Belle: Film Review
Belle received a 14-minute standing ovation at Cannes and the quotes on the poster are glowing so I expected Mamoru Hosoda‘s latest film to blow me away – but I only liked it.
The animated film follows Suzu (voiced by Kaho Nakamura), a 17-year-old Japanese schoolgirl who has been the shadow of herself for years due to a family tragedy. She finds solace in U, a virtual world in which she becomes the singing sensation Belle. Belle may be the most popular avatar inside U but in reality, Suzu’s a desperately lonely girl.
I loved the concept of Belle and its message – you have no idea what’s going on in someone’s personal life. How they present themselves digitally is not a true reflection of who they are and virtual popularity does not equate to friends in real life. Suzu is this shy, awkward and sad girl who can no longer sing whereas Belle is beautiful, captivating and has a hypnotising voice. By escaping reality and becoming Belle, Suzu is able to find herself again and rediscover who she was before the tragedy.
I really loved the first 45 minutes as we got to know Suzu, Belle and learn all about U. My attention started to dip somewhere in the middle after the introduction of the Dragon/Beast (Takeru Satoh) as the story started to borrow too much from Beauty and the Beast. I wasn’t sure about this new direction and I think this middle section should have been much shorter. The touching but surprisingly dark ending brought it back thankfully.
Belle is a visually stunning anime with mournful, memorising songs but I struggled with the story in the middle. I certainly didn’t like it as much as all those who have given it critical acclaim.
In cinemas from Friday 4th February