Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

SoftInloveRox Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Jemima It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

bump-18589 This is a fantasy of a shy boy who is a hidden genius of a summer. On July 30, 2010 there is a virtual world, OZ, which is on the Internet that people all over the world crowd. A shy high school student, Kenji, is invited for a summer job by the senior he longs for, Natsuki. It is her relative who wait them at her home. Moreover, Kenji is asked to pretend to be her betrothed by her, he manages to do that. During he stays her home, he breaks something like some code by using math which he is good at in the middle of the night. From next day, Japanese Society is thrown into confusion.I could enjoy this story very much. I think that the director reflects the real world in recent years to this film. In these days, the world is supported by network, so the Internet and smartphone are essential for our dairy life. I think this film shows the danger of the Internet Society by using animation which may be easy for the audience to understand. In addition, the voice actor of Kenji does good job. He can play Kenji naturally.

TheLittleSongbird Summer Wars is one of the most ambitious animes to exist, ambitious doesn't always equal greatness on film as a result of being over-ambitious but Summer Wars is one of those that gets it right. Some characters are better developed than others, the main family members are very compellingly real but some of the side characters are sketchily written. If the film had less characters than it did the character development would have been even better.The animation is just wonderful though and stylistically unlike any other I've seen, the colours are eye-popping and the backgrounds are so richly detailed and textured. None of it felt confusing to me. The cyber-battles are particularly strong in this regard, the action itself is thrilling and the visuals positively dazzle. Summer Wars has a music score that is both rousing and ethereal, and luckily mood-wise when matched with the animation and the tone of the storytelling it never jars. There is also a thoughtful script that handles its emotional themes very touchingly and remarkably maturely, while the story covers a lot but despite exploring several themes it doesn't feel too much. The family themes are ones that really resonate and charm, and while the message is not the most original it's a truthful message that doesn't patronise. The lead characters are engaging and the voice acting, both in Japanese and dubbing, is dynamic and expressive.All in all, a beautifully executed anime and shouldn't disappoint anybody who likes Wolf Children and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. It's ambitious but apart from the writing of some of the characters it doesn't feel too much so. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Alex Rabbitte When taking a look at the history of Japanese animation, it's fair to say that for the western audience at least, Japanese animation films can be severely butchered and be heavily criticised. However, I think films such Summer Wars are exceptions due to the fact that they offer up something different to all audiences and deliver on the entertainment value.'Summer Wars' directed by Mamoru Hosoda (who also directed 'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time') is a film that explores the endless possibilities when it comes to our use of technology and blends that with the theme of family/romance. the story which takes place in a near- Utopian future where everyone integrates themselves with the world of OZ (an online platform that is used by everyone)is focused around the 17 year-old high schooler Kenji Koiso, a mathematical genius who like most geniuses is shy, uncoordinated and inarticulate. Being disappointed not representing Japan in the maths Olympics, Kenji finds himself in an odd predicament where the girl of his dreams Natsuki Shinohara 'hires' him out to be her fake fiancé to please her great grandmother Sakae Jinnouchi who's turning 90 years old. While Kenji tries his best to fit in with Natsuki's large family, things get even more complicated when he receives an odd encoded text message one night which although Kenji easily solves the 250-character algorithm, the next day it is known that he actually released a malevolent A.I called 'Love Machine'. With 'Love Machine' purposefully creating havoc in the world of OZ, the repercussions are slowly being felt within the world and as things get more and more chaotic and the stakes are raised even higher, Kenji and family slowly realise that this A.I could pose a big threat to the world than anyone had previously been imagined.What I found out within this film that I really appreciate for doing is it's attention to detail. Not only in terms of animation and visual quality does Summer Wars look great, but the way it eludes to the themes of technology/family is interesting. Probably the most coherent and obvious theme that this film represents is technology and how it certainly gives us, the spectator,an in depth look at the advantages and implications technology can do in our everyday lives. Not only that but the film also gives us this message that technology is always evolving; We have progressed immensely over the past decade through technology and we will enter many more decades to even brighter and scarier society driven sources. While the core of the film does revolve around the technology aspect for the majority of the running time, the other key theme that remains current throughout is 'family'. The actual Jinnouchi family is pretty much the heart and soul of Summer Wars and outlines how on a metaphorical term how important family is in our lives and how that extends through the bonds of friendship. The family it-self felt like one massive character that again delivered this films heart and soul; the way each individual character played each other's response whether it may off been a violent retort or a cheesy joke was played out with such realism which goes to show how good the dubbing was for this animated piece.With such a large cast you could argue however that the weakest part of this film was actually the development of the main characters. Kenji being the usual shy,quirky teenager living his normal high-school life can be depicted as just an ordinary anime character with no back-story apart from being a super genius which is the only interesting quality of character. While the dialogue and voice acting of Natsuki is well-done and charming at times, her relevance to the doom- narrative is very limited and is only perceived as a love interest to help advance the character of Kenji.The only individual that stands out is the great-grandmother as she does add a lot of warmth to everyone and gains a lot of respect from each character .In terms of the visual aspects however, Summer Wars is good-looking film. The action/fighting sequences are fluid and smooth and barely any moments where it just looks stone still. Hosoda's contrast between the standard but detailed real-world setting and the world of OZ which is bright and vibrant and funnily but weirdly looks like the internet has had sex with Nintendo is professionally done and certainly adds to tension of the story snapping back and forth from OZ to the real world.The depth of detail such as the little kids playing with their Nintendo D.S's and Wabasuke (developer of 'Love Machine')with his Iphone was something I enjoyed thoroughly as again it brought this sense of verisimilitude. On top of this, the soundtrack consists of orchestral music which feels very Disney-ish in the up-beat and comical moments but still manages to diverge it self whenever the narrative gets emotional. Besides having an orchestral music-score, there are other types of music which certainly deliver and add to the important sequences. A good example of this would be the theme of 'King Kazma' as the uplifting techno-beat really syncs wells with the adrenalin and high tension of the action-packed scene. In terms of the narrative however, there are certain elements that call-back to the Digimon movie being that there is a digitised world in both and that both are directed by Hosoda. However Summer Wars completely makes better use of this doom- destined story line as it does coincide with the technological aspect of the film.All in-all... Summer Wars alongside many other well-established animated films is a great piece of art. The mixture of the highly-stylised animation mixed in with the characters and this dooms-day narrative make this film what it essentially isAlex Rabbitte - 8/10

AnimationFiend Summer Wars is a movie that doesn't know what it wants to be. Is it a coming of age story? A family drama? Cyber-punk? A rom-com? There are moments dedicated to each genre, but nothing is fully developed.Speaking of not being fully developed, there is no reason for this story to have 24 characters, as half of them serve little to no purpose (e.g., the woman obsessed with her son's Highschool baseball games.) The audience can get a sense of family unity simply by the actions of the family, not the numbers; quality over quantity. The story is filled with anime tropes (nose-bleeds caused by stress or embarrassment), clichés, and twists that offer no surprise and drag out the run time.The saving grace of Summer Wars is that it managed to keep my attention from start to finish. And while the designs of Oz are gorgeous, the animation is wasted on a story that has been told many times before and will be told many times after.6.36 out of 10, because despite the hodgepodge pacing, the characters that are developed remain likable and the story (despite being unoriginal) manages to entertain and even have its charming moments.Anime fans should consider giving Summer Wars a watch, but don't expect much.