Oct 4, 2020
So I recently watched a movie named "Modest Heroes" and I'm pleasantly surprised. Before I start with my review of the movie, I should say, that Studio Ponoc, which made this movie, was completely unknown for me until I decided to watch this movie. Also I should say, that this is no ordinary movie, you're used to, because this movie is only like 55 minutes long and is made out of three short movies of lenght from 10 - 15 minutes. Every movie is, how the title of the movie hints, about heroism. But it's not about typical universe saving heroes, but more about normal
...
"everyday heroes". However, let's get to the movie(s).
First movie short named "Kanini and Kanino" (Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi) tells a story of two crab siblings, whose mother went to a surface to give a birth. And only their father stays underwater to protect them. The plot is good in my opinion, but honestly, it probably won't be the main reason, why would you want to watch this movie. The main reason will probably be the animation, which is breathtaking. It's a combination of classic 2D animation and CGI, which looks really bad very often, but in this movie it looks more than magnificent. And the animation was even more enjoyable in combination with beautiful soundtrack, some of the songs I would describe as "magical" and it really helps to add a right atmosphere to the movie. Of course, it's not a best soundtrack I've heard, but I think that it's good enough to help you enjoy this movie.
Second movie short which posses a name "Life Ain't Gonna Lose" (Directed by Yoshiyuki Momose) throws us right into the life of the young boy named Shun and his mother. But little Shun has a lethal allergy to eggs, so his mother is trying to protect him every day from everything what contain eggs. It sounds pretty easy, but it's not, if you consider that she also have to maintain her career as a professional dancer.
The plot in this one is little bit better in this one. It aims on the relationship between Shun and his mother, it acts very naturally and tempo is pretty smooth, thanks to the great script made by Yoshiyuki Momose. Animation here is a typical 2D animation, we are used to from before, but it looks more... Artsy, I would say. And of course, soundtrack in this one is also great. It perfectly underlines the mood of a movie, because it's cool and happy, but if I remember correctly, there was one or two little bit more dramatic songs.
And now, let's move to the last movie of the trio, which is named "Invisible" (Directed by Akihiko Yamashita) and it's about literally invisible man (which is probably just some metaphor for a person overlooked by society). But it's not his only and main problem, his main problem is that he is lighter than air, so he have to go out with some little bit heavier object in his hands, because if he would go out without it, he would start to float up to the big and scary storm clouds and then he would disappear for ever.
So, the plot here I found little bit more enjoyable than the plot of "Kanini and Kanino", but also little bit less than "Life Ain't Gonna Lose". The animation of this one is just beautiful. It's again a typical 2D animation, but here it looks perfect and the backgrounds are just breathtaking. But this movie has one small problem for me, a soundtrack is not very significant. Don't get me wrong, it's still good, but the animation just got all of my attention, so the soundtrack was moved on a different track.
So, "Modest Heroes" is a great collection of animated movie shorts, which carries a lot of smaller or bigger problems, but is still something I would recommend.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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