Review of Suzume

Let’s talk Suzume. Suzume is Shinkai’s third blockbuster following Your Name and Weathering with You, and his attempt to break away from his traditional “film formula” we know so well from his previous two films. Fundamentally, Suzume itself is a love letter to Studio Ghibli making references to Kiki’s Delivery Service, Whispers of the Heart, and Howl’s Moving Castle; leading Suzume to take shape as an adventure and supernatural narrative attempting to break away from his traditional formula, all to give the audience something different. That said, Suzume was visually stunning, animation well done, SFX and soundtrack fantastic (RADWIMPS again), but the story was simpleand cliché to a fault?

Suzume is a film that battles between Shinkai’s usual formula (Natural Disaster, Romance, and Separation towards reuniting) and ‘doing something else’ inspired by its ode to Studio Ghibli: a focus around adventure, realism, and coming of age. Suzume really struggles to find its identity as a romance flick following Shinkai’s formula or shifting into something entirely different and new. In short, Suzume follows a love at first sight trope which motivates our main character Suzume, while her love interest Souta is presented as the quintessential handsome dude with a sense of duty transformed into a chair – and nothing more. This follows with a journey taking Suzume across the country to save Souta while introducing a plethora of supporting characters along the way.
The attempted balance between the journey and romance crams so much within Suzume’s two hour run time resulting with a lackluster romance, hodgepodge of a journey throwing various social commentaries (family dynamics, abandonment, and everyday life in Japan), and themes. This combination results with a weakening of any attachment to the main cast by overwhelming you with a string of side characters compared to previous films with a smaller core supporting cast.

Likewise, the journey aspect of Suzume was a breath of fresh air and another ability for Shinkai to carry the film visually. Additionally, Suzume has more fun comedic elements complementing Shinkai's usual foreboding theme about natural disasters. However, going back to the soundtrack department of the film, it would benefit from using the RADWIMPS more like previous entries, but this might be an attempt to do something different.

That said, if you are a huge fan of Shinkai and even animation, you should definitely check out Suzume or catch it in theatres. However, if you are not a big fan of his formula, use of tropes, and conflicting story then it is not for you. I am looking forward to seeing what Shinaki brings up to change the formula.

P.S. If I haven't convinced you about the love letter to Studio Ghibli, the film even takes place in Miyazaki Prefecture