An animated delight with emotional and literal timeless story telling.
I’m a sucker for anything Hamlet related. The story takes the most powerful elements of that tragedy and modernizes it in a way that is unique and fresh. Having past and future unite in a way that feels rich is a hard thing to do. I always feel like things get so convoluted when you try to tell a story like this, not saying what they do here is perfect but it makes sense in the climax. Mamoru Hosoda strategically takes all these different genres from across time and weaves a beautiful story.
Mana Ashida as the titular character is a force as Scarlet. I don’t see anything stating otherwise but she voices Scarlet at all ages and her raw emotion and strength SHINE. Ashida wreaks of protagonist energy and I hope to follow her career wherever she takes her talents.
The animation is killer when it wants to be, the landscape literally looks like they took pictures with high aperture and just plopped it on the storyboards. The weather, the lightning, the action, the sadness, it all is outstanding and seeing this in Imax was definitely a privilege. The angles and certain cinematography shots are so great! There are scenes that are LOTR-esque and makes you feel like you’re in a helicopter right above the action. Along with the feel and the aesthetic, the score by Taisei Iwasaki goes so hard, original songs included, the whole movie showcases such strong emotion and Iwasaki rises to the occasion to make you feel.
While the film showcases Scarlet in a grand way, the rest of the movie around her is surface level. The rest of the voice cast is ok and not as strong as Ashida, outside a violent outburst at the climax by Koji Yakusho’s portrayal of Claudius, the other character’s are just there in my opinion. The animation also strays from greatness when not focusing on Scarlet, some of the character models and movements felt like uninspired plastic to me. Also with the time given, some things could have been explained more, like there’s a dragon and it’s frighteningly beautiful, but like… what does it do besides be relevant when the plot needs it to be?
Scarlet is a fun ride and even though this medium is stigmatized for being animated, this proves that animation is a story telling tool that is just as important as what you can physically put in front of a camera.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
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