In theaters Friday, April 14
reviewed by Julian Lytle
Suzume is a wonderfully told story about a teenage girl named Suzume. After seeing a beautiful young man, she ends up on an adventure to save Japan by quelling restless spirits that cause disasters around the country. It’s also about a girl growing up and dealing with her grief and loneliness from her past, along with being a love story and about finding a family. It juggles all these things very well, along with very stunning animation. The film is able to balance the quiet parts along with big set pieces along with humor, and deep emotional drama.
The animation is very fluid and captures emotion, and I mean the little things. That’s what impressed me so much in this. The detail is all throughout. The color palette in this film is also very warm and bright, which draws you in and leads your focus throughout the film. I prefer watching subtitled, so the voice acting in Japanese is very good, but I can’t tell you how well the English dub voice actors have done. Makoto Shinkai has crafted a fantastic anime that I feel anyone who sees it will enjoy.
Originally posted on the Geek Girl Riot podcast on idobi.com
