Writer: Mamoru Hosoda (Screenplay)
Starring: (Voice Talents) Shota Sometani, Koji Yakusho, Aoi Miyazaki, Suzu Hirose
Plot: When a young orphaned boy living on the streets of Shibuya stumbles upon a fantastic world of beasts, he’s taken in by a gruff warrior beast looking for an apprentice.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Wonderful Animated Movie
Story: The Boy and the Beast starts as we learn that Kumatetsu a bear like creature and Iozen will be fighting to become the new Lord of the beast world, Iozen is the favorite to replace the previous Lord because of his ability to teach others while Kumatetsu need to find an apprentice, which takes him to the human world to search for one.
Ren is an orphan boy that has lost his mother leading him to running away from home living on the streets of Shibuya. When Ren has a chance meeting with Kumatetsu he takes him back to the beast world where he renames him Kyuta making him the apprentice, hoping to give him that upper hand in the battle to become the Lord of the beast world.
While the two find themselves constantly arguing the two go around the world to learn, well Kyuta does as Kumatetsu believes he knows everything already making the teaching becoming difficult. Kyuta learns the skills becoming an equal to Kumatetsu but when he finds himself back in the real world where he meets Kaede a young woman that teaches him things he should have been learning in school but his visits to the real world show him the threat coming towards both worlds that he must work with Kumatetsu to defend them both.
Thoughts on The Boy and the Beast
Characters – Ren runs away after his mother dies finding himself in the Beast world. In the Beast world he is renamed Kyuta and becomes the apprentice to Kumatetsu where he becomes a warrior unlike anything his master, when he grows up he becomes conflicted into which world he would like to be part off. Kumatetsu is the warrior that wants to become the new lord, he has trained himself but it makes him an unpopular figure in the world but once he takes Kyuta in he cleans up his act before the battle to hopefully become the lord the world wants. Kaede gives Ren a reason to stay in the real-world, she is a lonely figure with her age but the light Ren shows her in people gives her a reason to stay strong.
Story – The story starts off being a mentor and apprentice storyline where the two clash through the training and teach each other life lesson along the way. These lessons will be used in their final showdowns to show how far the two orphans have come. This is a very culture filled idea that we don’t always see in the Western world but the message is simple, learn to prepare because the battle will come from the people you least expect it to.
Adventure/Fantasy – The adventure side of the film takes our lead character Ren into a new world, a fantasy world of beasts, it blends the two ideas together perfectly to create the world we enter into.
Settings – The visual looks of both worlds come of fantastic, we have the Japanese city which is what we know well and the beast world which shows us how the training is completed.
Animation – The animation is looking flawless again with everything looking and feeling like we are part of this world.
Scene of the Movie – The final battle
That Moment That Annoyed Me – This is one film that didn’t annoy me at all.
Final Thoughts – Yet another fantastic Japanese animated movie that can be watched, learned from and most of be something to give you an experience unlike any other film.
Overall: Must watch for animated fans.
Rating