As an absolute fan of your name, I once set a record for the most number of movie viewings in my own theater. It is conceivable that I am excited and eager for this film, but also a little uneasy. After all, those who have seen Makoto Shinkai's works probably know that your name is a bit of luck. This big luck is not the luck of the box office, but more of a better production and better inspiration. So this latest work, the resources may still be very good, but it is very worrying whether the creative inspiration can still keep your name. As a result of watching the movie, the fear is indeed correct, at least I feel that way.
The overall visual experience is that compared with your name, the integrity and rationality of the story are much worse, and it is also similar to the setting of Japanese folklore in myths and legends, and it is not as clear as your name. And what's worse, the accumulation of emotions, in my opinion, is a lot worse than your name. And the music doesn't feel as good or appropriate as your name sounds. In terms of advantages, I feel that various characters are more vivid and lovable, and the picture also has a lot of attempts at lens language.
Story-wise, this one is simpler and clearer than your name. In fact, to put it bluntly, the story of this film is not as important as your name, and a lot of time in the whole film is to highlight the characters. At the beginning, a large number of male protagonists sold miserable content to highlight the setting that the male and female protagonists were originally degenerates from the end of the world. The three people in the middle are looking for accommodation in various ways to highlight the tragic situation of the three. If you look at the story itself aside from these, you will find that this is a film that can be perfectly explained in one sentence. The story is too thin, and a lot of time is used to express emotions and character settings, so in the end, when I walked out of the theater after watching it, my mind was empty.
In terms of character design, although the character design of this film should be more vivid than your name, such as the cool president's niece, the sloppy uncle who looks a little bit like the interstellar cowboy Respike, or the precocious female predestined relationship. The little brother is actually the kind of person who is very likable. Especially the younger brother, who usually looks like a little playboy, but when he puts on the sunny doll, he looks extremely cute. But the problem is that the setting of the male and female protagonists still has the feeling when I saw your name at first, too much emotion and no description of personality.
And a few other issues that I think are in the film are,
1. The setting of the world view is a bit unclear. Can anyone just go to the rooftop shrine and pray to become a child of the weather? Another example is that the female protagonist keeps using Qiqing and she disappears into the cloud, but the male protagonist can use 3 years of heavy rain in exchange for the female protagonist. The function of the shrine is too confusing. I feel that this is more ambiguous than your name before. Moreover, a person who everyone knows can pray for sunshine, but people are indifferent to them, this seems more like a fairy tale. But apart from this point in the film, the others are too realistic, which made me feel like I couldn't find the north when I watched it. Xin Haicheng intentionally ignores the world, but completely focuses his attention on several main characters, which brings a kind of disharmony instead.
2. In the ending part, the male protagonist almost destroyed Tokyo with three years of heavy rain, in exchange for the female protagonist. But at the end, Makoto Shinkai deliberately didn't show what effect the flooded Tokyo had on people. While there are plenty of empty shots at the end to account for the changes in Tokyo, we hardly see any pain in sight other than the flooded city. You are still giggling and laughing. I can understand that the intention of doing this is to deliberately avoid making the audience feel the sin of the male protagonist. Just like the narration of the male protagonist at the beginning, the world doesn't know what we did, just because they didn't feel the changes in the world. Xin Haicheng deliberately avoided the miserable feelings of Tokyo people after the disaster, probably a large part of the reason is that the audience simply cannot accept a setting that makes humans suffer only to save their girlfriends. But the story has to deliberately describe a counter-example that clearly violates the current world style in Japan, such as a small self and all living beings, it is really a bit intimidating.
3. I think the biggest problem is the accumulation of emotions. I don't think the emotional accumulation of this one is as gradual as your name. I still remember crying when I read your name. But when I watched this, those emotional outbursts made me feel not moved, but very embarrassing. It's like the roars of bad actors in many bad dramas. I think the emotional accumulation of this film is there in retrospect, but because the development of the film does not develop step by step like your name, the problem is that the emotional accumulation is not enough, but the sensationalism at the end is more powerful than your name, the result is A capital embarrassment. Especially the Japanese drama Run, the embarrassing illness I really watched came out.
Remember your name, since the male protagonist found that he couldn't swap bodies, the male protagonist found that the village had long been leveled by meteorites, the male protagonist tried to find the female protagonist, the male protagonist met the female protagonist in the old meteorite crater, and the female protagonist found out that he forgot The main character's name. I would say that so many plot points are an emotional shock each time, until the meteorite hits the ground and my feelings explode. Even the ending part is gradual. The male and female protagonists passed by in the snow, and then they met on the tram and finally found each other. Arguably the most successful aspect of your name in my opinion is the emotional progression. And what's the problem with Weathering With You this time? In the hotel, the male protagonist found that the female protagonist was about to disappear. After the female protagonist disappeared, the male protagonist desperately went to find the female protagonist, until the two finally met on the cloud, and then disappeared. The lack of progress in emotions directly leads to the end of the audience's emotions before they have accumulated enough. Even the scribbles at the end feel inexplicable. The male protagonist has not seen the female protagonist on three sides, but it is not force majeure, it is just living in a different place. With such a big theme, Tokyo has been destroyed. You haven't seen each other for three years just because the police won't let you go, and the heroine doesn't use a mobile phone. . .
Other good places, first of all, the picture is really beautiful. Especially for the sky this time, the description of clouds is really spectacular. It is just like the clouds around the heavenly angels described in the Christian oil paintings, which are very spectacular. In addition, there are many animations that should be 3DCG in the whole film, but there is almost no CG sense, and still has the texture of traditional animation, which is actually quite rare. The easter egg part is also quite surprising. Taki, who was with grandma at home, Mitsuha, the lady at the counter at the mall, and even Mitsuha's two friends at the beginning. While watching, there were also people around who were whispering in amazement.
In general, this film obviously lacks the polishing of the script. In my opinion, if Makoto Shinkai made this film with the effort of holding your name, there should be better results.
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