phoenix 2
At first, honestly, I thought that this one would be a weird, boring movie. However, the story improved gradually. The bond between the mother and her children, as well as their relationship with society and the environment were presented beautifully. I loved the way the scenes in the forest were shown, just like in real life 3D movies and not an animation, like when the kids were running in the snow or when the rain was dropping on the screen. Also, the story explores themes like being different and hiding it so you can be accepted, finding yourself and breaking away to be free. Okay, sure, the mother's relationship with the wolf was a bit creepy, but as an anime I don't know if it would have been suitable for kids, but the older audience would be more understandable. So, 7 out of 10.
Cartoonreviews
(sigh) this movie. oh boy. this movie. I really don't want to go on a giant rant so I'm going to keep this as simple and short as I can.Okay so a woman falls in love with a wolf...man...shafeshifting...thing. yeah I didn't really understand the lore with this one. Okay fine. Whatever. She gets knocked up twice with wolf pup human hybrids and then he goes out in his wolf form to get food and gets hit by a truck and dies. Awesome. Everyone I was watching this with found this really sad. I just thought it was really stupid as I was thinking 'she's a human. The hell are you going to bring her back as a wolf? Like... a dead rabbit? oh that's nice.' He had a human job. How about he just...ordered a pizza or something? Nope gotta go out as a wolf, die and leave a widow with 2 kids. Awesome.So the next hour and a half is just the kids growing up. The girl wanting to be more human and the boy wanting to be more like wolves. That's really about it. It is exactly as boring as it sounds. Everyone acts like it's this big sad story when in actuality the boy is just being a rebellious 'you don't understand mom. I'm a wolf! No one gets me!' and the girl's all 'I have boy troubles!' and the wife is sad and doesn't want to lose her son to....the forest? I am rarely so bored during a movie as I was during this one. This movie had the amazing ability to make almost 2 hours be filled with absolutely nothing. Watching this movie is like somebody making a very pretty castle out of white bread and then after it is done telling you to eat it and then crying when you do. I know that's a strange analogy but....that pretty much sums up this film. It is pretty, sad, white bread. It's not bad...it's not good. It's just....there. I didn't hate it, I didn't love it, I was just straight up bored. 4/10
Brian McAfee
Let me start off by saying this review will have some spoilers in it, so you have been warned.Wolf Children is the story of Hana, a college student who meets a werewolf and falls in love, has a whirlwind romance, gets pregnant, and ends up having to raise two werewolf children on her own. Hana deals with problems, some of which will be familiar to most parents, and others which will be familiar to most dog owners (such as chewing on furniture). All things considered, Wolf Children is a solidly good movie. However, it's not as good as the hype it's received.Let's break it down:Animation: 9.0 This is full of high quality visuals. Absolutely beautiful, especially the gorgeous scenery once Hana moves to the country! All the motion is smooth, the colors are outstanding and vivid, everything looks amazing. If there is any flaw, I would have to say the initial transformation of the father into a wolf was a bit of a letdown. It's pretty much just a slow morph from man to man-wolf, and it really could have been a lot better. This movie has little to offer in the way of effects, and this transformation was their chance to shine, and I feel it was a missed opportunity. But still, it's a small gripe. On a side note, I'm a bit confused as to why Wolf Daddy tells Hana not to watch him transform, and then proceeds to transform extremely slowly over a couple of minutes (which of course Hana sees), however it is clearly established later on that the transformation can be instant.Sound: 8.0 The voice acting was great. Very believable emotions, and the voices seemed to fit the characters very well. The music was good but not great. It was the typical orchestral background music which you would expect for a movie like this, and there really wasn't anything wrong with it. However, there wasn't anything which I could listen to by itself. To get a perfect ten in this category, I have to be looking for the music online after I finish watching the show, and that's not the case here.Story: 7 The story is good. We see approximately twelve years of Hana raising her two wolf children from infants to middle school. Each has to find their own way, human or wolf, and it is interesting to see how they make their choices and how they deal with their dual natures. This was a great concept, which you would expect from Mamoru Hosoda, who brought us Summer Wars and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, but the concept wasn't masterfully executed. Actually, it did seem like the movie was trying too hard to be a Ghibli film at times, especially once they moved to the country. Specifically it was like watching Totoro, but with less magic and mystery. It had the look but not the feel. There are some scenes which are badly mishandled. (spoiler!)Toward the end, Ame, Hana's son, runs off into the woods during a typhoon. Mom, of course, runs after him nearly dying while trying to navigate the woods during the intense storm while searching for her son. Unfortunately, instead of playing this as an emotional farewell, it is played for unnecessary drama and excitement. Why? Because the show was nearing its end, and they needed a dramatic climax, that's why. It was fairly obvious and I was not impressed by it. Finally, the story lacks any real ending at all. We get to see that the children have decided which world they want to live in, but that's as close to a resolution as we are going to get. This is, after all, a slice of life film, and that's what we get. A slice.Characters: 7 Hana is the main character, and that may be one of the movie's biggest problems. Miyazaki's films had a sense of wonder, mostly because we experience the world through the eyes of very young characters. In this movie, we mostly experience it through the eyes of an adult going through difficult circumstances. The story is narrated by the daughter, but she is only a major character for the last half of the movie. The father is a real letdown. He is only in the movie very briefly, has only a few lines, and apparently passed on a genetic predisposition to run outside during horrible weather. In fact, we never even learn his name, which pretty much relegates him to the status of an extra. Overall: 7.75 I liked it. I would recommend it. However, there's nothing here that's going to bring you back for a re-watch. I should also point out that my wife and daughter actually got angry at me for not giving it a perfect 10 rating, so it apparently appeals more to female audiences. But I stand by my review.
