markus52 - 2017-01-22 18:58:49

The Boy and the Beast is a promising, coming-of-age tale set in a fantastically fun, beast-brimmed world. Although that is enough to garner praise, the boy’s sense of grief at the loss of his mother, the shoe-horned romance, and the wacky ending put a damaging tailspin on the story.

The chemistry of the boy, Ren, and the beast, Kumatetsu, initially drives the feature. They can only communicate by shouting at each other and Kumatetsu is a terrible teacher. Ren still manages to learn from him with the support of the monk, Hyakushuubou, and Kumatetsu’s close friend Tatara supports him in understanding his apprentice. The story is fun and energetic as the boy and the beast learn how to interact with each other and train. Energetic antics, shouted bantering, training routines, and a weird sojourn to meet the other lords make the first half of the show an exciting, fun blur.

In fact, it is quickly forgotten the sorrow Ren faced after his mother’s death. What seemed like it would be a large part of the movie, with the flashbacks in the first scenes, was put to the wayside and forgotten. The set expectation these flashbacks provided was unfulfilled.

The other promise that is dashed is the tone of the first half of the movie. We know the movie will get more serious as we learn about the characters and conflicts come to a head, but the light-hearted feel and fantastical nature of the first half appear to be abandoned when Ren returns to the human world. The heaviness of the second-half, including Ren’s identity crises and father relationship seem to come from left field in how they are presented. We jump from the feeling of a Dreamworks movie, say Kung Fu Panda, to that of an angsty anime. It’s an ambitious combination even if it fails and leads to a disjointed story.

Ren’s encounter with Kaede is obviously shoe-horned in to provide romance, and she serves a role that is minor and could easily have been implemented using another character, say Hyakushuubou. I’m referring to the interaction that prevented Ren from being swallowed by the darkness. The problem with Kaede brings another issue to light. Are there any woman in the film that do anything? Besides the poorly developed Kaede, it doesn’t appear so at all. The smurfette principle anyone? Yes, that’s exactly it.

For my last negative point, the show continues to follow what many anime can’t resist: giving their viewers a wacky ending. The final fight scene, the one between Ren and Ichirouhiko, is unnecessary and used to unabashedly flaunt the relationship between Ren and Kumatetsu, with Kumatetsu dying and then turning into a sword god so Ren could defeat the darkness of Ichirouhiko. Over-the-top it is, and only interesting due to the cool animation, particularly the particle effect surrounding the whale.

The animation is great, which is easy to see from the movies cover. The prologue in the movie has a sweet flame visual that is reused later to great effect. There are loads of characters in the city and in the beast world, all of whom are bequeathed unique, detailed faces and colorful wardrobes. The effect is that of a lively and bustling atmosphere. I don’t remember anything about the score other than the actual songs, but I think it was fine.

The Boy and the Beast flounders halfway through its run, becoming too ambitious for its own good. With grief and romance and a conflict with the darkness given more screen time than they deserved, the movie can’t maintain its focus on the relationship between Ren and Kumatetsu. That is its downfall because their infectious relationship connects with the viewers and drives story. What is left is a great first part and a disjointed second. Though the first half and the animation are done well enough to make The Boy and the Beast worth a watch.

jhettinger - 2016-08-16 17:44:32

I'm a grown up man and i can proudly say "I only cried a little"

bartell.pearlie - 2016-06-25 01:25:36

Bakemono no Ko or The Boy and the Beast is a perfect movie for anyone who enjoy colorfull and funny worlds. Kumatetsu, the beast and the master of Ren, is a great image of a father. He's trying his best to make Ren happy. His friends, the loud monkey and the monk pig have different personnalities and it adds charm to the characters overall. But of my point of view, Ren is seriously lacking of personnality, let's say that I prefered all the beasts more than him. But hey, he's only one character of a joyfull bunch. I found this movie quite immersive, I loved the best world and how they are structured. Because I truly liked this movie: 10/10 !  

kbauch - 2016-03-22 22:27:36

[5/5*] Bakemono no Ko (The Boy and The Beast), one of the better Anime Movies I've watched. Not that I've watched that many, but still.

