Student Kenji is a maths wiz; he's also a member along with millions of others worldwide of an online world called OZ, a online social network that makes Facebook look like a damp squib. Within OZ, people create avatars and can do pretty much anything; socialize, date, play games, purchase anything, but there's more to it than mere social elements, most major companies around the world operate through OZ all of which should be a hackers paradise were it not for the impenetrable security of OZ.
When Kenji is asked to work at his crushes house during the summer, he leaps at the chance only to find out he has to pretend to be Natsuki' boyfriend for her family including her aging Grandmother. Kenji reluctantly goes along with it, but his fortune changes when he answers a mystery text message holding a maths problem and seemingly helps someone break into the security of OZ, crashing it and causing mayhem. The hacker, an artificial intelligence, soon takes control of much of OZ causing havoc with train services and power among others and then manages to take control of a satelitte and redirects it to crash into a nuclear plant. It is up to Kenji and Natsuki, her family and the other millions of OZ members to try and take control.
This anime film is from the director who gave us The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which I disliked, but Summer Wars had gotten rave reviews, so why not? And what a vast improvement on the previous film. The story, as far fetched as it is, actually does have some relevance (to a certain extent) in today's Facebook/ Twitter obsessed world. OZ is a fantastic creation and entering into this world is nothing short of amazing. It makes you want to go there immediately. The real world element is mostly enjoyable as well, with the dynamics of Natsuki's family playing out among the drama of the online dramas. The family is wonderfully real and the death of the Grandmother is tragic and emotional. This real world element does start to drag the film down during it's second third, but the film picks up again as the world goes to battle within the parallel universe of OZ.
It's perhaps this last third of the film that really shines and highlights another excellent factor to the film; the animation. Whilst from the start it looks amazing (and I watched this on DVD, so in the cinema it must look incredible), it is during the battle of OZ that the animation really stands out with the A.I. known as the Love Machine becoming a gargantuan black monster that is made up of millions of avatar characters and is a spectacular creation. The animation is simply mind boggling, jaw dropping stuff, with impeccable detail and shows a very different side to animation than the equivalent we see from Hollywood.
Whilst the story drags at times and the story is a bit too fantastical, even if this is anime, this is a sublime film, that is brimming with style, emotion, humour and is brilliantly captivating.
More of my reviews at my site iheartfilms.weebly.com
When Kenji is asked to work at his crushes house during the summer, he leaps at the chance only to find out he has to pretend to be Natsuki' boyfriend for her family including her aging Grandmother. Kenji reluctantly goes along with it, but his fortune changes when he answers a mystery text message holding a maths problem and seemingly helps someone break into the security of OZ, crashing it and causing mayhem. The hacker, an artificial intelligence, soon takes control of much of OZ causing havoc with train services and power among others and then manages to take control of a satelitte and redirects it to crash into a nuclear plant. It is up to Kenji and Natsuki, her family and the other millions of OZ members to try and take control.
This anime film is from the director who gave us The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which I disliked, but Summer Wars had gotten rave reviews, so why not? And what a vast improvement on the previous film. The story, as far fetched as it is, actually does have some relevance (to a certain extent) in today's Facebook/ Twitter obsessed world. OZ is a fantastic creation and entering into this world is nothing short of amazing. It makes you want to go there immediately. The real world element is mostly enjoyable as well, with the dynamics of Natsuki's family playing out among the drama of the online dramas. The family is wonderfully real and the death of the Grandmother is tragic and emotional. This real world element does start to drag the film down during it's second third, but the film picks up again as the world goes to battle within the parallel universe of OZ.
It's perhaps this last third of the film that really shines and highlights another excellent factor to the film; the animation. Whilst from the start it looks amazing (and I watched this on DVD, so in the cinema it must look incredible), it is during the battle of OZ that the animation really stands out with the A.I. known as the Love Machine becoming a gargantuan black monster that is made up of millions of avatar characters and is a spectacular creation. The animation is simply mind boggling, jaw dropping stuff, with impeccable detail and shows a very different side to animation than the equivalent we see from Hollywood.
Whilst the story drags at times and the story is a bit too fantastical, even if this is anime, this is a sublime film, that is brimming with style, emotion, humour and is brilliantly captivating.
More of my reviews at my site iheartfilms.weebly.com