The Boy and the Beast Movie Review

Article by Gabe Zia

Lazy Film Critic Movie Reviews

The Boy and the Beast

The Boy and the Beast is an animated film from Mamoru Hosoda. The film follows a young boy who accidentally enters a portal to a strange world, and becomes the pupil of a bear-like martial arts master due to him having to prove he can train a pupil to prove his worth as emperor. Pretty basic stuff. Now while from all outward appearances, this may seem like a Studio Ghibli film, but it's surprisingly not. If you're like me, and you are a Ghibli fan, you're probably gonna enjoy this film regardless.

With any animated movie, the most prominent features are the animation and the voice acting. The animation in this movie is absolutely stellar, it's colorful, it's creative, and it's fluid. Unlike a lot of films that prominently feature 2D animation but have moments of 3D animation, this film blends the two together rather nicely and cohesively. The voice acting is also fantastic, you can tell the casting director wanted to find the right voices to match the looks of the character, and it works better than a lot of other movies.

However, where the animation and voice acting have similar qualities and style to a studio Ghibli film, the writing is what truly sets this movie apart from those kind of movies. Between the character writing, the dialogue, and the plot, this movie is a totally unique experience. Ghibli fans are sure to get their moneys worth from the technical aspects, but its in the amazing characters, smooth dialogue, and outstanding plot that they'll really find something special. I know I did.

Let's talk about the plot for a second here, because I adored the turns the plot took in this film. At the start, it goes about some basic stuff. However, the film surprisingly doesn't stick with it's Karate Kid style premise. In fact, about halfway through, there's a dramatic change in the direction of the plot to a more serious film about adapting to the real world, and it contrasts really well with the fantasy aspect of the other half of the film. This is the part that, to me, elevated this film from something good to something truly special and worth everyone's time.

Final Rating
The Boy and the Beast is a fantastic, beautiful to watch animated film with an amazing and unpredictable plot. Whether or not you should see the film really depends on whether or not you can get ahold of a copy. If you can, I'd say go see it. The Boy and the Beast is truly something special, and I doubt I'll see another film quite like it anytime soon. I personally loved this movie, I couldn't get enough of it, and I hope more people find out about it.