A Review of “Scarlet (2026)”

Scarlet is the next animated film from the acclaimed director Mamoru Hosoda, who is notable for films such as Summer Wars, Wolf Children, and Belle. This new film is an alternate retelling of the classic Hamlet.

Unfortunately, Scarlet has got to be Mamoru Hosoda’s worst film so far. The story never does anything interesting or new with the material it is inspired by. The writing is bland, the characters are underdeveloped, and the pacing is very uneven. The male lead, Hijiri, is rather irritating and takes screen time away from the titular character.

There are also random music and dance set pieces that do not really add anything, aside from being incredibly odd. Additionally, the message of war and forgiveness is constantly and relentlessly shoved in the audience’s face. The 3D CG is also quite wonky and can look visually odd at times.

Despite that, I do appreciate the ambition. There are some great visuals, the musical score is wonderful, and there are a few genuinely great moments. Even the dance sequences, while random, are well choreographed. In the end, Scarlet turns out to be a very uneven and messy film, which is a shame, especially considering how cool the titular character looked.

Comments

A “QUICK!” Review of “Spy × Family Code: White (2024)“

This movie is two hours of Spy X Family goodness! Everything you love from the show is in here: the fun family slice-of-life dynamic, the ridiculously fun comedy with wacky goofiness from lovable daughter Anya, the suave spy action from Loid, and badass fight action set pieces from Yor. The animation is mostly similar to the show, but there are moments in the final act where the animation is glorious! However, the story isn’t really much to write home about and the villain is very "underbaked” (pun intended). Overall, this is a very fun movie set in the Spy X Family universe. If you love the show, you’ll love the movie.

A Review of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)”

Guardians of the Galaxy was one of the best and most surprising things to come out of the MCU. They were an unknown group with heroes that were even more unknown than Iron Man (at the time). However, thanks to director James Gunn, he made them one of the most popular Marvel characters and team. I loved the first one and it is still up there in one of my favourite Marvel films. The second one is a great movie but not as good as the first one. There is a joke that the 3rd movie is always the worst which did occur with Ant-Man recently. Does Guardians of the Galaxy fall into this or does it deliver an epic trilogy? One of the core themes in the Guardian of the Galaxy movies is family and loss. This is still prevalent here and still as powerful. We see the Guardians feel closer as a family than ever but also argue a lot like family too. In terms of character arcs, Peter is still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Yondu and even his mother which is making him go to the bo...

A Review of “Jurassic World Rebirth (2025)”

Jurassic World Rebirth is somehow the seventh entry in the Jurassic franchise. After the massively disappointing and downright abysmal Jurassic World Dominion (2022), it felt like time to let the franchise rest. However, considering it made over $1 billion, the studio was never going to let it die, and now we have another installment. The only redeeming news, in my opinion, was that Colin Trevorrow was no longer involved. Instead, we have Gareth Edwards, director of Godzilla (2014) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016). So, does this bring new life to the franchise, or should it have remained extinct? To start with the positives: the dinosaur set pieces are genuinely enjoyable. There’s a horror-movie-style sequence in the opening, a thrilling Jaws-like moment involving the Mosasaur at sea, and a fun finale set piece that echoes the spirit of the original film. The standout set piece, however, is easily the tense and terrifying T-Rex scene involving a raft. Scarle...

MovieRankingReviews

Search This Blog