Flyingfroggy316
The movie opens with a stylized piece of animation that tells the audience about a race of fox spirits who sneak around your property, stealing any of your possessions that've become neglected or unloved. This story is being told to little Haruka by her mother, who's on her death bed. Haruka says she won't get visited by the foxes, because she takes care of her possessions, including a beautiful mirror that her mother gave her. I wonder where this is going.Fast forward about ten years, to when Haruka is sixteen, her father is working hard to support her, and right off the bat, Haruka comes off as a very unlikeable character. She walks into the house with a friend from school, sees that it's still a mess, and complains that her father doesn't clean the house often enough. She's angry that he drank her ginger ale, as well as at the fact that he's rarely home. Because of his job. Where's the Facebook Parenting guy when you need him? Looking at her clock somehow reminds her of her mother's mirror, which she lost several years ago, so she visits a shrine to the fox spirits to ask for it back. Her keys fall behind the stairs to the shrine, so she crawls underneath to get them back. She places them on the step, but before she can get out, a fox spirit runs up and takes them, offering us our first actual plot hole of the movie(wait for it). She follows him to the base of a tree, where she gets sucked into Oblivion Island. She meets up with the terrified fox, and accuses him of theft, but he reassures her that he doesn't steal. He reclaims abandoned and neglected objects.Okay, so there are two plot holes here. First of all, yes, he just STOLE her keys, which had only been on the step for a few minutes. Not abandoned, not neglected. And despite being a fox, he didn't notice her there less than a foot in front of his face. And I'm sorry, but if these fox spirits were really this careless, we'd have captured at least one by now.Anyway, he agrees to help her to get her mirror back, which she believes must be down here. This is where the plot finally takes off, and trust me, the plot holes have just begun.Production wise, Oblivion Island is pretty underwhelming. It's a fully CGI movie, so it doesn't have the typical anime problems... Like low frame rates... But it's still really cheap looking. The style and quality of the animation seem like an awkward cross between Mr.Stain in Junk Alley and a Kingdom Hearts cut scene. The artwork is colorful and highly detailed, but at the same time bland and gummy looking. There are times when it breaks away from this happy color palette, like the real world scenes, and a giant skeletal beast that they deal with late in the movie, but for the most part, this movie is visually unremarkable.The story is well paced, and never boring, but the amount of contrived plot twists and broken physics rules that they use to tell the story is absurd. At one point in the movie, Te'o(the fox spirit) has to give a speech about humans not being all that bad, although he's the only character who was ever afraid of her. He shows them a wind-up toy plane she built, and they react like they've never seen one before. Her mirror was supposedly stolen from the Baron by some mysterious underground thieves, but when they go underground to retrieve it, there's nobody down there who looks capable of such a feat. Just creepy dolls, slimy bugs, and a sorta-cool giant monster that looks like a cross between a rancor and an ugly quilt.But my real problem with this movie, above all else, is the ending. As ridiculous and dumbly-plotted as this movie was, it could have been saved by having a smart ending. As it turned out, when they came back to the surface with the mirror, the Baron was waiting at that location... Somehow... and takes it, along with his new prisoner Haruka. Now, this is what I was hoping would happen; Upon entering his castle, Haruka notices that the Baron really does love and treasure her mirror. It's like a comfort blanket to him. Being without it for so long has driven him mad, and having it back, his life is complete again. She realizes that she doesn't need some mirror to remind her of her mother, because the memories in her heart are enough. She agrees to leave this world empty handed, but not empty hearted, as she's taking a valuable life lesson, and several steps towards maturity, along with her.I won't tell you exactly what actually happens, but to put it in broad strokes, The Baron is a Bond villain, and the mirror is a MacGuffin. The entire third act of this obviously eastern-inspired movie is an explosion of westernized clichés. Haruka learns to appreciate her father and her possessions, but she never really grows or develops as a character, because *Spoiler alert* she got exactly what she came for.I own a 12 inch stuffed Bulbasaur that my father won for me at a carnival when I was little. I still own it. It's on my dresser as we speak. But if one of my little cousins saw it and fell in love with it, I'd surrender it in a heartbeat. Why? Because when you grow up, your childhood relics deserve to be with someone who needs them more than you. Toy Story 3 nailed this idea, and in a different way, so did Labyrinth.Overall, it's a pretty bad movie by all accounts, but it's not terrible. It's watchable, and safe and entertaining for younger audiences. It's not worth all of it's awards, but it's worth a rental.
