I’m continuing down the Mamoru Hosoda rabbit hole. After the blockbuster anime SUMMER WARS and spending time with THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME, next on my list was BELLE. While the surface story takes inspiration by retelling BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, the true depths of this visual treat are more about kids processing grief in a digitally masked world.
Audiences will fall in love with Suzu, the protagonist in BELLE. Her sadness and fear of showing her true self in a masked world of digital avatars are instantly relatable. Despite a few bumpy plot moments, the film is tear-inducing as we see her silent voice heard across the world of U (an online community similar to the world of Oz in SUMMER WARS).
The hardest part in reviewing this film is deciding whether it’s a 🤩 or a 😊. The story and characters in BELLE soar with the power of song, uniting the world. However, the English versions of the songs are so bland, and those versions suffer because of it. Yet, after listening to the Japanese versions of the songs, I fell even further in love with BELLE. I highly recommend audiences tune into this unique musical, where Hosoda once again tells a story about emotionally troubled kids needing help. It’s gorgeous filmmaking. I wish I had seen it in theatres when it was released in 2021.
The English-dubbed version is available on Max, and the Japanese version is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.
