@@bookmew1081 Reminder, titles like Your Name and A Silent Voice never had their chance, you cannot doubt that they're biased against anime films which is the bigger animation pool in Japan.

[@floppa4934]

I went into this film blindly I saw the DVD at target and thought it looked interesting and also the beast looked badass lol now I have never seen any studio chizu / Mamoru Hosoda films this is my first one and after watching it I was honestly confused and still am it had heart and soul but it felt messy and rushed towards the end Edited: they should of made this into a series and not a movie my opinion

[@Imaginestudio2004]

Well I actually love Belle because not only the animation is so beautiful in a virtual world, but in my opinion I like simple stories (both fantasy and Slice of Life) I mean no one could have suspect a "beast" could be a child in the flesh What I mean is the 2 boys goes through abuse from their father, that was the biggest plot twist I've ever seen!!! I also see it as the biggest level of Beauty and the Beast. It's funny, sad, heartwarming and even some of the little characters (in the virtual world) are actually cute in my opinion. To me, this movie is just completely flawless! I have nothing bad to say about this movie really, even if I tried.

[@SaikiKFann]

I agree belle is a messy movie. And I’m glad it is. The movie is about a teenage girl overcoming her trauma, it’s not gonna be a clean easy road to recovery. It’s gonna me messy and emotional with some beautiful parts in between. And that’s exactly what belle gave us. A beautifully messy plot about over coming your trauma.

[@alexavila7700]

I found the film quite barable to the point of not minding owning the Blu-ray of the film. But even then, it's one of those anime films of all time. It had great ideas but still wish it took its time fleshing out those ideas.

[@acupoflaxatives9155]

this was almost exactly word for word my take on this film, down to the narrative choices and mixed messages. of course, this film is still good underneath it all, and is held up a lot by the animation and music. all my feelings and thoughts about it were put neatly together in this video that i couldnt say myself.

[@rawdasalmataman7908]

My favourite character at the beginning was suzu but then it became the beast. All the beast 's actions made sense. Suzu is intersted in the beast for no reason. Also why is she distant from her father ? That was never explained. That's why I like the beast more. He has trust issues and it is explained why? I understand why suzu is depressed but the problem is that suzu 's father is actually a good guy he tries his best but suzu is the one that doesn't seem to care so yeah . I liked the ending of the film more than the beginning.

[@jthecool9225]

I agree with nearly everything you said. My main problem with the movie was that it became a bit dysfunctional when The Beast enters the picture. Now that it's been a minute since I've watched the film and I've pondered it, you nail the fact that the characters' intense interest in The Beast seems artificial. The actual character behind the beast was intriguing and certainly had a deep connection with the MC; it led to a pretty strong emotional climax. Yet the path to get there was very messy. I still think the film was spectacular in nearly every regard outside the main plot, with the amazing visuals and music. But that's probably what makes it frustrating to critique. There was mad potential in this one, but it missed the mark a fair bit when it comes to the plot. I'm definitely intrigued to see what the next Hosoda film will explore.

[@Animedingo]

Just saw the movie last night. It has issues, but I did like it a lot. I wish we saw what happened to the kids at the end, or, why the beast was being targeted in the first place? The movie that really connected with me was Summer Wars. So far nothing else has hit me the same way. I'm fairly certain this movie was more concept and art than it was story, and that's fine ultimately but not gonna be for everyone

[@Itzzyukaaa]

It’s really similar to the beauty of the beast… I loved the movie soo much I liked belle her character voice really fits on her.

[@riverwolfanimations]

I loved Belle mostly; I liked the story. And Suzu as a character. But I didn't like the ending, the way that the movie handled the abuse of the two kids felt like they didn't have an idea on how to fix the two boys' situation. So, they just ended the movie. Sure, Suzu stood up for them and tried to help but then she just leaves. And she leaves them with their abusive father, and it feels like nothing will change for them. Thats the one thing about the movie that didn't sit right with me.

[@ZeeBoe]

The movie is great but I feel like the main issues with it would be the ending there is no real understanding of what happens to kei and tomo like yeah suzu protects them from their abusive father but like what happens after all that it just doesn’t add up do they go back to their probably more pissed and abusive father or what I feel as the ending there is just no clarification of what happens to them.

