Mirai is the seventh film created by Mamoru Hosoda(Summer Wars, Wolf Children, The Boy and the Beast) who's films are very well known by anime fans worldwide. Mirai also gained attention when word first broke about the film's release. The film debuted at number two in Japan selling a million less than The Boy and the Beast then fell to third place the next week but still came out strong selling over four million tickets in Japan. America welcomed the film with open arms as it became the first non Studio Ghibli film to receive an Academy Award nomination. The english voiceover featured voices of asian american stars Daniel Dae Kim and John Cho.
A little boy gets a new baby sister who he is excited to accept as first, that is until he realizes that this girl takes all the attention away from him making him become extremely jealous of the baby. He then tries to do everything in his power to make his parent's lives a living hell through his daily tantrums. One day he flips out and runs outside into the house's front garden where he meets a high school girl with the same birth mark as his baby sister……
Mirai is Hosoda's weakest film according to a lot of people who weren't looking for a story about a child with a bad attitude. I was coming from watching A Silent Voice, so you can imagine my surprise when I was hit with the dynamics of this film. Mira's charm is more in the details than trying to be extra flashy on the surface. Viewers might go through times where they want to quit this film all together because of the annoying main character but you have to hang in there. A lot of the elements that were in Hosoda's other films are in Mirai, such as the importance of family which plays a HUGE role in most of his films. Plus the elements of fantasy that makes frequent appearances. Hosoba seems to like giving human appearances and traits to animals leading viewers to think back to the past film Wolf Children. The problem is that for some, Mirai takes a bit to long to get to the point. Causing you to want to quit the film after watching for an half an hour or so. My interest peaked when the idea of mystery makes an entrance in the story surrounding the main character's dream like sequences. The answers lead to good results as you can feel the character growth on top of a new found love for family. A little comedy comes out here and there along the journey. Whether you choose to laugh at the jokes or not. I laughed more at the cuteness than the attempts at humor. Just thought I'd throw that out there.
Mirai's main little guy makes you wonder why parents stop beating their children. I'm not talking about abusing your kid. I mean hitting them good enough on the butt so that they know that having a nasty attitude will not be tolerated. This kid's tantrums make you want to throw something against a wall, break something, …. Hell! Even throw yourself of a bridge. His baby sister is the cutest thing that every happened to the film and little guy ruins that. I do support the reformation of his character by the end of the film. It was sad that it took all those experiences for him to act right. A whopping would have been faster.
Hosoda still knows his way around a pen. Mirai doesn't lack in visuals even though I felt that this film had much less fantasy than The Boy and the Beast. I loved how he used simple things in nature like the fish in a tank or the leaves of the trees to showcase mystical events. The scenes in the sky and at the dark train station pop in digital design and color for a visual masterpiece.
Mirai has pacing issues mixed in with an awful brat of a character but that might be the inside charm of this film. You aren't suppose to like the kid, making the ending all the more of a weight lifted off viewer's shoulders. Probably his little shoulders as well.
Great read thankks
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