So, the hardest part with an anime movie is putting a whole story together, introduce characters, and create a story where the characters all fit without having the "cuts" from episodes.

Story was really amazing, although It was a little bit messy, barely noticable. Would give it a ten in story aswell since it doesn't leave any questions. However I would like to know more about the beasts world, how it's bound to the human world and the story behind it. Therefore 9/10

Moving on to the Animation. Well, what is there to say. The animation, effects and characters all goes so smoothly together. The effects where amazing and I just love how there is so much thought put into the animation of everything. I loved it through the whole movie, but one thing really made it spark. At a certain point you had an overview of the city streets. You could see every single character, that hadn't even been shown before interact in their own particular way. This clearly is worth 10/10 for the animation!

The Sound in the movie was amazing awell. However there was nothing that really made it stand out. The voice acting was great, the background sounds were great, the ambience, the feelings, everything. It all went so smooth together. As previously stated I haven't watched many Anime Movies, so I don't have a lot to compare to. However I absolutely found no faults in the sound and therefore I will rate it 10/10.

Oh boy, on to the Characters. Now this part is so amazing in it's own way, I'm pretty sure a lot of people would call the characters in this movie pretty "based" or "cliché". But there is one thing tha amazes me. Each and every character, without a lot of back story, has it's own unique feel. With the small story you got in the beggining from Ren, he still gave off his own vibes. There was something that made each and every character stand out. Now this in general would just be half of the rating for an anime, but in a MOVIE, this is really hard to pull off. Each and every character stood out for himself and couldn't be compared to any other at all.

Enjoyment? Yes. 10/10

Overall. This Anime Movie is one of the better. If you never watched one, you should definitely start out here. Amazing story, amazing feelings and amazing characters. I'm a cold hearted person and there has never been an anime or movie that has brought me to tears. This one, is one of the few that has been very close. If I say environment and space and time is 50% of the feelings you get, this movie brought it up to 80%. If you're still wondering if you should watch this:

Just do it

ryan.jaiden - 2016-03-18 23:34:12

So, I have never cried from anime or any movie. I did however, cry when watching Bakemono no Ko..

Story: 9
I really didn't think the story was all too fantastic, but it was surprisingly good  and resultet in a successful movie. The growth within the characters was probably the best I have seen in an animated movie and you feel happy when the characters are happy. What I didn't like however was the fact that when Kyuuta goes to the human realm, the bakemono realm is totally neglected. Also the final conflict was really predictable, something I don't like. I really was touched by the actions of the characters in the end though. Overall, outstanding story but definitely one of the best i've seen

Art: 9
Besides the people, the background art was really realistic like it was in Wolf Children. The people looked good, but you can certainly praise how well the background art is.

Sound: 10
I have never really found an anime with "bad sound" so I always give a 10 in this section. If anyone knows one please tell me what makes it bad. When I was in the theatre, the explosions and stuff were really loud, but that just made it intense.

Character: 10
Jesus christ, I have never ever cried from a character's actions. But even when Kyuuta cheers for Kumatetsu in the beginning I teared up. The student teacher relationship between Kyuuta and Kumatetsu (always arguing) seems very stereotypical, but somehow it was unique as they were able to complete each other's halves to benefit from each other. Both Kyuuta and Kumatetsu gave up their lonely lives to accommodate each other. 

Enjoyment: 9
If you liked wolf children, you will probably like this as well. Since it was directed by the same person and the stories are completely different, but have similar feelings to them. I don't know, I feel really excited after watching it and it was probably my favorite anime movie. Maybe it is just because I haven't seen any good anime movies since I was like 10, but this movie is really going to stay with me for a long time, i can tell.

Overall: 9.5
Go watch this movie, I watched it the 4th day it came out and I don't regret it. If an english dub comes out I really suggest watching the Japanese version because I can tell that the english version will not be as good.

