LogFAQs > #941119763

23. The Wonderland

Genny: 10
Charon: 10
Red: 17
Inviso: 22
Johnbobb: 30
Karo: 33
Jona: 39

Total: 161

Genny: Birthday Wonderland features the most subtle character development I've ever seen in a Bildungsroman tale. It's kind of a blink-and-you-might-miss-it sort of deal, as the main conflict that needs to be resolved factors only into the beginning of the film and after its conclusion. Our heroine Akane begins the film by sulking on her birthday, refusing to look at her phone because it only reminds her of a recent time when she spurned a friend over some dumb mean girl drama. She didn't really do anything when she could've easily stuck up for her, and I don't like the way that conflict is resolved, but the movie doesn't exactly focus on that anyway. All you need to know is that Akane's entire arc centers around being "braver". It's very vague, and if I'm being honest it lacks depth, but I enjoyed the movie nevertheless for its exquisite animation and colorful cast of side characters like Chii, Doropo, and Pipo (I desperately want my own Pipo or Doropo, and no I don't mean a plushie I mean an actual tiny flying magical humanoid so somebody indulge me). The film as a whole is reminiscent of Howl's Moving Castle, albeit an inferior version of it where the worldbuilding and general sense of fantastical whimsy is more appealing but the characterization is absent for the most part. Still I had a good time with this one.

Charon: A really neat, quirky take on a classic fairytale. Probably in the neighborhood of 100 times better than the Disney animation version, this feels like an alterated tale of Alice where the protagonist has some character and not just randomness incarnate. There is still plenty of charm to the world, with the various creatures and inhabitants of the land accessed through the ground. The character designs here are all very neat; I liked Hippocrates and Pipo and especially the designs for the story's villains. It's a classic feeling fairytale with some modern liberties and sensibilities taken to it, which is generally what I'm looking for in animation.

Red: For being an entire world hidden in a basement, it sure ended up boring. This gets points for the neat twist with the villains at the end, but the world itself outside perhaps some of the ending never really hits the most interesting of places. Most of the characters did grow on me a bit, but it feels like in a world that is obviously somewhat magical, were somehow shown the most boring places they could possibly come up with. I cant leave this writeup without mentioning the cats sleeping as a great gag though.

Inviso: Its funny that this movie is called The Wonderland, because to me, the main character feels about as bland and boring as Alice herself. And honestly, this movie goes on too long for the content it provides. It could EASILY have been half an hour shorter and not lost a damn thing along the way. Basically, Akane is an underdeveloped character who is kind of cowardly, but we dont get to know her well enough before the trip to Wonderland to notice any sort of transformation over the course of the movie. There isnt one, by the way. After building up this robotic bad guy all movie, Akane just rescues him with the power of love, a good fifteen minutes before the ending. And then the ending happens and its just really forced and rushed and stupid. It makes those first eighty minutes feel like they were just filler and padding that dont serve to better the actual plot of the film. At least Chii-chan was funny, as was Hippocrates. Those two are the saving graces by stealing the show from a dull protagonist.

Johnbobb: Blah. I'm burnt out on this very specific subgenre of anime. This definitely suffered from being the last one I watched on the list, but it's also one of the most recent, so that isn't totally unearned. While this movie certainly wasn't bad, it's just not something that hasn't been done hundreds of times, many of which did it better. The entire last half an hour is just such a predictable drag. There's aspects I enjoyed, like some of the characters and the giant bouncy sheep, but I also just don't really care.

Karo: What It Is:
Young people are spirited away to a fantastical world for the umpteenth time (and for at least the sixth time in this project alone).

What I Think:
This film flops around like a dying fish in a futile attempt to impart any sense of titular wonder for its fantasy world, and considering that this is the movie's big attraction that is a fatal flaw.
The story is so arbitrary and incomprehensible that the film's big plot twist has little effect, as few will be surprised that that writers stacked on more random bullshit when there is no coherence whatsoever to begin with.
Basically the story is that a prince doesnt want to take part in a royal ceremony because it might kill him, so a wizard turns the prince into a doll, and another wizard tries to change him back and turns him into General Grievous and he tries to destroy the source of all life in the world which would result in him dying anyway. Sigh.
Toss this all together with forgettable characters and embarrassing CGI that is absolutely not ok to be looking at in 2019, and you should take a hard pass on this pointless exercise in ghibli supermarket brand mediocrity.

Score: 51/100

Jona: More like Birthday BLUNDERland. ROLF! While the art can be great, the story and characters are just plain dull and take away the sense of wonder. Akanes a really terrible main character. Shes just so generic. They attempt to show what her character is like via an awkward scene where shes in school, but it doesnt amount to anything until the credits where it shows a picture. The climax of the movie acts like she went through some character development throughout her journey but its very poorly conveyed. The rest of the characters are just kinda there. The story is very generic with it just being about Akane saving the world and the events of the film dont feel like they flow naturally. Theres a twist in the story revolving the antagonists but it didnt utter any reaction from me. Probably the most interesting part of the movie is the implication of Akanes mother experiencing the journey before. The art of this movie really deserved better.

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Congrats to azuarc on being really good at predicting stuff