Your Name. Movie Review

Article by Gabe Zia

Lazy Film Critic Movie Reviews

Your Name.

So as a part of this months catch-up, I managed to find a copy of the huge anime-hit in Japan "Your Name", I saw it, and I friggin loved it. Your Name is an animated film from director Makoto Shinkai, and it follows a kind of "Freaky Friday"-ish story about two total strangers who find that in their dreams they are somehow switching bodies with each other, at totally random times with no warning. However, as the film goes on, you start to see it's much much more than it seems like.

Okay, so let's just get this part out of the way. If you follow this blog you probably know by now I'm a huge animation buff. I'm heavily inclined to bump up my rating for something if I'm a fan of the animation in it, be it Disney or Pixars CGI animation, stop-motion like in Kubo, or 2D hand-drawn style animation (this film being the latter). And much like any other Shinkai film, Your Name is absolutely goddamn breathtaking to look at. This movie is a visual marvel in any sense of the word, the lighting, the detail on objects, the way characters move around, even just the color scheme, this film is gorgeous to look at.

What really took me by surprise with this one was just how much effort and thought was put into the films writing, particularly in terms of the characters. Likability in a character isn't always the easiest thing to achieve, especially in a film like this with no villain or antagonist, but this film manages to make these characters incredibly likable, I was immediately attached to these two characters. This sense of likability and charm extends pretty much throughout the film, even during some of its more serious moments, I was completely drawn into it. From its heartfelt and emotional story to its extremely charming characters, Your Name is probably the most likable movie of 2016.

There's something Chris Stuckmann mentioned in his review of this film that I feel the need to point out here, which is the films niche appeal as an anime film. There's some parts of the anime medium I could recommend to anybody regardless of whether or not they're familiar with it, stuff like Cowboy Bebop or most Miyazaki films, but this isn't one of them. A lot of the aspects in this film, be it the style of humor, some of the writing, or the way some scenes play out would be jarring and maybe even annoying for someone who isn't familiar with the style. And while I'm not particularly huge on anime, I'm familiar with it enough to enjoy this movie. However, this isn't a flaw with the film at all, just something I felt needs mentioning.

Final Rating
I went into Your Name expecting to like it, but I had no prior notion I would love it the way I did, this is a near-perfect movie for me. Normally I'm a bit hesitant when it comes to anime on this blog, but this film I have no problem with praising it entirely. Your Name, for those who think they'd enjoy it, is one of the best films of 2016, and I absolutely loved it.