Seriously, if you haven't seen it yet just go...right now just go and watch it goddammit!

eriberto.runolfsdottir - 2016-03-09 20:35:07

The main argument of the Bakemono no Ko was not surprising after the beautiful reflection proposed by Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki deepens the relationship between humans and animals, leaving the father, with a view to define the singularities. 
The secret cohabitation of two worlds is commonplace in stories: the incursion of the boy in the animals univer that recalls me the magic of Sen to Chihiro no Kamukakushi after a flamboyant opening sequence in every sense, and differences period between the two evoke an interesting tracks of Lastman.
But unlike his previous opus, the time it takes the animator is mostly devoted to establish the relationship between the boy and his teacher, a boor bear condemned to have a disciple in order to contribute to the succession to power.
This is the heart of the film: the tumultuous relationship between the two generations, too similar to coexist in harmony. Autodidacts, lonely, furnace top, the two hotheads establish a carousel decibels and chase irresistibly comic, where the force which is made the quest is initially in the capacity we have to replicate with insolence or rebuff brutally. Initiation is of course full of pitfalls: as Dragons, but with much more subtlety again, it's about learning to teach, or to become a humble student, to help each other in this hostile odyssey what social life. With infinite delicacy, Hosoda traces the lines of clumsiness or sketch the dance imitation, in a beautiful sequence where the boy secretly reproduced each gesture of the beast to try to be like him.
the world in which Ren and Kumatetsu evolve is also peopled with beings of rare secondary narrative relevance : The two "wises", the monkey and the pig-wonk commenting on their difficult beginnings, the lord of the town, a rabbit facetious, and the candidate of rival family in power allow the distillation of a philosophy that avoids all the pitfalls of didacticism.
Over initiation, including a short trip to the great sages of the kingdom, the animation unfolds variegated talents, alternating between traditional painting and sequences to sophisticated animation, fighting, crossing of an animal host up children, or rain whale attack. 
This simple quest for energy conservation to the final battle was sufficient in itself. But Hosoda did not write the story of a flight, and returns Ren in the human world for a series of comings and goings that will complicate his apprenticeship, between fatherhood, love and openness to human learning, meaning intellectual. 
On his last installment, the movie added one more exploration from inherent shadow of humans, hatred and resentment, involving an antagonist in a bidding war that was not necessarily essential, and recalls the difficulty he had to complete the ambitious Summer Wars.
If the animation is superb, investing the pedestrian heart of Tokyo, the convolutions of the scenario drifting manga could forget the previous summits, humble and deeply moving that the characters had achieved when fighting awaited. But this is a detail.
The maturity is good. At 48, Mamoru Hosoda directed his masterpiece, and the look on that patient progression of his previous movies portends his great talent.

reggie.damore - 2016-03-07 09:26:19

This is one of those movies that will have a deep schism between the people that will love it, and the people that will think it's alright. I will say this right now, I will compare it a lot to Wolf Children, since it is its counterpart in every way in my personal opinion and belief (and by the same studio and director, for those unaware of this). 

The Boy and the Beast, in its most basic form, is about the bonding of a son and father through obstacles in life, overcoming their own personal struggles and helping each other out through the whole of it. This alone will cause many to falter from this film, as this will blow over those who have never gotten close to their father. Wolf Children succeeded well in its message of maternity since relationships with mothers are close and extremely precious, not to say more common than not. Generally speaking, such a thing occurring with fathers is very rare. Thus far with how people have treated this film proves that point further. 

The bond that Kyuta and Kumatetsu forms is that of best friends and father/son. The forming of this bond is more often than not implied, thanks to the storytelling of the movie. But any of those who have developed this sort of bond with their father will know the difference in the relationship between these two from the beginning of the movie, and the end. I have heard before that this movie exhibits no emotions, paling compared to Wolf Children's emotional impact throughout the movie. However, I personally know that while the emotions are expressed in a different manner, it is a manner through which two men express their emotions through fighting and bickering against each other, this alone allows them to see each other eye to eye. Once again, this will blow over the heads over those that have never experienced such a thing as this with their father/father figure in life. 

The reason paternal relationships aren't focused on is why this movie hasn't done as exceptional as Wolf Children. Father/Son relationships do not exhibit the kind of blatant expressive love that Mother/Children relationships do. Personally speaking from my life, and from my heart, I have gained a very close relationship with my father through extremely hard times we faced together. Without each other, we wouldn't have pulled through, and with each other, we took things from each other and learned things we wouldn't have otherwise. A Father/Son relationship like this is beyond rare, and I can't help but feel exhilarated that even just one other person had felt this kind of experience with their father, it's something I never thought I would see be created as a focal point of a film. 

