Movie Review Mirai

Mirai (2018) 

Directed by Mamoru Hosada 

Written by Mamoru Hosada 

Starring Rebecca Hall, Victoria Grace, John Cho, Daniel Dae Kim 

Release Date August 12th, 2018 

Published August 12th, 2018 

Mirai may be the best challenger to Ralph Breaks the Internet in the race for the Best Animated Feature Oscar. This minimalist, dreamy, family drama from director Mamoru Hosoda evokes the best works of Hayao Miyazaki and it’s not merely because they share Asian characteristics. Like the best of Miyazaki’s work, Hosada’s Mirai is a deeply humane and gorgeous work brimming with empathy, wonder and humor. 

Mirai tells the story of 4 year old Kun. Heretofore an only child, Kun appeared to be excited about having a sibling when mom and dad left for the hospital, leaving him with his grandmother. But, now that the baby, Mirai, is home and getting all of mom and dad’s attention, Kun is not happy. In fact, Kun openly states that he hates Mirai. Being that he is 4 years old his words don’t carry much weight but he appears to mean it as much as he is capable of understanding complex emotions. 

Kun’s journey will be about learning to accept the world as it is and not as he wants it to be and that journey is filled with wonder and imagination. Having had a fight with his mother, Kun retreats to his backyard which finds overtaken by a bizarre fantasy world. Here, Kun meets his dog Yuko, but in human form. Yuko tells Kun that he felt the same way about Kun when he came along and replaced Yuko as the center of the parent’s world. 

Yuko, being the soul of a dog, doesn’t have much insight beyond what I just mentioned but he’s mostly a way of introducing these remarkable fantasy sequences. The standouts of the fantasy sequences come when Kun meets Mirai from the future, as a teenage girl. Mirai needs Kun’s help because she can’t be seen by their dad. The consequences are unseen on screen but the sense of the dangers of time travel are brushed over in a lovely, writerly way. 

Kun has two more huge encounters that will help him to shape who he will become but I won’t reveal those here, you need to see the movie. These formative daydreams have an urgency and vitality that is missing from many of modern Hollywood’s animated creations, outside of Pixar, of course. The dreamy animation and the loosely flowing story that floats in time and, in one beautiful scene, floats in space spreading a sort of euphoria over the audience as it goes. 

The animation of Mirai is first rate and the English language cast is first rate. John Cho voices Kun’s father and Rebecca Hall is the voice of Kun’s mother. Hall’s ability to communicate warmth and tenderness and be almost comically cruel can be a tad jarring but there is a reason for her unique portrayal that comes out in another fantasy sequence, equally a must see as the others I have alluded to. 

Mirai is showing as a limited engagement in the Quad Cities this weekend and will be made available for on-demand streaming in a few weeks.