There are some films that just capture you right away like films like Your Name and Ghost In The Shell for example and then there are films that despite there best efforts are just forgettable films. Such is the point of the film that i'm going to be reviewing for you all today as despite the film having a great use of time travel it is a bland film that offers nothing new and so then join me as I review the film that is technically a sequel to the book that it's based off of with the film in question being called simply just "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" enjoy.
The plot of this film is when student Makoto Konno suddenly gains the ability to leap backwards through time she is at first pleased with this idea but she soon realises that with this power does come with great responsibility. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty OK at best. With this films plot trying to tell a good story and be this all important film but in doing that it does forget to tell a good story as alot of the time this films plot does feel very much like the original Saved By The Bell with it being far more interested in the characters love lives then it is in anything else and while this fine for the films more dramatic moments as that's when it would make sense to do that here in this film tho they do it all the time. Yet un saying this tho the films plot does have one interesting aspect to it that being it's time travel element which whilst it is as well developed as it was ever going to be in a film like this it is also something that does feel like it got alot less attention from the makers of this film with it feeling like that the makers of this film were alot more interested in the characters relationships then they were anything else as the idea of time travel is one that does feel underbaked in this film this is despite the fact that the film does show both the upsides and downsides to it with both of them effecting the plot of the film in both major and small ways which is something that they didn't have to do and yet they went and they did it anyway with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this film is Emily Hirst as Makoto Konno , Andrew Francis as Chiaki Mamiya and Alex Zahara as Kōsuke Tsuda. Also starring in this film is Kristie Marsden as Yuri Hayakawa , Natalie Walters as Kaho Fujitani , Shannon Chan-Kent as Miyuki Konno , My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic star Cathy Weseluck as The Old Lady , David Hurwitz as Sojiro Takase and Saffron Henderson as Kazuko Yoshiyama.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty average at best. The fact that this films acting is as average as it is is of no fault of the films actors as they are some really good actors and have been good here in other things but whoever was doing the voice directing for this film didn't cast the right people in the right parts as all of this films actors do feel horribly miscast in the film with this resulting in the films despite them doing there best in the film just can't go that extra mile to be as good as we all know that they can be. With the films best actor being Emily Hirst as she does get alot of the films more dramatic moments and she does pull them really well with it being clear that she did have a really bright future as an actor as she is that good in the film with her being able to make you laugh and then make you cry all in the same scene which is something that is hard for alot of good actors to do and yet it is something that she does pull off with relative ease and yet she doesn't go to far over the top with her character as Makoto Konno very easily could have been seen as being a really annoying character in the films second act and yet Emily does always find a way to keep the character not only grounded but also likable which is something that is key in making the films third act work. With the acting that's in this very film really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so good that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise to the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.
Doing the animation for this film is the legends and the greats that really are currently over at Madhouse. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. While yes the films animation isn't as good as that in Summer Wars for example it was still really nice to look at with all of the films backgrounds having so much detail and love put into them that the could be seen as being life like with the thing that does let this films animation down is that even tho the film does mainly use hand drawn 2D animation the film really doesn't have any standout scenes that show off it's animation which granted is a small nitpick at best but at the same time tho it would have shown of just how great that this films animation could have been. With the thing that really did standout by a huge mile in this viewing of the film being just how simple that the films character designs are with all of the films characters not having alot of detail put into things like there faces are clothes for example with this being something that does make it feel like that anyone could draw these characters and that is something that does work for this film as it does show that the makers of this film had a certain style when it came to the design of the characters with it being made clear that they wanted to have characters that the everyday person could draw freely in there spare time and that is something that does work with the films characters designs oddly enough coming of a being all the more memorable because of it.
The rules of time travel in this film are kind of hard to explain as while it does appear as if they are taking The Time Machine and Back To The Future approach where the place you land in time is the exact same place where you departed which is simple and easy to follow. The film would then have Motoko start appearing in different places even tho she had time travelled in other areas with this being something that does make it look like that the makers of this film are trying to have it both ways when it comes to there rules regarding time travel when really what they should have done is stuck to the approach used in both Back To The Future and The Time Machine as Motoko is only able to travel backwards in time she is not able to travel backwards in both time and space with this being something that the film does point out. Yet due to them not really establishing what there rules are in regards to time travel outside of how many times she can travel back in time it does also allow the makers of this film alot more freedom to do whatever they want to in this regard and it's something that would work, however by doing so it does mean that the film can loose all dramatic tension to it as Motoko could and sometimes even does appear out of nowhere to fix the situation which is great for a laugh but at the same time if the makers of this film aren't willing to take there own very limited rules of time travel seriously then why should we the audience do the exact same thing and heck we barely get to understand just how she is able to time travel in the first place as it has something to do with her running and jumping from a high place so maybe it's the fact that she almost dies that triggers it every time but that just makes it far to complicated when having something that's more simple and easy to follow would have worked just as better.
