Children of the Sea - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Children of the Sea



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
Children of the Sea is a much different movie than I initially expected upon watching the trailer. It seemed to offer the promise of a coming of age story, coupled with some mysticism and aquatic structuring of the tale. Well, on that it sort of somehow delivers on that promise in the first hour, but then quickly transfers over to a 2001: A Space Odyssey type of story that sort of took me out of the initial story. In fact, the first hour is quite a sweet and compelling tale, but deviates so drastically in the latter half of the story that its hard to reconcile the two halves.

Children of the Sea is the story of a young girl name Ruka, who is struggling with feeling accepted in life, and wandering in her mental faculties. Depressed and lonely, she gets a whole new perspective when she goes to work for her father at his local aquarium for the summer break. There she meets a pair of brothers named Umi and Sora, both of whom were raised by dugongs (a cousin of the Manatee) and have a unique appreciation of the ocean as a result. The girl soon becomes friends with Umi, while Sora seems to snottily resist her friendship. However, the two boys are also being experimented upon, as local doctors are trying to find a way to extend their life that was shortened after their home in the water stunted bone and muscle density.

The three have a special bond, as somehow Ruka can “hear the song of the whales” in her mind, something that only Umi and Sora have, and as the three spend more time together, there is a stirring within Ruka that is about to open her up to something happening to the sea life known as “the festival”

As I said above, the film’s first hour is structured in a more traditional slice of life meets coming of age tale. Ruka’s depression and listlessness is being healed by the carefree Umi and enigmatic Sora, but the mysterious call of the sea seems to have plans for the two boys, and plans for Roka as well. Here is where the story deviates, as the plan that the sea and sea life have for the boys suddenly turns very metaphysical and mystical in nature. There were hints of a meteor coming to earth in the first 30 minutes of the film, and that story suddenly juts its way into the main tale half way through, bringing an alien life type of thing to the party, along with tons of very symbolic visuals and weird surrealistic art styles permeating this second half.

It’s hard to describe this second half, much as it is hard to describe 2001: A Space Odyssey as well. Mainly due to the fact that it’s more visual artwork than a written/spoken artwork as most movies are. However, unlike 2001, I really felt that the more surrealistic and alien nature of the 2nd half actually hampers the movie’s progress. From the 1 hour point till just before the end I felt like I was watching a different movie. A movie that was beautiful and a visual treat, but one that just felt alien from the first hour that came before it. It tries to tie everything together at the end with the old woman, but the attempt is half hearted and not entirely successful.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

The film is absolutely gorgeous in many ways, being colored pencil drawings as the animation style, and a luscious array of colors. But it also is home to quite a few artifacts from the Shout Factory encode that keep it from being a true “stunner”, so to speak. The colors are jaw dropping, with rich blues, greens and other shades of aquatic life, and the hand drawn animation makes for a very classic and intimate look. However, I noticed some pretty impressive banding that comes and goes throughout the film, as well as some macroblocking in the under water portion of the film. Delineation is solid, and black levels good, making for a very pleasing film, with only a few issues that keep it from being demo worthy.








Audio:

The one thing that really stands out about the Blu-ray disc is the absolutely jaw dropping audio that the film contains. We have both a Japanese and English 5.1 track to enjoy and naturally I lean towards the original language track as the superior one due to the dubbing on the English track being only so-so, but both are sonically identical. However, the ambient sound of the mix is really amazing. The sounds of the sea swooshing all around you is mesmerizing, as is the crisp sounds of rain pattering down on umbrellas (the scene with the fish washed ashore is incredible as you can hear every drop of rain with pinpoint precision). LFE is tight and clean ,adding some massive weight when needed, but not being an overly intrusive or heavy mix. Vocals are above reproach, with perfect dialog above and below water, and I honestly can’t seem to find one thing to complain about in the mix.







Extras:

• Exclusive feature-length documentary "Turep - Looking for Children of the Sea"
• Interview with director Ayumu Watanabe
• Interview with composer Joe Hisaishi
• Animatic Sequences
• Behind the Scenes featurette
• Theatrical Trailers

Final Score: ​

Children of the Sea is a fascinating tale that tries so hard to be two things at once. That being said, it is still a fun watch, and if you’re able to accept to the more surreal moments of the second half, makes for a visually STUNNING film. The hand drawn animation is a treat to behold, and the flowing, fluid nature of the story and the visuals almost carries you along gently for a stunning ride. At the same time, the juxtaposition of the two halves of the film make for a rather jarring watch if you’re not prepared. The blu-ray is crammed to the gills with some hefty special features though, and those are actually almost worth watching more than the film itself, as the interviews and docs are pretty impressively detailed. Worth a watch at the very least.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Mana Ashida, Hiiro Ishibashi, Seishu Uragami, Win Morisaki
Directed by: Ayumu Watanabe
Written by: Hanasaki Kino (Screenplay), Daisuke Igarashi (manga)
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Japanese DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, English, French, Spanish
Studio: Shout Factory
Rated: NR
Runtime: 112 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: September 1st, 2020

Recommendation: Interesting Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will take a look.