79
A movie that I am mad I missed out on for so long but, now I'm glad I finally got to it, this is a delightful time with some out of this world visual and audial cues.

First of all Lu is great, not just a vehicle for joy and love for these characters but a real person/fish who makes good decisions and sometimes messes up and thats why I love her, not to mention her great relationships with others, the chemistry is off the charts and the interactions feel and fluid as this movies teal water.

I'll get to my one big issue now, the protagonist, I don't know what it is but I just wasn't a big fan, he has that stereotypical shy kid turned good but he just comes off as too distant and arragant at times. His resolution feels forced as he just decides to stop being a dick, I think his motivations were not geniune and he just felt off the whole movie, but maybe its just me.

I do really like the plot and themes though, using the mermaids vs. humans to prove a very common theme of misunderstanding beyond generations is super engaging and always ends in a super charming way. There was a ton of action too and they were able to pair this with a kind of musical too, while that does get all over the place at times I think thats the beauty of this movie, just like life it can be messy at times but it figures itself out exactly how its meant to be. I think the subtext of love in this movie is what takes it to another level by the end, through every character and interaction there is so much emotion and it is portrayed masterfully, the rating for this movie is going up as I say this.

And like I said this movie had some of the most unique visuals and score ever, the incredibly vivid and alive colors and movements are super fun to watch and the music is super chimey and happy, pair these two and you are transported in such a quiet yet bright little town that can conquer anything and I want nothing more than to live here.

Overall, while some major structural and character issues for me, I won't let it take away too much from such a fun and happy movie, while still giving sail to some super heavy themes and amazingly engaging plotpoints.

79
A movie that I am mad I missed out on for so long but, now I'm glad I finally got to it, this is a delightful time with some out of this world visual and audial cues.

First of all Lu is great, not just a vehicle for joy and love for these characters but a real person/fish who makes good decisions and sometimes messes up and thats why I love her, not to mention her great relationships with others, the chemistry is off the charts and the interactions feel and fluid as this movies teal water.

I'll get to my one big issue now, the protagonist, I don't know what it is but I just wasn't a big fan, he has that stereotypical shy kid turned good but he just comes off as too distant and arragant at times. His resolution feels forced as he just decides to stop being a dick, I think his motivations were not geniune and he just felt off the whole movie, but maybe its just me.

I do really like the plot and themes though, using the mermaids vs. humans to prove a very common theme of misunderstanding beyond generations is super engaging and always ends in a super charming way. There was a ton of action too and they were able to pair this with a kind of musical too, while that does get all over the place at times I think thats the beauty of this movie, just like life it can be messy at times but it figures itself out exactly how its meant to be. I think the subtext of love in this movie is what takes it to another level by the end, through every character and interaction there is so much emotion and it is portrayed masterfully, the rating for this movie is going up as I say this.

And like I said this movie had some of the most unique visuals and score ever, the incredibly vivid and alive colors and movements are super fun to watch and the music is super chimey and happy, pair these two and you are transported in such a quiet yet bright little town that can conquer anything and I want nothing more than to live here.

Overall, while some major structural and character issues for me, I won't let it take away too much from such a fun and happy movie, while still giving sail to some super heavy themes and amazingly engaging plotpoints.

It's beautiful I love it so much it make me cry

It's beautiful I love it so much it make me cry

this one's been on my list for a while and it didn't disappoint!! masaaki yuasa is kind of my goat so i knew i would enjoy this but it wasnt what i was expecting and it was SO much fun. i've noticed yuasa really loves movies with a lot of Water. like notably this and ride your wave (2019) & even some sequences in the night is short walk on girl (2017) <-which is the same year as this movie! it makes sense given the fluid and dynamic sequences that are usually in his movies, especially the grand spectacle aspects of his movies, water animation is a great medium for a lot of visually beautiful moments. i just feel like whenever i watch a movie by yuasa im like Yeah, this is what animation was made for like look at this stuff!!! also the music in this was SO freaking good im obsessed with it, banger after BANGER. im so glad they took the time and fleshed out yuho, i thought her plotline was so well done and one of my favorite parts of the movie. her and lu are like my best friends. AND lu's dad, i got so excited whenever he was on screen cause i knew something awesome was about to happen. also this had just a really great, fun, unique interpretation on mermaids. There was merdogs. YAY!