[@mymunaakther44]

I still really like the movie . I find the story very right. Of course it's a movie , so it can't be completely similar to real world . But it's still have so undenied true feelings to it ( in a fairy tale away) :)

[@Violetstar22]

I 100% agree with you. I wanted to love this movie to but the story is just not good. That’s what I find with Mamoru Hosoda’s films. The first half is great then the rest falls flat. The only one that’s good all away threw is Wolf Children

[@shironasama0445]

Wolf Children is still my favorite film of all time.

[@dominicjannazo7144]

I'm glad you made this video. Partly because it is a major source of recommendations for my own review, but mostly because I really like reviews that dig into things that COULD have worked. You clearly love Hosoda's style, and I wish I had seen some of his other films before Belle to see his ideas actually working instead of this mess.

[@kilokrafts2039]

Agree the main story is a little gray, but damn, the soundtrack lifted the movie back up, especially the climax with “A Million Miles Away” that was a beautiful scene

[@gabiausten8774]

Let’s be honest, the dad would’ve served three bullets for dinner before the cops show up, especially after the whole world found out what he did…cuz ,,THEY NOT GONNA TAKE MY KIDZ AWAY!!!“

[@hinata167]

I don't see the power ranger types as an SJW group I see it as more admins, police or moderators. Also thought the leader would end up being the Beast's dad.

[@TheSingingBUn]

I'm not gonna discredit your review, I totally get what you say because I felt there were a lot of lackluster elements that deserved attention. However, I remember the intent that came with Hosada on an interview during the production of this film. Hosada dedicated this film to his daughter, reflecting upon what may come when growing up in a digitized age, just as he wanted to depict female vulnerability in an era where so many stories kept pushing for 'girlboss' troupes that often overlook the weaknesses that girls struggle with. He wanted to tell a story about accepting vulnerability, just as he made a subtle critique on a lot of Beauty and the Beast stories. Pointing out that often times 'Belle' characters are fated to 'fix the beast' and is used as a means to an end to make the beast counterpart into a decent human being. He wanted to emphasize on Suzu's agency as a character, where despite her trauma and ongoing mourning for her mother, decided to embrace the person who was suffering. In an irony of ways, the intent is easily backfired by the shoehorning of the Beauty and the beast storytelling, but, oh well. I think the validity of your points is definitely something that certainly shouldn't be dismissed. This was a messy film, but in the film's intent gave me a more forgiving perspective of its flaws. Its the same sort of opinion I had with Makoto Shinkai's 'weathering with you'.

[@kerrygligorovic9758]

This film remind me a story of Beauty and the Beast🌹 expect this is a anime version done by Japanese writers and directors which inspire by the fairy tales of Beauty and the Beast🌹.Although there a few things that I'm disappointed about this movie because when I first watched the trailer and waiting for months on the story I would have though that Belle/Suzu becoming popular in U with her singing that the Dragon would appear at her concert to kidnapped her to have to himself, I also though that the identity of the Dragon would be Suzu's father since they're distant after her mother passed away or Suszu's childhood friend Shinobu who always watched over her. If I was the writer of this movie I would have made the story very interesting.

[@Yiman]

lol im happy that im not alone on this! expect Hosoda fan boy attacks coming your way, but the points you made in this vid was valid👍 keep up the good work Kevin!

[@KevinNyaa]

Thanks bro and don't worry, I am a Hosoda fan boy.

[@bensherinian3599]

The ending is where I had issues with film. She finds the two boys stands up to dad, and we don't see or hear from them again. You can't have a serious moment like that and then not tell us what happens. For all we know, the dad could've killed the kids and ran.

[@NicolasDarknessWolf]

Belle it's beautiful ...from the studio, but when you touch the story... I feel like o understood kingdom hearts and Evangelion, better than what the story came about

[@abispanner3957]

I couldn't put my finger on it but your video is great! I was so confused at so many points and i thought it was just me 😅 I was so invested in Suzu but then it went off course, and then I was confused that she sort of had two love interests all of a sudden?

