Review of Suzume

A movie by Makoto Shinkai, and with how good Kimi no Na Wa was, I was very excited for this one. Suzume is about a young girl who encounters a sexy, sexy man on her way to school and just like any other maiden would, stalks him (kidding!) and gets wrapped up in an adventure involving chairs, cats, giant worms, doors, and more, oh my! Essentially, there are doorways throughout Japan that occasionally burst open, allowing a massive, writhing red worm to come through, causing earthquakes and destruction. Souta, the sexy man in question, travels around Japan closing these doors to prevent disasters. In ashocking turn of events, Souta gets turn into a chair and Suzume and Souta must work together to turn him back. The movie is somber, yet funny- I watched it in movie theaters, and the whole theater cracked up during many parts of the movie- at times simply because the imagery of a chair galloping along was a bit silly. The movie is inspired by the 2011 earthquake in Japan, and thus incorporates historical/real-life elements that makes the movie hit close to home for many. It’s stunningly gorgeous, a really beautiful movie- although I will say a lot of the symbolism and character designs reminded me a lot of Howl’s Moving Castle. I mean, come on- look at Souta (when he’s not a chair)- that’s black-haired Howl! Even the doors leading to other places is reminiscent of that location-changing-spinny-wheel-door in Howl.
I do have a few gripes about the movie. One of them is that Suzume is a MARATHON RUNNER. I swear this girl ran across half of Japan in those Japanese loafers and a school uniform skirt. My feet hurt just looking at her. Forget closing doors and saving the world, this girl needs to get a coach and start training for the Olympics, because shawty put in MILES. Another one is that as a 22-year old, I would find a romance with a 17-year old, firstly illegal and secondly, very much verging on weird. I think the movie could have been a heart-warming friendship movie just fine without the romantic vibes. Souta was, as many good-looking men are (KIDDING!) a bit two-dimensional and flat in terms of personality development, but we can give it a pass since he’s a fun little chair for most of the movie. Cheers!