Alex Z – Google

Watching this movie after having seen "Your Name" and "Weathering With you", Suzume definitely did not disappoint and most the audience reviews here were spot on although I can see some didn't enjoy the story plot as much I did. I think the story plot is excellent. Makoto Shinkai's last two movies were all excellent in telling stories and this is no different. It is quite heavy I must admit but it contains a lot of things that you can talk to your children about. It is a story of courage, responsibility, team work, sacrifice, love, and perhaps, most of all, tragedy/loss and recovery. In other words, things that we can relate as human beings. The animation is superb. I thought "Weathering With You" was great but this movie takes it to the next level. Watching drawn animated blue sky and Tokyo and its environment were sublime. Motion and voice acting were smooth and the VA's emotion were laid bare for everyone to see/listen. And there were funny moments too. No doubt serves as a comedic relief for a heavy movie, which is great because I don't remember there were any funny moments with Makoto Shinkai's other 2 cinematic movies. If there is one thing that makes a movie great, it is one that endures in your mind and you can keep talking / discussing about it to your children/colleague/friend/etc and you feel like you want to watch it again like I did with "Your Name". This movie is one of them. If there is one flaw in this movie, there is a sense of rush towards the end of the movie and given this movie already runs for more than 2 hours, inevitably some questions would not be answered and this is a shame. 4.5 / 5

Having read the experts review, I began to understand why the critics gave it 57% favourability. I understand it is mainly a children movie and should be seen as such but there are a lot of adult themes (lots of 80-90s music and tropes) so it must be reviewed through that prism as well. The very first thing prospective viewers need to know is that the movie is very fun to watch and totally appropriate with children. It is funny and not heavy at all. The animation is great and voice acting are superb. In short, if you haven't watched this movie, you should. I watched this movie in 3D IMAX which probably added a bit of realism/depth into the movie in terms of its enjoyability. However, just because you should watch this movie doesn't make this movie in the same level of a typical 4 to 5 stars quality. The movie is light to watch which means it is extremely shallow. It's like watching Lego Movie where puns/jokes/tropes are the norms and the plot is at best, okay. There is really little educational value to be learned from this movie (again, like Lego Movie) and probably, that's what it is designed to be. There is nothing wrong with that. It also refers to a lot of things like Mario Kart (as per trailer) and other games which to me is very unoriginal and lazy mish-mash of a movie. There is a story in it but watching this movie, I feel like watching 50% games references and 50% story. Lastly, this movie's use of 1980s - 1990s song I think is very inappropriate for a children movie (the song weren't originally designed to be used in this way and for this audience) and seems out of place/unoriginal for an adult movie. As I said, the movie is really lacking originality and the same goes with the music. They should have composed new musics to accompany this supposedly A grade movie. Probably the reason I gave it this 3/5 score is because the movie I watched literally next (30 minutes later) was soooo contrast in all aspects (quality, story plot, and animation) and that movie was Suzume.

After waiting for so long, SOR4 came back in full glory, best played with either PS4/5 or Xbox One X to enjoy its full lag-less gameplay, nice colour, surround sound BGM, and of course, enjoying listening the SFX of people getting beaten up through the signature SOR4 combo attack. Unlike the remade Double Dragon, this one kept the feel of SOR1 & 2 where you have to read the enemy movement before launching your attacks and allow you to play retro characters from SOR1,2, & 3. Basically, perfect execution of a retro game being remade and definitely an easy 5/5 10/10 game.