[@ebunny1652]

That's funny, I've kind of gone through a similar arc when it comes to Mamoru Hosoda films and anime films, as Wolf Children used to be my favourite anime film, but was then dethroned by A Silent Voice. I still love Wolf Children though and Mirai is probably my 2nd favourite of his personally. I have not seen Boy & The Beast Yet though. But yeah I can't say I wasn't a bit disappointed with this film. It felt quite different from Hosoda's previous films, in the sense that it's trying to be quite big and ambitious, while also just feeling a lot less grounded to me. It felt forced and I wasn't expecting that from this director. It definitely had it's moments and it's a beautiful film to look at with some nice music, but I really just couldn't connect with it. I would be willing to give it a second chance, watching it on my own at home instead of with a friend at the cinema, but I'm mostly hoping his next film will resonate more. Then again, part of it might also be me getting older and such, whereas the film felt like it was more targeted at kids or teens.

[@puterboy2]

You know something, I think I agree with you. I actually, genuinely liked it until the Dragon showed up.

[@YutoKisaragi]

Can you make a review about Maquia: When the promised flower blooms? It is my favourite anime film. It is about motherhood btw

[@KevinNyaa]

Not a bad idea in the future. Mari Okada is really hit or miss with a lot of her dramas.

[@david_tm]

I really loved summer wars and I thought I'd like Belle too based on visuals alone but I just couldn't get into it. The film was gorgeous but I didn't really feel for the characters and the story/message was not told very well. The plot points kinda moved on fast and I didn't have time to digest what was going on nor understand the characters deeply. It felt more like a music video at times. My favorite part was the cool whale, Belle's mom plotline at the start, and the kayak guy. The movie overall was a 6/10 or a "fine/ok" to me.

[@LeaveMeAloneFBI]

This movie would've been way better if the movie was more about her essentially living 2 different lives. One in the real world where she's a shy introverted nobody with no friends And another in the virtual world where she's a super famous idol singer. She struggles trying to live 2 lives at once until they eventually clash together and backfire on her, and in the end she chooses which life path is more important to her. That's what it felt like the movie was building up for the first 40 minutes Or it the movie was about her forming a rivally with the girl who's appearance she stole to make her avatar. i was genuinely shocked learning she had literally nothing to do with the lot of the story.

[@crazziii_]

100% agree with everything you've said! Only thing to add is that, for me, there's just too much heart and soul in this film for me to physically ignore. I'm still crying throughout despite knowing that several points just don't add up lol

[@ivankaisersantos6437]

It's true,, there's a lot of variables inserted in the film and a lot of "what happened next?"...

[@BenHopkins1000]

Plot holes aside, this was a fun movie to watch. Personally, I see it as a colorful digital neo-noir. Suzu’s the only one who empathizes with the Beast due to losing her own mom at a young age and genuinely just wants to help the poor guy out without putting his true identity on blast (literally). The world of U itself might not be as fleshed out as Inside Out, Ready Player One or even Ralph Breaks the Internet, but that’s what spin-off shows are for (looking at you, Helluva Boss)

[@shianebeck3631]

What i don't understand is that her father is always there, trying to get her to talk to him but she always kinda ignores him. If anyone knew what she was going through it would be her father, wouldn't it? When I watched belle I thought the villian was the beast's father's avatar but it's not really stated and we didn't see the villian lose, he lost sponsors but that's it. It feels incomplete and very muddled to me and I really wanted to love this.

[@donovan9456]

For me, the biggest disappointment for Belle was the fact that from the trailers, we were promised a modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast crossed over with Phantom of the Opera (so many parts of the story crossover with POTO, such as the young prodigy singer losing touch with her voice after the death of a parent leaves her devastated, only to rediscover her voice with the help of the "beastly" character) and that was not delivered. I believe the moral of the story of grief and human connection that the director was trying to tell could have been told as well as he wanted had he stuck to that premise. But the film got so distracted telling Suzu's highschool story and the story of the power-ranger-SJWs that everything else kind of fell apart.

[@dmen6810]

the soundtrack/songs of belle is why i love that movie

[@halfofakitty]

She's initially fixated on the beast because she assumes he doesn't want to be unmasked, like herself. He's the only person she relates to on a core level, thus the pursuing and protecting.

[@johnnybadmen3473]

The music was easily my fav part this movie. But since you can just download them, a rewatch is unnecessary.

