Wit Studio's "BUBBLE"
A movie review by Dennis D. McDonald
I was ready to give up on Bubble about a third of the way through. I’m glad I stuck with it.
At first I thought it was just a futuristic adaptation of The Little Mermaid fairy tale but with spectacular animation and terrific action sequences. It is all those things yet manages to rise above them through audacious reimagining of traditional Japanese sci-fi disaster themes combined with recognizable sentimentality.
Somehow the movie manages to keep all its themes and plot points together, chiefly through constant motion and action. None of it is realistic. You really have to be willing to accept events that beggar the imagination starting with a society of misfit youths whose chief reason for post-apocalyptic survival is participating in death-defying acrobatic races through a submerged and decaying Tokyo. There, gravity and reality are twisted almost — but not quite — beyond recognition.
Toss in a background theme of another dimension colliding with our own as evidenced by constant swirling of clouds of red and blue bubbles and you begin to appreciate how The Little Mermaid story really does provide an almost reasonable framework for what’s going on.
Plot holes? There are plenty. But just forget about them and enjoy the ride. And remember: blue bubbles good, red bubbles bad!
Review text copyright 2022 by Dennis D McDonald
