Children of the Sea (2019)
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Children of the Sea Movie Review
Children of the Sea is a 2019 fantasy anime film directed by Ayumu Watanabe. It’s an admirable and ambitious, but incoherent effort.
When Ruka was younger, she saw a ghost in the water at the aquarium where her dad works. Now she feels drawn toward the aquarium and the two mysterious boys she meets there, Umi and Sora. The premise behind this film is very intriguing, and the movie started off incredibly strong, but eventually it turned into an incoherent mess that was way too complicated to understand properly.
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And that was unfortunate as its ecological and metaphysical ideas are truly fascinating and thought-provoking. Some of the scenes here are immensely moving, and I really appreciated the emphasis on the ocean and its dazzling ecosystem. I have always loved the aquatic ecosystem, and here it’s shown just how important it is to all of us. The theme of interconnectedness is the highlight of the entire feature.
But the characters, though all very interesting, needed more development when all is said and done. Ruka is the best realized as this very strong, wonderful protagonist. She’s excellent and the heart of the film. But both Umi and Sora remain overly mysterious and mystical, though that was a bit of a point here, but still they needed more development as they felt too ethereal and strange.
Children of the Sea features stunning, truly beautiful animation, especially of the ocean. Every scene underwater felt like magic to me as we got to truly explore this ecosystem, and in particular the colors are gorgeous. The movie is very colorful, quite magical and highly fantastical, and all of it really worked. All of the animals were also beautifully designed.
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The score from the great Joe Hisaishi is fabulous as this rare work from him that is not for Studio Ghibli, and I hope he gets more such jobs in the future as the music here is suitably magical and mystical. The dialogue is also excellent and the themes are rich and important, but not all that well explored, the movie is messy in structure and pacing, and the entire second half was way too rushed and incomprehensible in storytelling. I liked the film, but I found it frustratingly flawed.
Children of the Sea is a frustratingly flawed film that features absolutely gorgeous, colorful and suitably magical animation, stunning underwater scenes and a beautiful score from the great Joe Hisaishi. It has good dialogue and it deals with powerful metaphysical and ecological themes of interconnectedness. However, it doesn’t explore them all that well, the pacing is messy and the plot of the second half devolved into an incoherent, almost incomprehensible mess.
