Belle (2021) (DUBBED VERSION)
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
Short, Bad Synopsis Written By a Dumbass
Written by: Audrey :J
Belle is about a girl, named Suzu, who becomes the unopposed superstar singer of U, a virtual reality world where you transport your consciousness into a virtual avatar (think VR SecondLife). She then comes face to face with notable U pariah, The Beast. Adventures ensue. A retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
I watched this movie last night with my gf and two friends from work.
I really liked it! We went in knowing nothing about it and didn't expect a musical-type movie!
I will say though, the pacing sure was...something. lol. I feel like the part where they first got to the
flashbacks Suzu had of her mom dying was a BIG reach. Like they were looking for somewhere to
talk about that, but couldn't find a natural, organic place to do so. They kinda took a random, nothing
line from Suzu's friend (who's name escapes me and is also kinda a massive bitch to Suzu?? maybe its a
dub thing only) and made it about her mom's death with kinda a cheap one-liner. In general though,
a lot of stuff would just kinda...happen. The pacing would be a really slow burn, then all of a sudden
the things they were trying to do or work toward would just kinda happen abruptly. Very strange.
Also, some of the acting in the dubbed version was uh...not great lol. There's one character who's Suzu's obvious
love interest outside of U (Shinobu? I think?) who literally has the personality of a dry piece of plywood. Everything he says is so
comically deadpan and out of place. When he tells Suzu that he knows she is Belle, he just says it so anti-climactically
and so nonchalantly. Just like "I know you're Belle :| ." This is most likely just a dubbed version problem though, as I
have not seen the subbed version (yet).
The songs were also strange, but not in a bad way in my opinion. The music is VERY beautiful. The melodies, however,
are just very strangely written? I haven't listened to the soundtrack for the Japanese version yet, but part of me thinks that
they took the instrumentation from the Japanese songs and tried to shoehorn in English lyrics to them. Because of that, a lot
of the lead melodies resolve themselves in weird spots. I'm no music major so I can't really explain with any detail other than
just "a lot of melodies just sound like they're left hanging, only to conclude only part way through the next verse."
The Beast was a very interesting character. I both did and didn't know where they were taking that character. I thought for sure
that The Beast was going to be Shinobu. I was wrong! That was neat to learn. But, I will say, it was very obvious what the bruises on
the back of The Beast's avatar were. I just thought it was going to be Shinobu who was super abused, not this...random other character
and his brother. That plot also doesn't seem to fully resolve itself? It just kinda ends it on a "I'll try to stand up to my abusive
father" and then just drops it. I mean I guess that can be where it ends because...even in reality, what else can you do in certain situations?
I lack the nuance and understanding of the situation to really have a fully formed opinion on it so take everything I say about it with the
biggest grain of salt.
All in all, I thought it was a good movie. Sure, it has its problems, but I don't think they stopped me from enjoying the experience.
It has some funny moments, DEFINITELY some sad moments, and some truly heart-touching ones as well. I'm surprised I didn't cry during it
honestly. Maybe that's because I was violently high when I watched it. Still! Now that I have a clear head, I still enjoyed what I saw. Give it a watch!
It might be even better subbed.