[@CamCat13]

I love the animation, the artistry, the poetry, and am also a fan of the beauty and the beast trope. But I do agree with you that the story progression feels forced. I explained why she sidelined her grief processing because she wanted a distraction from it, hence the inflated interest in the Beast. Or concurrently, what if she saw a lot of her own inner turmoil within the Beast's behaviors, intrigued because that could've been her if she chose a different path to process her grief. So she investigates because she wants to know what happened to him, in hopes it is one that could understand what she is going through. Other than my hypothesis, there was nothing that forced these 2 to interact with one another. In Disney's version, Belle took her father's place in the dungeon. Then the spell was coming to an end that would with a bad ending for all involved if not broken so it put a time pressure on all of the characters. In this story, there is no dungeon, no spell to break... Though on a more metaphorical sense, in the boys reality, they seemed to have lived in a dungeon and the curse could've been the fact that the father was beating his kids. And how quickly Suzu got to the kids before something bad happened could've been the countdown clock like in Disney's version. But that is a stretch but still doesn't give Suzu legit reason to keep pushing and prodding.

[@majinmanmartianhunter4995]

This movie is a perfect example of how writing and plot is abundantly important….the visuals were gorgeous, the concept was amazing, the soundtrack is beautiful…the writing plot and pacing is TERRIBLE…the U world seems unlimited but they limit it…the characters are interesting on the surface but theyre 1 dimensional…and they just make stupid decisions and act in unrealistic ways…Suzu’s dad just let her go to another city and Kay’s dad acts like he’s scared of suzu even tho he beats children day…it just doesn’t makes sense..its like this movie was a 2hr long music video

[@kineshashekhar1853]

Mamoru Hosada cannot write. Period. His strengths are in the direction and the cinematography, not the actual story. In fact, the only Mamoru Hosada movie I would classify as a masterpiece is Wolf Children. That one was a surprisingly rare gem. But as for his other works, I simply cannot rate them more than a 4 out of 10. Summer Wars was a complicated movie that seemed to have no idea how the Internet works. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was basically a worse version of Your Name. And Belle tries to convey a poignant message about identity and coping with grief, but it mushes so many storylines together that it becomes a contrived mess of a movie that has a dangerous message and has nothing to say.

[@aewriter]

The Beast crashes Belle's concert to fight internet police. She has no interaction w the Beast yet is suddenly like "I love you." Super weird vibes

[@meeee3736]

This movie might not make sense but I freaken love this movie I love the songs I cried this movie was magical for me :,)

[@justabug1647]

My issue with the movie is that Suzu is a Mary Sue. Like, the biggest one in any movie I have ever seen. The world bends to her will and everyone loves her. She is portrayed as perfect with no flaw only some trauma, which isn't bad enough for it to make sense for her to be "the chosen one". She sang generic pop songs when I'm sure there were millions of other girls doing the same thing.

[@nathandean2106]

I agree with Everything just said. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this movie ever since I watched it and it wasn’t in a “I loved it so much” way but more in a I was upset way that I couldn’t put my finger on. I really wanted to liek this movie, it had some good emotional beats which I’m a sucker for and both the visuals and the music were amazing. But when it came to the story, the plot was so janky it took me out of what I wanted to feel. But alas, hopefully they learn from this. Also side note: the English voice actor for Belle- SUPER TALENTED

[@laurenregnier3710]

If you want to use saved ideas , that's great , as long as those ideas make sense in the story . You can't just throw them in a story all at once . It won't make sense .

[@andreacall3024]

I've seen several people opine that this movie leaned into the Beauty and the Beast thing too much, but I tend to go the other way; I think the story would have been more cohesive and done a better job of clearly drawing a parallel between Suzu and The Beast if they'd simplified things and stuck to the Beauty and the Beast template MORE. Tbh as I was like halfway through the movie I thought there would be an ironic twist where the popular pretty boy (forgot his name) turned out to be an abuse victim who vented his anger online as The Beast; that way Suzu would be the unpopular "beast" IRL but "the beauty" in U, and the popular boy would be "the beauty" IRL but "the beast" in U. And that the message would be that these two people helped each other in their two different worlds, giving strength where they were strong and receiving strength where they felt weak. And if I'm being really controversial, I think making The Beast and Belle's relationship explicitly non-romantic was a mistake. Mostly because I'm just more apt to like romance, but not just for that reason. They could have left their ultimate relationship vague and just "potentially" romantic, but going completely the other way removes some of the explanation for why Belle was so obsessed with The Beast; that kind of fascination would make way more sense if it started out as some type of infatuation, which would eventually give way to empathy and genuine desire to help someone else in pain. Because I do agree the writing didn't do enough to explain why she even cared about The Beast. Lastly I just want to also agree that the ending was way too contrived, convenient, and sloppy. It was a pretty weak attempt to tie everything together into a neat resolution. The abusive dad just backing down against a lone teenage girl was probably the worst offender there.