Moving on to the main downsides to the film I must regard in this review (while I do not regard them in my heart). The first and foremost is the girl character, Kaede. She feels a bit forced, and it would appear she was thrown in simply as for the sake of tying Kyuuta to the human world. However, as I said, this trifling drawback was something I could easily dismiss, since there were other more implicit reasons for her being there, and within the time slot allotted, they did a well done job of her character, introduction, fleshing out, and ending version of her. The other issue I had within the movie was a more subjective issue, the time lapse. 

The reason I am troubled by the time lapse, is not that I personally disliked it, but the level of unclarity within it. The people I've talked to regarding the time lapse felt that it disrupted a lot of the "development" between Kyuuta and Kumatetsu, leaving it largely to the imagination of the audience. I personally enjoy this level of implicitness, but I'm aware that I'm of the minority. So it does disappoint me slightly that this type of narration was used for such a compelling message and story. Nonetheless, this will bother other people, so I regard it here, but not personally to myself.

The last thing I have to really say, is that I have watched the dubbed version full through, and heard the original voicing through bits and pieces (not through the trailers), and find myself to be satisfied with either. I personally find myself extremely more at peace and tranquility with the original voice acting.

With all of those things expressed, warnings issued, etc. I have only the conclusion to write. To sum up what I took from this movie, as I've said somewhat directly and summarily implied; the relationship between Kyuuta and Kumatetsu was the primary focus of the entire film. The development of this relationship, and the behavior between the two men, is what I believe the director had intended to be what was taken away from this film. It's a very rare type of relationship to feel between a father and son, so whatever you take from this movie, appreciate the relationship if you have it, or seek out within yourself (obviously if you're a guy), to either form one, or to create it in the future. 

kyra86 - 2016-03-02 19:15:52

This past weekend was the start of the Children’s International Film Festival. As previously mentioned elsewhere, there were two Japanese animated films showing: one was The Case of Hana and Alice. The other, shown on the festival’s opening night, was The Boy and the Beast. As a fan of director Mamoru Hosoda’s previous work, I was pretty excited to attend the screening of his latest film. Does this recent effort shine like its predecessors? Well, yes and no.

After his mother dies in a traffic accident, a boy named Ren runs away from home and wanders the streets of Shibuya. He has a run in with a bakemono (“beast”) and follows him to the world of beasts. The film follows his exploits after he becomes unable to return to the human world. He takes on the difficult task of becoming that same beast’s pupil. From there, the film shows how their relationship goes from one full of friction to one of care.

How is this film different from the others? To begin with, it lacks a strong focus. Past films from Hosoda have a set premise: with The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, the premise is that a girl develops the ability to time travel and exploits it for her own interests; in Summer Wars, a boy goes with one of his classmates to her family reunion and gets involved in a major incident involving the sort of social media site he helped develop; Wolf Children explores the difficulties of a single mother raising children who are both human and wolf. This movie meanders about quite a lot, never really settling on a set direction to go in. It certainly isn’t due to a lack of opportunity. Kumatetsu, the “beast” from the film’s title, wants to prove his strength against Iozen, who is his rival to becoming the lord of their town in the beast world. However, Kumatetsu doesn’t really care about becoming the lord: he simply wants to prove he’s stronger. The “boy” of the film, Ren (or Kyuta, as Kumatetsu names him) decides to be Kumatetsu’s pupil since the beast is alone like he is, but despite that decision, it takes quite some time for him to take that position seriously, in part because of Kumatetsu’s poor teaching skills. From these two areas, you expect to see a growth in both characters, perhaps in their increased desire to help one another. That isn’t the case: instead, Kyuta teaches himself for the most part, as well as teaches Kumatetsu. What doesn’t work is that, while we see a growth in Kyuta, the same can’t quite be said for Kumatetsu. Kyuta develops better focus and maturity, but Kumatetsu is still the rough guy that goofs off and does as he pleases. If the movie decided to do something with that, it might be better, but in the end, all that grows is the relationship between them. It ends up feeling a little dissatisfying.