this one's been on my list for a while and it didn't disappoint!! masaaki yuasa is kind of my goat so i knew i would enjoy this but it wasnt what i was expecting and it was SO much fun. i've noticed yuasa really loves movies with a lot of Water. like notably this and ride your wave (2019) & even some sequences in the night is short walk on girl (2017) <-which is the same year as this movie! it makes sense given the fluid and dynamic sequences that are usually in his movies, especially the grand spectacle aspects of his movies, water animation is a great medium for a lot of visually beautiful moments. i just feel like whenever i watch a movie by yuasa im like Yeah, this is what animation was made for like look at this stuff!!! also the music in this was SO freaking good im obsessed with it, banger after BANGER. im so glad they took the time and fleshed out yuho, i thought her plotline was so well done and one of my favorite parts of the movie. her and lu are like my best friends. AND lu's dad, i got so excited whenever he was on screen cause i knew something awesome was about to happen. also this had just a really great, fun, unique interpretation on mermaids. There was merdogs. YAY!

ponyo if she was an annoying teen……

ponyo if she was an annoying teen……

Yuasa’s discipline has always been focused on movement and feeling over perfection of form and aesthetic. This balance has always lent itself to a better understanding of how to build on spectacle than other directors while still creating an aesthetic all of his own. This has helped him find collaborators that share his same ideals, eventually forming Science Saru. Lu Over The Wall is a bridging of the gap between the traditional and the modern, with how Yuasa and his crew use modern tools along with the skills developed over a long history of traditional animation. Lu Over The Wall’s story matches this bridging the gap by focusing its story on a small fishing town that has seen a lot of modernization and making the film’s protagonists children who are feeling the brunt of that tension between tradition and the new.

It’s for this reason why I feel that Yuasa’s films are always best when there is a focus on music. Music and animation are made for one another in a way that other forms of media cannot match. Animation is so dependent on timing and music is nothing but timing. Music is fleeting, just like any given moment, and Lu Over The Wall understands the fleeting precious moments of adolescence, when things feel larger than they are and carry more weight then than they ever would in any other part of life later on. It’s sheer spectacle filmmaking, something that I was glad to have seen on a large screen, as on a television the big sweeping moments of the film’s exaggerated and heightened emotional beats didn’t hit as hard for me this time around. The human element of the film is still one of the strongest aspects of its story, but sadly the supernatural elements fall flat until it is time for the supernatural to be human in the film’s final climactic moments.

Yuasa’s discipline has always been focused on movement and feeling over perfection of form and aesthetic. This balance has always lent itself to a better understanding of how to build on spectacle than other directors while still creating an aesthetic all of his own. This has helped him find collaborators that share his same ideals, eventually forming Science Saru. Lu Over The Wall is a bridging of the gap between the traditional and the modern, with how Yuasa and his crew use modern tools along with the skills developed over a long history of traditional animation. Lu Over The Wall’s story matches this bridging the gap by focusing its story on a small fishing town that has seen a lot of modernization and making the film’s protagonists children who are feeling the brunt of that tension between tradition and the new.

It’s for this reason why I feel that Yuasa’s films are always best when there is a focus on music. Music and animation are made for one another in a way that other forms of media cannot match. Animation is so dependent on timing and music is nothing but timing. Music is fleeting, just like any given moment, and Lu Over The Wall understands the fleeting precious moments of adolescence, when things feel larger than they are and carry more weight then than they ever would in any other part of life later on. It’s sheer spectacle filmmaking, something that I was glad to have seen on a large screen, as on a television the big sweeping moments of the film’s exaggerated and heightened emotional beats didn’t hit as hard for me this time around. The human element of the film is still one of the strongest aspects of its story, but sadly the supernatural elements fall flat until it is time for the supernatural to be human in the film’s final climactic moments.