Movie Review of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

Gerald Wright's Movie Coverage

THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME MOVIE REVIEW

Directed by: Hosoda Mamoru
Running time: 98 minutes
Release date: June 13, 2008 (limited)
Genre: Anime, Art/Foreign and Sequel (Japanese animation played on English language track in New York and a Japanese language track with English subtitles in Los Angeles)
Distributor: Kadokawa Pictures USA & Bandai Entertainment

Can you alter history and make things better if you have the ability to go back and forth through time? Many believe we could make significant differences in life.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is the sequel to the Japanese novel "The Girl Who Conquered Time" by novelist and science fiction author Yasutaka Tsutsui, which was originally serialized in the 1960s. It has been adapted several times before and was shown as a live action film in 1983.

This new delightful and most acclaimed anime feature film remains true to the same enchanting novel and centers around Makoto (the niece of the original heroine), a 17 year old tomboy. She spends her afternoons playing catch after school with her guy pals Kosuke and Chiaki. In this time travel story, Makoto gains this time travel ability after she survives a near death accident in her school science lab. At first she uses her newfound power to leap backwards in time to fix small everyday problems. Before long, however she creates many problems for herself and her classmates by retracing her steps in time so that she won't have to grow up and face the moment when her guy pals are something more than just schoolmates. Makoto learns that her actions affect others in the future to their detriment.

Using the hyper-realist depiction of nature that was seen in Howl's Moving Castle (2005) directed by Hayao Miyazaki, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is vibrant with lucid and colorful scenes. In fact, Hoseda was originally slated to direct Howl's Moving Castle. This film crosses the science fiction genre to the fantasy world, but gives a coming of age story that fascinates an audience. It seems that anime's influence can be found in every corner of American media, from films/tv shows like Cowboy Bebop, and television series such as Astro Boy to games and graphic arts.

This film has received worldwide accolades and displays a thrilling animated adventure that will win the hearts of everyone who wishes they could do something all over again. The movie features the Japanese voice of Riisa Naka, Takuya Ishida, Mitsutaka Itakura, Ayami Kakiuchi, Mitsuki Tanimura, Yuki Sekido, Sachie Hara and the English voice talents of Emily Hirst, Andrew Francis, Alex Zahara Kristie Marsden, Natalie Walters, Shannon Cha-Kent and Saffron Henderson. Their characters blend humor, adventure and memories of childhood we all reflect on. Great fun for the whole family.

FILM RATING (B+)