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Oblivion Island
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:CreationDate: 2014-03-19 12:03:14
:Id: anime/review/oblivion-island
:tags: - anime
- review
:rating: 3
:original: https://www.easternkicks.com/reviews/oblivion-island-haruka-and-the-magic-mirror
There's the mystery of socks disappearing from washing machines.
There's the speculation that ballpoint pens vanish from drawers to
return to their native planet. There's all the items that are lost
every time you move house, even if you write a detailed
inventory. Where does all that stuff go? According to this movie,
there's a whole world, Oblivion Island, built from our lost and
forgotten items, "collected" by the creatures who live there.
Haruka, the protagonist, has lost her mother to illness, and lost her
mother's hand mirror to Oblivion Island. She believes her father
doesn't care about her, and goes back to the places of her younger
life. There, she discovers one of the creatures who's collecting
various items, and follows him into the other world.
Surprises, friendship, bullies, an arch-villain, betrayal, community
spirit, daring rescues, painful memories, separation and
reconciliation. Of course there's a happy ending.
If you're looking for something original, or a great execution of a
familiar story, look elsewhere. "Oblivion Island" is average in all
respects: from the railroaded plot we've all read and seen several
times already, to the smooth CG animation that still can't get
movements and expressions quite right, to a soundtrack that's
appropriate but nothing more. Some scenes look almost copied
frame-by-frame from better films: compare Haruka discovering the
creature and getting into Oblivion Island with Mei discovering the
little Totoro and getting into the big camphor tree.
Oh, there's very nice backgrounds, and the buildings in the Island
show good imagination on the part of the authors. And there is nothing
really bad or wrong in any part of the movie. Also, given Sturgeon's
law, I should compliment the distributors for publishing in English
more average-or-better works than very bad works.
Let's just say that I was led to expect much better from the press
release. That'll teach me to take press releases with a large grain of
salt.
