When I first heard of this movie at Otakon, the large anime convention held in Baltimore each year, I literally knew nothing about it. So when Funimation posted the Japanese subtitled version on YouTube just prior to the US Blu-ray/DVD release, I had to take a look, and I am quite glad that I did! I immediately placed a pre-order on Amazon, which came today, and I am writing this having just watched the movie with my family on Blu-ray.
Oblivion Island is a visual treat for the eyes with animation on par with Pixar and Dreamworks, and imbued with overtones from Japanese anime and manga. The character design of Haruka is gorgeous, and you can see that a lot of love and care went into animating her every move. But it doesn’t end with Haruka, the film makers have created a world alive with color and texture that even moved my teenagers!
Beyond the beautiful animation is an equally heart warming tale of lost memories and one girl’s struggle to retrieve them, making new ones along the way. The soundtrack very ably communicates the emotional mood without being over powering or intrusive. The voice acting in the English dub is excellent! The characters are all well matched and the script localization could not have been better! This is a story that parents and kids can equally understand and enjoy, because at its core, that’s what the movie is all about, family and the memories we make together.
====
This is the review I posted on Amazon. The first such review I ever written there. So I guess I must have really liked this movie!