kevinxirau
The Japanese sure have an unmatched talent for creating such unusual and unexpected projects, creativity at its finest. What we have here is one of those films. The unique art style and story immediately caught my attention and thus I was naturally curious to check it out. IT WAS WORTH IT! This is the award-winning Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror.Plot: 16-year old Haruka had just lost her precious hand mirror given to her by her mother, who died of a terminal illness long ago. Recalling an old story her mother used to read to her, Haruka visits an old shine, where she encounters and follows a strange fox-like creature named Teo to a mystical world called Oblivion Island. Here, these fox creatures collect forgotten or lost objects from the human world and use them for their own purposes. As she befriend Teo and her long lost stuffed sheep Cotton, Haruka must find her hand mirror before the island's ruler, the Baron, uses it for his own devious ends.From beginning to end, this movie had an incredible effect on me. The characters are developed very well and they become lovable almost instantly. The art style combines CGI with traditional hand-drawn animation to create a visually-stunning world full of interesting creatures and colorful environments. The music is quite memorable and it complements or enhances the mood of various scenes throughout the film. There's also some surprising bits of action, which are thrilling to say the least.By far one of the biggest elements that makes Oblivion Island so great are some of the emotionality of the film. Each of the main characters has a charm matched only by their vulnerable qualities, particularly the protagonist Haruka. Seeing her go through such an emotional journey as she searches for her lost mirror is heart-warming and it moved me a little. This characteristic in turn affects her friends such as Teo as they also have journeys of their own. It's like the old saying, it's not the destination as is the journey, which I totally agree.I can see why this movie won some awards and be nominated for others. Oblivion Island is a very unique family film that, in my opinion, deserves greater recognition in the world. The English dub (done by Funimation) is solid as is the original Japanese. With that said, this charming film is worth every penny and I highly recommend that you check it out. Peace!
Andrew
When I pressed play, I was not sure what to expect. I knew a girl loses her mirror and goes to a "magical world" to get it back. I was wondering, what would the moral be: "treat things with respect"? "Don't forget your stuff?" Anyway, my hopes were not that high and I expected something overly predictable. And what did I get? Well, it wasn't a total opposite of what I thought it would be, but it wasn't a cliché storm either. I liked where the movie went and how it ended. It was a truly magical adventure that made me happy, once I took it. I do not want to spoil anything, so, find it and watch it. There is a fansub (a very good one) floating around the Interwebs, plus there is also a DVD release by Funimation planned for 2012.Now, to the technical details: Look: 9/10. The character 3D models aren't the best in the industry, but they are alive with emotion and move nicely. The backgrounds steal the show however, since they are either hand-painted or made to look like it. And the colors in everything are AWESOME.Length: 10/10. An hour and a half, perfect for this film.Story: 8/10 or 10/10. It is not too complex, but little details here and there make it perfect. Perfect for me, at least. For this kind of movie, I cannot imagine another story. But some viewers might find it too simple for their sofistik8ted tastes, hence the possible rating of 8/10.Voice acting: 10/10. I only watched the fansub, but I thought the lines were delivered with the right emotion for every scene.Music: 10/10. Hear it to believe it. I, for one, am going to hunt the down the soundtrack CD.Closing remarks - SEE IT.
Kareem Ahmad
"Oblivion Island" is for sure a beautiful animation , starting from its characters represented in the heroine Haruka , her cute friends in oblivion island, and the whole magical idea about the island.The film starts in a 2d animation telling the story of the island and then shifts to its 3d style with what seems to be still hand drawn backgrounds in several scenes, the drawings are beautiful indeed , and the 3d characters are well designed , on the visual side, this is a fine movie to watch.The story is as engaging as the visuals, as it talks about oblivion island, an island where fox-like creatures take things long forgotten by humans and make use of them, the film follows Haruka's journey to this island and the several events she experiences and the effect of these events on her memories, there are several heartwarming scenes especially at the beginning and near the ending.I watched "Oblivion Island" with my brother and we both enjoyed it, its a beautiful entertaining movie and -for me- it won't go into oblivion.
