Summary
A group of shape-shifting “raccoon dogs” fight against the humans who plan on turning their forest into a development.
My Thoughts
This was a stranger film than I expected. I, personally, enjoyed it, but I could see where parents would not want to show this to younger children. It’s full of bizarre scenarios where a large group of cutsie raccoons seriously injure/ kill humans in ways that the raccoons find amusing, but the humans find horrifying. The events are played off for laughs, but more often than not, I found myself not laughing, just gaping open-mouthed at the screen in disbelief of what I’d just witnessed.
(SOME SPOILERS IN THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH)
A narrator tells the audience about how the area where the raccoons lived used to be a big forest, but now the bulk of the forest has been hewed away to make room for a new development. The raccoons, intent on defending their home, come up with a scheme to scare off the majority of the humans, while leaving enough humans in the forest to still provide them with junk food.
(SPOILERS END)
I generally enjoy the artistic direction of Studio Ghibli films and this one is no different. The characters are cute and likeable creatures (though they transform into regular looking raccoons sometimes); the designs are all distinct enough so that we know who is who, the landscapes are beautiful and rich with detail. One thing I did not expect was the various animation styles that would show up in this film. The raccoons are mischievous little guys, and they shape-shift constantly, resulting in strange ways of depicting them. At one point they even use videogame style animation that looks like its straight out of Super Mario Bros.
The plot and themes are things that I’ve seen repeated in a few other kids movies now (“Nut Job”, “Fury Vengeance”), but this film is more than twenty years old, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that they came up with this idea first (and did it with far more heart). It’s a simple storyline, but one that has a ton of twists and turns along the way, simply because of the way the raccoons handle things. They insist on hiring master-shifters and coming up with giant schemes- I kept thinking that scene specifically was some kind of bizarre kids homage to “Seven Samurai”.
My biggest problem with this film is that it can’t really figure out whom it wants to target. The animation, the situations, even the ways some of the humans are handled are all indications that this is a kids movie, however, some other elements in this movie are aimed at teens or even adults. For example; the raccoons are all… erm… anatomically correct. That’s right, all the raccoons have testicles. Why? I don’t know, but they’re shown almost constantly, and they’re even used in the storyline. Since the raccoons can shape shift, they morph their testicles to spread out and use them as parachutes when they jump out of a plane, and then they enlarge them into a kind of weapon to swing at each other… I’m not joking. This comes from the studio that brought you “Spirited Away”, “My Neighbor Totoro”, and “Porco Rosso”. I was baffled.
The raccoons resort to scaring the humans into leaving them alone, and much of this results in truly frightening and psychedelic imagery. As a fan of anime, one grows used to seeing more bizarre things appear from seemingly mundane situations, but in a kid’s movie, a lot of it felt like it was overreaching. There are images and scenes that, if I had seen this movie as a young boy, would’ve scared me, probably even given me nightmares. One example of this comes from one of the first times the raccoons attempt to scare someone. The raccoons disguise themselves as a man and follow a construction worker, when the construction worker turns around the raccoons (disguised as a man) let their human face melt away. The construction worker freaks out and runs into a crowded convenience store, only to have every occupant in the store turn to look at him, and then his or her faces melt away too. That is just one example, but there are dozens of small scenes like this that could actually scare kids.
Another thing they don’t shy away from is the repercussions for what is happening. What does that mean? Well, the raccoons sabotage the construction site so that people die. Literally die. They don’t go with the cartoony kid’s movie trope of a full body cast played for laughs; instead humans are murdered. Raccoons die too- hit by cars, falling off things, attacking each other… The film’s ending isn’t particularly jovial either; it ends with a rather sour note, and then at the last second gives you a miniscule glimmer of hope. The film has a lot of things that I’d consider questionable for younger audiences; I suppose just keep that in mind before letting your kids see this one.
Verdict
This is a bizarre film, as I believe I’ve said like fifty times over the course of this review, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. I enjoyed myself quite a bit. In fact, I watched this with one of my roommates, and he, too, enjoyed it, enough to bring it up the next day and for us to have another full conversation about how bizarre it was. I’m a big fan of foreign films because they show us a slice of another culture, and honestly, that is the main reason why I would recommend this movie (to the right audience). It shows a familiar kid’s movie storyline in a way that is totally unique to its culture; it’s strange but incredibly creative. I could see how its long runtime could get boring to some people, but I always found it fresh. This isn’t the best anime movie to come out of Studio Ghibli, but it’s one I’m glad I saw. I caution parents of younger children to watch this first to gauge how you think your child would react. The anatomical correctness is something that doesn’t quite translate in the states, but if you’ve got a rather mature kid, they could probably get around that. Overall, I enjoyed it, but I can totally see where other people wouldn’t like this at all.
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