Weathering with You movie is the new film for Makoto Shinkai, the director of the extremely acclaimed and highly successful “Your Name” movie. That movie was so successful, that even in interviews he was like people need to stop seeing my movie.
Like I don’t know if he was being sarcastic, but for directed to say that in an interview that some god damn success. In here, a high school boy who has run away to Tokyo befriends a girl who appears to be able to manipulate the weather.
They’re really low on money so they decide to cash in on this girl’s ability charging people money for her to pray the rain away. Turns out a lot of people really want sunshine and so they’re able to start a small business.
As you might expect this causes some serious complications when her abilities begin to get in the way of their relationship. With Your Name movie Makoto Shinkai entered into the ranks of my favorite anime directors of all time.
I love that movie so much and my anticipation for this movie was pretty high, so I was very much so looking forward to seeing it. And this is once again a beautifully animated film that has such gorgeous sequences bursting with life and color.
Every shot in the film is filled with meticulous detail, even brand names of stores and locales are exactly how they look in real life. There’s no fake anime replacement brands here.
This is a stupid side point but there’s a scene in McDonald’s where the boys eating a big mac, and it’s like the most juicy and perfect looking big mac you’ve ever seen in an anime.
Speaking of that scene, this is a perfect way to describe this character. He’s run away to Tokyo and obviously he hates his former life, and he’s trying to find a new one. But while he eats that big mac, he remarks that it’s maybe the best meal he’s ever had in his 16 years of life. Which is really sad.
So the movie is really trying to make you feel sympathy for these characters and I really did like this movie. Although, it is nowhere near as good as Your Name movie, which for some might not be a fair comparison, but since it’s such a recent film it’s his last movie it’s gonna happen.
This movie is a disappointment to me in that regard. It’s certainly doesn’t reach the dramatic heights of that movie, nor some of the character heights. Unfortunately, this movie in a way is a copy and paste of the structure of Your Name movie.
So if you love Your Name movie like I did and you’re okay with almost the same movie just replacing different supernatural elements. I guess you probably really love this. That was a big disappointment for me though.
I was sad to see that the structure was essentially copied. For someone who made something that felt so original and vital in Your Name. This felt sort of like an attempt to recreate that success without trying anything new.
I can’t get into spoilers but you can almost break it down to scene structure. And it’s not that Your Name movie was the first time Makoto Shinkai ever made a movie about star crossed lovers.
He’s been doing that for a long time. It’s just that that film was so special. A good comparison would be John Carney the filmmaker behind Once Begin Again and Sing Street movies.
Most of his movies revolve around musicians, trying to make something and a lot of them are good. But Seeing Street was great. It felt like with that he had achieved the greatest musician movie he was probably going to make.
Makoto Shinkai made a lot of films about star crossed lovers, dealing with some sort of supernatural thing. And it seems like with Your Name movie that’s it. Those are the heights.
Weathering with You film is a very good movie with beautiful animation and characters that are sympathetic, that you’ll probably enjoy watching. But since it’s another film so similar to Your Name and it’s nowhere near as good as that. It can’t help but be a little disappointing for me.
And it’s honestly a little weird for me to say that because I liked watching this movie. And everything about it is really good, but it’s going to suffer from those comparisons. This movie’s greatest strengths lie in the fact that it is so beautifully rendered.
There’s a motorbike chase that’s so exciting, I forgot I was watching an animation. And I would never dream of disregarding the massive amount of work that has clearly gone into the way this film looks, and sounds, and feels.
From an animation standpoint, this is one of the best anime films I’ve ever seen. From a character standpoint, it’s pretty good. It’s just unfortunate that it’s going to suffer from those comparisons to Your Name movie.
And I wish that he had done something more original this time around. Instead of essentially trying to recreate that same success.
I’m gonna give Weathering with You movie a B.
Like I said it is a good movie and I would recommend watching it if you’re a fan of this director. and I’m probably going to see it again someday. But for all the reasons I already mentioned this film disappointed me.
Thank you so much for reading my Weathering with You movie review. Look forward for more new reviews. See you next time.
