A 14th-Century Superstar Rock Opera (yep)

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MOVIE REVIEW
Inu-Oh
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Genre: Animation, Fantasy, Music
Year Released: 2022
Runtime: 1h 38m
Director(s): Masaaki Yuasa
Writer(s): Hideo Furukawa (novel "Heike Monogatari: Inu-ô no kan,") Akiko Nogi (screenplay)
Cast: Avu-chan, Mirai Moriyama, Kenjirô Tsuda, Yutaka Matsushige, Tasuku Emoto
Where To Watch: In select theaters now

Let me start by saying that I’m not one who just “doesn’t like” animation and gives them all poor reviews. Two of director Masaaki Yuasa’s other films I would consider nearly classics, up there with the best of Studio Ghibli. RIDE YOUR WAVE, and LU OVER THE WALL are both great character studies that touch the heart and deliver fascinating stories.

Sadly, this just didn’t capture that same emotional connection for me. The animation is stunning, the classic hand-drawn style I love so much. The biggest knock the film has against it is that its narrative story seems pretty weak. There was something there, but it got lost along the way just for the “showmanship” or the over-the-top visuals.

I also feel like the long musical numbers somewhat overshadowed the rest of the film. Honestly, they were probably my least favorite part (which probably has a lot to do with the different cultures); the music style wasn’t my cup of tea, and some of them seemed to go on forever. Thankfully, even during those, we’re treated with that same level of gorgeous animation.

I tend to like almost everything GKIDS distributes, so while this one wasn’t a home run for me, it was more of an oddity than anything. So there could well just have been a misconnect for me while watching. I feel like I may be the exception to the rule here; in general, it looks like the film is getting overall positive reviews. I recommend checking out their vast library of great cinema if you want to start watching more anime.

While I watched the original Japanese language version, I’ll be very interested to see what the eventual English dub does with the musical numbers. Usually, I’m opposed to watching dubbed films, but I feel like animation is the one time I can make an exception to that rule.

If you’re looking for family entertainment and have Paramount+, this would be fun to pop on for a movie night.

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