This film despite it borrowing the title of the book is actually a sequel to the 1965 book of the same name. With the main protagonist of the book Kazuko Yoshiyama being the aunt of Motoko this is something that is a good idea as it does mean that now we the audience won't be able to tell just what happens next due to the fact that he film is mostly telling a new story with new and original characters thus keeping us on our toes altho at the same time one does have to wonder why they named it after the book if there not going to be following the premise of the book as while you could argue that that was done for marketing reasons which would make sense you could also argue that that would trick the fans of the book into thinking that there going to be seeing a straight forward adaptation of the book when that is further from the case. This is a case where you don't need to have read the book to understand the film as outside of the the name this film has nothing to do with the book whatsoever as while there plots are vaguely similar there's nothing that makes this film be a true representation of the book with this being something that could be seen as being a good thing as it does now mean that the makers of this film are now free to tell whatever story that they choose to tell and not be bound by what happens to the characters in the book and while yes it would have been nice to have seen a more book accurate version of the story there's no way that they could have made the fact that in the book Kazuko Yoshiyama is able to time travel because of lavender scented flowers work well for the film as for a film you do want something that's more cinematic and that's what we get in this film with Motoko being able to time travel after finding a mysterious device in the school's science lab.
This film is a romance comedy drama film with the film giving us some sweet comedy moments between Motoko , Chiaki and Kōsuke. Alot of which doo work as we do get to see just how close as friends that these three really are with them practically spending every single day together and when there not with each ither they miss each other with us getting alot of good jokes out of the times when Motoko is typically late for class which yes is an anime trope but it is one that does work and it does allow us to see that both she and Kōsuke have more of a brother and sister type of bond where as Motoko and Chiaki have more of best friends type of bond. Yet even so the film doesn't really focus that much on its comedy outside of a few scenes all throughout the film with the best example being these girls that follow Kōsuke around just because one of them ha a crush on him and the other two are trying to work out if there perfect for each other or not which is a good set up for a joke and to be fair the film does do the best that it can with that idea but there's no pay off to that joke with it being obvious that the makers of this film did put alot more thought into the films romance that they did the comedy aspect of the film as that is where the film does get to shine a little bit better but in saying that tho that's also where the film begins to feel like a teen drama as it's all things that we've seen done before in other shows and movies with the only difference being that one of the characters can time travel and thats it which is a good thing to have in the film but at the at same time outside of quite literally two scenes the film doesn't have the time travel element interact with the romance of the film in any meaningful way, however to be fair the film does give us some genuinely sweet romantic moments with it being clear as day that the people that do get into a relationship do genuinely love each other.
Now then this film has / had an exact gran total running time of exactly one hour and thirty eight minuets and fifty seven seconds. Which to be fair is pretty much the exact same time that you would expect an anime film regardless of its genre to have in the first place with the film really needing that amount of running time in order to tell it's story as there is no way that you could tell this story in anything under that as you do have so much things to set up and you do still need tell a good story and to that in anything under this amount of running time would risk doing alot of harm to the film plot with the film having the right amount of plot to really cover that amount of running time in the first place. Yet even so this film really does use its running time all that wisely as this film doesn't take the time to fully develop its plot something which granted was always going to be hard to do but at the same time it wouldn't have been impossible as all they would have to have to have done is cut out alot of the pointless teen drama stuff in the middle on the film as alot of it doesn't add anything to the plot of the film is purely there just for filler like for example we don't need several scenes with Kōsuke and Kaho talking with each other with Kaho either failing to tell him or getting to shy to tell hm how she feels about him as just the once would have done that but the film devotes a goo chink of its second act to just those two talking and it's not needed in the film as that is time that would have been better spent of developing the films plot. Thus is something that does somewhat effect the films character development as well as while the films main two characters of Motoko and Chiaki do get some character development which is something that dies make sense as they are the films main characters none of the fims other characters get any kind of character development whatso ever but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a drama that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual drama that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual drama that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With the thing that des make this films drama work as well as it does being the fact that whilst it does very much feel like the kind of drama you'd see on a bad teen drama show it is also very character driven with all of the films going through something that is unique to them and to there character and while all of it does go back to the fact that Motoko has the power to time travel alot of it does come to the characters as people. With the best but of drama in the whole film being when Kaho and Kōsuke take Motoko's bike not realising that the breaks on it don't work and when Motoko realises what's happened and where there going she runs to this steep hill hoping to catch them before they get into a nasty accident and yet when she thinks that there not there she uses her last time travel skill to avoid an awkward call with Chiaki only to then spot the duo riding past her and into the danger that she was trying to get them to avoid with her not able to not only catch up to them and stop them by hand but also able to time travel any more and while there is someone who does the save the day it doesn't change the fact that everything including them being saved and quite literally everything that happens after that works so well and it works because of the fact ta the film has given the chance to get to know these characters with the rest of the films drama being just as good in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall whilst Summer Wats is easily the better film between the two of them this film still does have alot of things going for it like its animation and its drama both of which do work really well in this film and while yes they were both done better in Summer Wars the bottom line is this film walked so that that film could run in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i;='ve talked about all of the good and as well a all of the bad things tat are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images hat I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very film that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very film with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.