Belle

I thought it was kind of sumptuous. I really enjoyed it and loved the characterization.

The film’s message is a beautiful one: to integrate our real-life vulnerabilities with the persona we project is to become all the more powerful.

Though it misses a couple of notes in its final act, it’s an exhilarating sensory experience, with great emotional depths.

There's some amazing big-screen spectacle in this weird postmodern emo photo-love drama...

Wherever, it's a spectacular visual feast, based on the simplest of ideas: that a young girl's sadness at the death of her mother is a powerful thing.

There's too much plot for the film to manage, but its heart, and sumptuous art, are so firmly in the right place that its appeal comes through sweet and clear.

Belle is a visually intense, modern-day riff on the classic fairy tale, with wonderful world-building and a charm that never outstays its welcome.

What it leaves us with is a film that is as emotionally astonishing as it is visually euphoric, blossoming into a finale equal parts stunning and deeply humanistic.

Once this dynamic happens, Hosoda can now play around with the characters’ emotions and build up the climax, which contains many emotional cruxes at once...

Hosoda takes an unexpected twist in bringing the tale of Beauty and the Beast into the modern world, exposing all that can lie behind a mere avatar on a social network. [Full review in Spanish]