Drifting Home

Vo1se★ 8

Not a super long review and I don’t typically even do reviews, but since this literally released a couple of hours ago and I have Covid and couldn’t sleep, I gave it a watch. Visually, this movie is fantastic and really excels at conveying it’s story and emotions through the setting it creates and I honestly enjoyed everything about the animation and art featured throughout. What I liked most regarding the visuals, is that it never felt “boring” to see the same scenery, even though the characters are in the same place for a long period of time. When it comes to the music, I loved it.Fantastic soundtrack, great voice acting (I watched it subbed), and great background noise and sound effects. Nothing felt generic and I felt really immersed in the world consistently throughout the film. The emotions conveyed by the music and the voice acting are phenomenal and felt extremely “natural”. The plot was great. I wouldn’t say it was revolutionary, however it was fun. The fantasy setting and the mystery behind what’s really going on was entertaining and the plot took time to develop while also not jamming useless filler down your throat. The climax and ending were great and honestly (won’t spoil here) I had no idea what to expect because of how unpredictable a lot of things ended up being. Characters were good. I enjoyed the entire cast and even though a couple of the characters were annoying or frustrating in the beginning (mainly the MC and Reina), once you stop and realize that these are legitimately 11 year old kids and imagine how you’d feel if you were in their shoes, it really makes you appreciate them more. The writing for all of them was solid for the length of the movie and I feel like we got just enough information to appreciate and also care about what happens to them. It was cool to see the development that most of them went through and although I wish we could’ve seen their futures, it was nice where it left off. I think this is a great watch for everyone tbh. It’s family friendly but adults and older teens can absolutely appreciate the emotional moments while not feeling like it’s a kid targeted film. I’d have to go with an 8.5/10 Not a true masterpiece, but a very good and very entertaining anime movie nonetheless.

junnji★ 3

Never have I been more intrigued by a story's premise, only to be let down harder than Rick Astley. What initially had the potential to be a great piece of entertainment ultimately flopped under its own weight, which came at the cost of my time and attention. This movie runs for 120 minutes including credits. This movie did not feel like 120 minutes, rather it felt like binging through a weak 12-episode slice of life. It consistently had downtime in which I felt that the plot was moving fucking nowhere, which is pretty ironic considering how the whole movie is about kids trying to find theirway back home. A quick explanation of the plot: a group of friends gets stuck in an apartment building that happens to teleport in the middle of the ocean and they work together to survive and find their way back home. Now that may sound interesting at first until you realize... that's it? Well not really, there's more to the story. But honestly, I wish that was it, because the "more", is absolutely fucking bullshit. The movie does not give a rat's ass about the things it throws at the viewer. It goes from one plot point to the other, see-sawing between elements. I wouldn't be surprised if someone with bipolar wrote the script for this movie because not a single aspect of the movie was explained or developed further. You're left with a blank face at the end of the credits with one question in your mind: "What the fuck just happened?" And to make matters worse, the characters are absolute dogshit. The director literally took cookie-cutter personalities and copy-pasted them into the script. I don't know how much more basic you can get with how they're written, their backstories, and their interactions. From the very first minute to the last, it oozes mediocrity. Animation-wise, there's nothing noteworthy here. A big-budget anime film by Netflix is bound to look at least good, but the only thing that could save a story this boring was beautiful animation, which it also fails to deliver in that regard. Drifting Home is an experience that only the bottom 5% of viewers will find fulfillment in. As a movie watcher, you expect your time and patience to be rewarded with a journey worthwhile, or a sense that something about you changed compared to before you sat down on the couch. However, I can say with confidence that I have gained nothing by watching this movie, except for the feeling that I probably could've finished a better Studio Ghibli movie instead.