Muge

The animation in this movie is really pretty, and the narrative has some interesting ideas like with the masks, however... To be honest, there are two pretty big problems I have with this movie: Firstly, I was not very impressed with the main female protagonist and the movie did not grab me emotionally. Throughout the whole movie I had a strange feeling about the romance, or rather, I just did not care, and this is definitely a bummer with a romantic movie. I did not find it moving nor did it provoke almost any emotional response in me... Secondly, I could not root for the main female protagonist, and I did not actually like her adolescent behavior or the persistence with which she pursued the male protagonist at all. However, some parts of the narrative were original and quite good, such as the "Island of Cats". In addition, I thought the soundtrack was also very good, and I enjoyed that. It is an interesting movie, although I guess it was just not my cup of tea... 6/10. (2020.06.20)

A Whisker Away mostly drowns in its own mediocrity. A generally cute film with a fairly novel idea about the double life of the main character, it never hits the target despite all the darts it throws. A good idea, but with a rigidly predictable twist. The heroine is endearingly active and proactive, but also incomprehensibly a headcase, short-tempered and overly intrusive (I don't understand how she's calm and empathetic in one position, which obviously suits the boy, and then doesn't even remotely replicate those insights in the other position). The boy is soooo boring and unremarkable. The ending is neither epic nor moving even a couple of times despite attempts to copy familiar elements of Ghibli worlds. The drawing is decent, the only music is pleasantly composed. Unfortunately, for all its uniqueness, it's a film that's easily forgotten. The dart landed no higher than a sadly deserved 3 stars. (2020.10.14)