Origin: Spirits Of The Past is an animated Japanese movie. Set in a future after apocalyptic events, it shows humans living in ruined civilisation with encroaching plant growth. Young Agito is slightly rebellious and, while adventuring somewhere he shouldn't, he discovers Toola, a girl placed in stasis by an earlier civilisation. Releasing her proves to be the catalyst for a number of changes, most of which will be familiar to anyone who was watched Nausicaa, Avatar, Frengully and the like.
The message is fine (if arguable) and the look of the movie is terrific - design and animation are both great. The problem with this film is more serious - it is that it never really grabs you.
I am used to Studio Ghibli's contributions to Japanese animated cinema. They are weird (to my western sensibilities, at any rate), but they have bags of heart: they grab hold of you at the start and never let go. Origin, by contrast, never really does. The two rebellious lads come close, but after their initial exciting foray, the characters all become cardboard and you stop caring. It's a shame because, with a bit more effort put into the human story, this film could have been very good (if unoriginal).
The message is fine (if arguable) and the look of the movie is terrific - design and animation are both great. The problem with this film is more serious - it is that it never really grabs you.
I am used to Studio Ghibli's contributions to Japanese animated cinema. They are weird (to my western sensibilities, at any rate), but they have bags of heart: they grab hold of you at the start and never let go. Origin, by contrast, never really does. The two rebellious lads come close, but after their initial exciting foray, the characters all become cardboard and you stop caring. It's a shame because, with a bit more effort put into the human story, this film could have been very good (if unoriginal).