Beyond that, the film incorporates Kyuta finding a way to go between the human world and the world of beasts. Add into that his relationships with a high school student who becomes a kind of tutor for him and his estranged father, and you end up having a lot of different things to look into. The issue with it is that there isn’t enough balance among all of these different things addressed, especially once the film decides to incorporate a “villain” of sorts. My assumption is that Hosoda wanted to explore a lot within this film. There are elements of his previous films in this one: the exploration of parenthood from Wolf Children, the action from Summer Wars, and the more fantastical elements touched upon in The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. There just isn’t enough of a balance in screen time for all of these components to work, nor is there strong enough writing for what is there. Kumatetsu doesn’t grow as a father figure for Kyuta, and his lack of desire for the position of lord doesn’t compel you to want to see him win, especially when it seems like his opponent is the better candidate for the position. As for the action, while there are nicely choreographed fight scenes, the climax comes out of nowhere. There are certainly moments of the film that lack subtlety, however, there’s also a major lack of foreshadowing with regards to the “villain’s” motives for carrying out his actions, which ends up looking like a huge shift in personality that comes out of nowhere. We wind up getting all of the information told to us via exposition after the fact, which is far less engaging. Overall, the general story the film tries to tell is a bit of a mess.

Does it offer anything beyond the story? I certainly think so. While Hosoda may not be the strongest writer just yet, he definitely is a strong director. Like its predecessors, The Boy and the Beast has a number of well-choreographed scenes: Kyuta’s fast movements when trying to dodge others, the swift camera movement when he’s wandering through the maze leading to the world of beasts or through some pots, and the use of camera shifts that keep two individuals in the same scene both together yet separated. They all lead to interesting scene compositions that look impressive. Even within the problematic story, there are a number of wonderful moments: one of my favorites is when they go on a journey to ask different sages what it means to be strong. That section has a nice balance of beauty and comedy, and successfully conveys the idea that strength can be many things. While I wish that idea was more fully explored, I still appreciate its placement in the film. Another portion I thought was creatively done is right before the official fight to become the next lord takes place: we are shown the outside of the arena, and from there, the camera floats over it and enters into the central opening. It’s a creative choice that works quite well.

As far as the animation and art goes, it’s a bit of a hit-and-miss: the design of the beast world and its inhabitants are creative and well-done, but the film also incorporates a lot of CG, and it doesn’t always work very well. For instance, while a scene involving flower petals transforming into a butterfly looks amazing, a later scene involving a CG-rendered whale suffers from frame rate issues. The characters, too, are hit-and-miss: Kyuta and Kumatetsu certainly receive the most attention, and while I dislike the lack of growth on Kumatetsu’s part, they both are still well-crafted characters in their own right. There are also likable secondary characters, as well, but they aren’t nearly as fleshed out as the main two. Some are used for comedic effect, which is successfully accomplished: the current lord of Kumatetsu’s beast town, an elderly rabbit, is one of my favorites. Others are used as elements to the plot, such as a high school student who reintegrates Kyuta into the human world. She’s the strongest of this type of secondary character, with others not faring quite as well. Needless to say, the “villain” of the film is the weakest of the bunch, lacking subtlety in design while also lacking any explicitness in motive prior to his actions. The film’s soundtrack follows the intended mood of each scene rather well, sounding grand when it should and fun when the comedy is at the center of the scene. The voice work also nicely captures the essence of the characters, making the comedic moments shine even brighter as well as trying to keep the audience invested during the clunkier moments.

With a problematic story, strong direction, somewhat weak secondary characters, and animation that is both pleasing to look at yet at times out of place, would I recommend seeing The Boy and the Beast? While it depends on what you’re looking for, I would edge on the side of yes. Is this Mamoru Hosoda’s strongest film? Not at all. However, there’s still quite a bit to enjoy. At the end of the day, it is a fun film, and though the story is in disarray, there are still a number of funny as well as just plain nice moments to enjoy. I certainly didn’t leave the theater thinking I had wasted my time. In fact, I may end up watching this film a few more times. I’m curious as to what Hosoda wanted to do with this film, and maybe some more viewings can enlighten me, even if it’s just a little bit more.

This review was first published on Yatta-Tachi.