Movie Review: The Deer King (Shika no ou)

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B+

An excellent anime fantasy film. 

This movie feels very much like a Studio Ghibli film and there is a reason for that. The movie was directed by two former Studio Ghibli artists. Masashi Ando had been an animator and sometimes character designer on Studio Ghibli movies like Porco Rosso (1992), Pom Poko (1994), Whisper of the Heart (1995), Princess Mononoke (1997), My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999), Spirited Away (2001), The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2013) and When Marnie Was There (2014).  Masayuki Miyaji was an assistant director on Spirited Away. 

While this movie may not reach the heights of Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke, it is still a really good film. As should be excepted of a film by former Ghibli artists, one of the best things about the picture is the world it creates. This is a wonderfully imaginative world, that you are grateful you can spend a couple hours in. The world is lovingly made. Part of this comes from the simply breathtaking artwork. This is one of the most beautiful looking animated movies to come out in years and it is hard to tear your eyes away from such beautiful scenery. So much love and care went into each frame of this film and it certainly shows. There are also many little details in the artwork, that you may not initially notice but which make all the difference as you watch the film. Yet much of the wonderfulness of this world also comes from the sheer amount of thought that went into the mythology and the little details about character's daily lives add a lot to this as well. There was also a lot of thought that went into all of the different creatures that play a major role. This movie also benefits from really likable main characters. These characters are easy to care about and give us a real emotional connection to the story. While the story is a bit overcomplicated at times, it is still quite a good story and one where you truly care about what happens. 

This movie does have its flaws though. One is that the solutions to some problems seem quite apparent to the viewer well before the characters ever think about them. Another is that there is simply too much going on and too many characters for a film that runs a little under two hours. This means there are parts that feel quite rushed and are not as clear as they should be and that there are parts that shift the focus from the heart of the story. 

Despite those flaws though, what works here is absolutely fantastic and for that reason if you are an anime fan (or Ghibli fan), you definitely should see this excellent film.