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Origin: Spirits of the Past Gin-iro no kami no Agito 銀色の髪のアギト |
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Atria35's Review This is a wonderful story about living and moving on with your life. From the beginning we see how lonely Toola is in a world that is completely unfamiliar to her. It's her changing and realizing that just because they're different doesn't mean that it's bad, and that she doesn't need to start the world over again- she can live happily with friends and good people in the world as it is now. Failure to really compare why things in advanced cities are better than the life they have in the ruined city also makes the drive of the main protagonist seem unrealistic and overzealous, especially when the main goal to return things to the way they were wouldn’t bring back the technology that they lost or the loved ones that have died- it would merely make the vegetation less likely to attack someone. However, even with that uncertain logic, the story still flows well and is well-told. The characters are likeable, if a little stereotypical. The action is exciting and draws the viewer in. You can’t help but root for Agito to be able to find the ability to bring Toola back and convince her to not destroy the forest, and Shunak makes a good, fairly convincing antagonist. While the environmental message might be there, it’s no stronger than anything you wouldn’t see in a Ghibli movie, and ends up being fairly well-integrated and not overbearing. My overall rating for this movie is an 8, but the respective scores for things are: Story- 8, Music- 10, Art- 10. This has some absolutely gorgeous art I've seen, and the CG blends in very well. The music is beautiful, and I'm especially making note of the opening song that sets the tone wonderfully. The story lacks a bit in comparison. Violence: There are some comedic injuries early on in the movie, one of the boys manages to fall pretty hard onto a sharp rock… on his butt. Obviously very painful and played for laughs, but it’s no more violent than the Looney Tunes. You do also have some fighting where the injuries caused are more serious, however no blood is spilled and all the characters are perfectly fine afterwards. There is implied death, and you do see skeletons for a few moments near the beginning. Spoiler: The goal of one of the town's enemies is to 'restart' the world, which means destroying the forest. To do this there are some shots fired at the town and forest, though no one is killed or injured during this. Nudity/Sexual Content: When Toola’s medical scrubs get wet (and they look like a short dress) you do get some skin-tone showing, but nothing detailed. This only happens once near the beginning. In one scene where you see the forest spirit ‘avatars’- two young girls- they are portrayed in a very stylistic way though they are nude in it. It’s like looking at a classical painting for dryads or nymphs. There is also a scene where the girls ‘meld’ into one being- this is not graphic, nor is there any blood or gore. Theological Themes: Agito becomes a 'seed of the forest' in order to bring Toola back and show her that things really aren't that bad in the world. This means he is given superhero powers and in time will 'become a part of it'- as in become a tree or plant that is connected to it. The girls that are guardians of the forest seem to have a spiritual connection to it. Other: I don't remember any swearing, and there was no drug use or anything else objectionable. |
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| Added: August, 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
