Review of Suzume

A movie which put me right in the feels. A simple story with standard plot beats, cliche story lines and made for a casual audience. But are these exactly bad things. In this day and age simpler movies like Suzume no Tojimari feels like a breath of fresh air. Yes the story is straightforward enough, the characters are genuine good characters with commonplace motivations but it all felt real, such that even a child could relate with the themes. I felt a lot of similarities to how I felt when I watched Tangled. A simple story made for pre-teens which even adults can appreciate. Acharacter's journey through the world discovering the real and the fantastical at the same time, forming relationships, maturing. And all the themes, story beats were executed wonderfully, just perfect. At no point in the movie was I bored or felt distracted or thrown off the main plot. Every side thread was connected with the main plot whether it is a helpful person helping Suzume grow as a character or revealing more about the mystery.

The reason I was engrossed for the whole 2 hours was the animation and the music. The plot was the meat and potatoes, but the music, oh mama, was just the perfect flavoring, elevating the movie to levels never reached before. It was just perfectly synced with the mood of the scene and its definitely the best part of the movie experience, especially in the theatre. The animation was world class as expected. If anyone can pull of 3-D animation on the big screen its Comix Wave with their standard high quality animation.

The characterization was really good infact the plot is just a side story. This movie is really a story of the growth of a character discovering worlds, meeting new people and having new experiences and confronting a childhood trauma. However she is the only with a complete character growth. I did feel the characterisation of Souta, her aunt and Daijin to be a bit unfinished, more could have been done with them. But its not bad enough to put me off from enjoying everything about the movie.

Story - 7/10 Really good. Solid stuff, engaging throughout with great pacing, and all the plot beats are well executed. But its nothing new, just fresh and pure.

Characters - 8/10 Could have done more, but very good in general. Best to treat the movie as Suzume's story.

Art - 10/10 As expected.

Music - 10/10 The real deal of the movie.

Enjoyment - 10/10 Highly recommended to watch in the theaters. I can assure the experience is worth it.