I had high hopes for Patema Inverted. I set off allowing the plot's main point, that some humans experienced gravity in one direction while others in the opposite all on the same planet, all the artistic license it needed. The Great Change, which is the event that the film starts with, caused this separation among the humans. Not only humans, but their belongings also abide by these strange new physical laws (so my bag would fly off to the sky if I let it, while yours will fall to the ground, let's say). So already the amount of disbelief is rather large at the start. OK, fine. I let it be. I accepted all this as a possibility, no matter how impossible and unexplained.
The problem arose when things happened and they were not explored at all. In the beginning, we get a brief explanation of the "horrible experiment" that lead to the Great Change. At the end, after all Patema and Age have gone through, after their immense discovery that the sky and the stars are NOT what they seem, we are left with the same inane description of how things happened. We end where we ended. No mysteries are explained. Nothing develops. Not once do the teenagers tell anyone what they discovered above. It seems very important. It seems that all those people who "fell into the sky," all those "sinners" may be alive? We have no idea what is going on. We have no idea why they go up there and then come back down right away and then never tell anyone about it. We are left clueless. Forget about us, the poor people of Agai are left completely clueless.
Beyond the fact that the plot is, um, problematic, emotional development of the characters is underwhelming. We see most development in Patema, while everyone else remains somewhat the same. The "friendship" between Lagos and Age's father is left strangely vague (so vague that at times I wondered if they are trying to hint at a gay relationship!!!) The "villain" is entirely flat with a complete lack of real motive. We never get to understand him, not even that he is pure evil, if he is...
At times, the dialog veered into a direction that made me think that some greater meta philosophy was being hinted at, that this was all allegory and such. But no, not really. It was not there, or if it was, it was done so poorly that there was no way to make any heads or tails from it.
In the end, I focused on the comical elements in the film. The jealousy Nato feels and his constant grumbling was a relief. And the awkward inverted hugs between Patema and Age, who are 15 or so, was perfect for some chuckles.
Sometimes I wonder how you can go wrong with a good idea and great art, but here is a good example. I won't comment on the dialog because I had to watch it dubbed and I am sure it was a tad bit better in Japanese with Japanese voices, but the writing was shallow and, even if you forgive that, it made no sense at times. I kept thinking that something, anything, needs to make sense, and other than the teenage jealousy of Nato, nothing really made much sense.
Recommended only for those who love to watch beautiful animated scenes regardless of content.
The problem arose when things happened and they were not explored at all. In the beginning, we get a brief explanation of the "horrible experiment" that lead to the Great Change. At the end, after all Patema and Age have gone through, after their immense discovery that the sky and the stars are NOT what they seem, we are left with the same inane description of how things happened. We end where we ended. No mysteries are explained. Nothing develops. Not once do the teenagers tell anyone what they discovered above. It seems very important. It seems that all those people who "fell into the sky," all those "sinners" may be alive? We have no idea what is going on. We have no idea why they go up there and then come back down right away and then never tell anyone about it. We are left clueless. Forget about us, the poor people of Agai are left completely clueless.
Beyond the fact that the plot is, um, problematic, emotional development of the characters is underwhelming. We see most development in Patema, while everyone else remains somewhat the same. The "friendship" between Lagos and Age's father is left strangely vague (so vague that at times I wondered if they are trying to hint at a gay relationship!!!) The "villain" is entirely flat with a complete lack of real motive. We never get to understand him, not even that he is pure evil, if he is...
At times, the dialog veered into a direction that made me think that some greater meta philosophy was being hinted at, that this was all allegory and such. But no, not really. It was not there, or if it was, it was done so poorly that there was no way to make any heads or tails from it.
In the end, I focused on the comical elements in the film. The jealousy Nato feels and his constant grumbling was a relief. And the awkward inverted hugs between Patema and Age, who are 15 or so, was perfect for some chuckles.
Sometimes I wonder how you can go wrong with a good idea and great art, but here is a good example. I won't comment on the dialog because I had to watch it dubbed and I am sure it was a tad bit better in Japanese with Japanese voices, but the writing was shallow and, even if you forgive that, it made no sense at times. I kept thinking that something, anything, needs to make sense, and other than the teenage jealousy of Nato, nothing really made much sense.
Recommended only for those who love to watch beautiful animated scenes regardless of content.