Belle review (some spoilers)

 

Have a parfait picture so you don't get spoilers on the home page. ;)
Pictured: watermelon kiss and blue raspberry topped with vanilla custard from Confetti (small parfait)

We recently watched the new movie Belle from the director of Summer Wars. We generally prefer subs, but we watched the dub for this and I thought it worked well. The voice acting in English was good, and there are some songs, so it might be easier to appreciate them in your own language.

Overall, I liked the movie. It was a very creative take on the classic fairytale Beauty and the Beast. It was definitely darker than the Disney movie without some of the problematic species questions. Some of the characters were well fleshed-out and many had good intentions. The movie did an excellent job demonstrating a main character with depression and how that can distort our interactions with others. She continually pushes away friends who are clearly (to the viewer) attempting to connect with her. She also seeks out less healthy relationships, possibly thinking those are the ones she deserves.

It was quite an ambitious movie and attempted to address some more difficult topics, such as child physical abuse. Some of this was shown on screen which is likely to make some people uncomfortable. While I suspect the purpose was to show that a) when people are being rude, they can have a deeper reason e.g. being the victim of someone else and b) sometimes holding up a mirror to a behavior can help to stop or correct it, but as this was a side plot of the story and it was a relatively short movie, it's not the most thorough representation I've seen and seemed to imply that it is a problem that has a quick fix rather than being cyclical in nature. It also praised a girl for flying into a dangerous situation to intervene, which is perhaps a realistic decision on her part based on her character's history, but seems unlikely to have happened given the strength of her relationships and the number of people who knew she was going.

The music was forgettable but pretty and well-sung. It has a processed sound, but it is fitting for the story because the main character's skill is in sound mixing.

Overall: I liked the representation of depression, the platonic nature of the friendship between Belle and Beast, and the beautiful relationships featured in the movie. I have mixed feelings about the representation of child abuse. I liked the music aspect.

How I felt after watching: hopeful, a little inspired

Enjoyability: 😸😸😸😸

Cooperativity: 😸😸😸😸😸

Recommend? If you like anime, the Beauty and the Beast story, and are in the mood for something a little more serious, then yes. If any of the above don't apply or if you generally do better avoiding representations of physical abuse, then I would not watch.

Links:

• Belle (Wikipedia page)