Apr 28, 2022
If you think this will be spoiler-free, I'm sorry to burst your bubble...
Bubble starts off in an interesting setting. A huge part of Tokyo is enclosed in a dome-shaped, upper half of a bubble. The movie begins 5 years after its appearance. Buildings and structures are ruin-like, while the ground is covered under water. Ontop of that, Gravity seems to be distorted, making objects float - Perfect Parkour Playground.
The Art and Animation is absolutely great. The setting lends itself to bring out nice contrasts between the grey of Tokyo's ruins and the lush greens of nature's touch. It truly makes you believe, that it's a
...
desolated place. The colours of flowers really pop out.
The parkour scenes are well-made. Aside from a few frames where it has a stutter-like/"lagging" effect, it's really fluid. It's easy to follow the parkouring and enjoyable to watch.
Not much to say to the music. It was good. Not great, nor bad.
The characters were decent. Their appearances are good enough and distinct, thanks to the animation team. The reason they fall short is mainly due to the fact that they feel hollow. You don't connect to them and thus you don't really care about them either.
The Story, or moreso the writing, is Bubble's weak point - without a doubt. First off, I am someone who really dislikes narrated story expositions in movies. The movie treats the watchers like kindergarden children, who couldn't make the connection to "The little Mermaid" themselves. So instead, we get it drilled into our heads several times throughout the movie. With a picture book to help us see, what the story itself apparently isn't capable of doing, because it's a hot mess.
There is no clear narrative structure in the movie. I don't know what it wants.Neither does the movie. There's multiple things the movie seems to want to tell. For one, it's a story about children doing parkour in an apocalyptic type setting, where gravity is molded by the mysterious forces of the Bubbles.
On the other hand you have the "Little Mermaid x Bubble Alien" story line. Seasoned with the "I can hear it, can you hear it too?" motive.
So many questions remain unanswered, that would leave a bitter taste in one's mouth, if you actually cared about the characters. What caused the incident 5 years ago. What or who are "they". The "sister" of Uta is mentioned, but for no reason whatsoever. Is it a "Ying and Yang" deal of sorts? Light and Dark? Good and Evil? Too bad you'll never get to find out, cause the writers didn't care. What exactly is the reason Hibiki could hear Uta specifically? He's not the only person in Tokyo with auditory hypersensitivity. What's supposed to be the connection between them? Even the tower flashback scene seemed to serve no purpose, in fact it just produced more questions.
It's forbidden to go inside the bubble, yet there's supposedly an organisation that finances the parkour games? To what end? Why would they spend money on teenagers, if there's nothing to gain?
Why is cheating in the games with water pressured boots allowed? Using the bubbles makes sense as they are part of the environment... but gadgets?
How come gravity affects some objects like cars, rocks and structures, while others remain unfazed?
The Dialogue is also rather poor. Characters mentioning things just for exposition for the viewer.
"Oh look that's your metal leg right? Which replaced your old leg that you lost back then during a Parkour accident, hence the reason you don't do parkour anymore. Haha, could this be a foreshadowing to you doing a final Parkour stunt at the end of the movie?" Proceeds to say that she doesn't like these Parkour games and finds them dangerous. Says they should stop doing them. Despite having worked there for years. So it seems completely paradox. Unless it's out of love for Shin, I guess?
All in all, this movie shows a lot of unused potential and exhibits poor writing. By no means is it a bad movie. It's still enjoyable to watch. With beautiful animation and a captivating setting, it's sure to leave an impression.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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