[@fatedscribe9298]

I really liked the movie, but for much more shallow reasons than Hosoda's other works (not to say that's bad). Animation and music were outstanding, and I was left in tears frequently. But storywise, I do agree that it felt kind of all over the place. I definitely agree that the world of U felt very underdeveloped and needed more information/worldbuilding. I also think that the story of the beast really missed an even better segue way - the beast should have been shinobu. Keep the story beats of him being abused the same and it would have made a much more compelling story imo. Suzu is getting over the loss of her mother, while Shinobu is trying to find control and power when his real life gives him none. It would also add a ton of impact to all the times he says he would protect her, because he can't protect himself. It would also save time in the movie to expand on the topics of the worldbuilding and give more reason for suzu to overcome her loss and save shinobu like her mother saved the child.

[@Bilnsky]

we are in the same point of view, thank you for making the vid

[@enzoaraya4796]

I still can’t get over that ending, what the hell happened to the brothers?

[@ant1cool]

I didn't finished of watching this movie & I didn't even need it, since the director showed me from the beginning who was who and how it was gonna end. And I was not wrong, just a bunch of postmodern themes that tried to hide that this was nothing than another generic story. The soundtrack carried the whole movie.

[@tsuntsunsweetie]

Very glad to see a review from this point of view! Thanks for your work!

[@ruthohare9840]

While the visuals were beautiful and the music was amazing the plot was, sadly, a hot mess. It feels like maybe 3 different stories squished together. I wonder what it would have been like with Satoko Okudera writing the script?

[@metromelody18]

Suzu saved the kids like her mom tried to I think it wasn’t confirmed if her mom saved the kid

[@SpareAccount-qt5pq]

In my opinion people shouldn't get upset over someone not liking a film, because not everyone has the same personal preference (I'm just saying this because of the intro)

[@CDHfilms]

YOU didn't love Belle I didn't love Mirai, except for the soundtrack

[@gabrielcaro]

6:05 I’m sorry, I know I’ve said this multiple times, BUT WHAT ABOUT HER FATHER!? “ she feels like she has nobody who can empathize with her-“ WHAT ABOUT HER FATHER?!?!?!?

[@furihreunsicherheit3624]

This film should have been a series to give the characters, themes, plot, tone, and ideas time to breathe and settle upon the viewer. But instead the film comes off as a magic trick/ole razzle dazzle with a dangerous takeaways, like that a lone school girl goes to confront an abusive adult man when an entire cast of peers and adults watched the abuse with her and none of them accompanied her to confront the abuser, or that doxxing is a good thing.

[@MrDJGreyhound]

I too was slightly disappointed in Hosoda's third digimon movie

[@raindrozest9558]

Belle is a masterpiece. Truly one of the best things ever made by humans and computers.

[@sliceruser]

i recognize belle as a bad movie and inside out as a good movie, but i hated inside out and loved belle, belle had so much more impact through animation and soundtrack while inside out just felt flat

[@bottle1211]

14 minute standing ovation? man the elite really think a lot of themselves

[@Pvcdr]

i'm a hundred percent with you, the movie was really beautiful musically and graphically speaking, but the story men the storie.. everything seems just so out of the place, the Beauty and the Beast story seems just out of the place, mamoru hosada should really have just focused on the protagonist suzu, because within a 2 hours movie, it seems really unrealistic to squeeze so much character's story lines without having a really strange feeling that the movie just stick every piece of a puzzle together without thinking about the final result. I've loved ame and yuki, but this movie is really a let down.

[@jordandavis258]

I would love to see the world of U in another movie, maybe about someone who’s inner self is still mistake filled it or people staying the the world since it’s more ideal than the real would, it would definitely be interesting

[@jordandavis258]

I also would want to see her relationship with her dad grow throughout the movie because if anyone could understand what she was going through, it would be him. I just kinda wanted their relationship highlighted more