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

| Sep 29, 2022

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.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 6, 2022

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

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 5, 2022

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

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 1, 2022

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.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 28, 2022

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.

| Jan 19, 2022

Belle is Hosoda's eighth feature and the one that feels like the most coherent blend of the various universes he's straddled as an animator.

| Jan 15, 2022

Envelops you with its clever mechanics and youthful preoccupations, but as the reflective subtext comes to light, it extends an invitation to reconnect with others offline and to beware the comfort of these surrogate identities.

| Jan 14, 2022

A meticulously crafted, albeit not totally original critique of internet culture, bursting with color and melodramatic teen angst.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 14, 2022

Oscar shortlisted for best animated film, this ravishing new gem from anime master Mamoru Hosoda is a knockout fantasia that cuts to the core of Gen Z lives that revolve around digi-tech and yet speaks a universal language of love and loss.

| Jan 14, 2022

A spectacularly beautiful animated film from Japan with dazzling images out of a classic fairy tale but a storyline that could not be more contemporary.

| Original Score: B+ | Jan 14, 2022

It left me wishing I was as optimistic about the internet as Hosoda apparently is.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 14, 2022

Hosoda's backdrops, with their soft colors and photorealist details, are always gorgeous enough to get lost in, but they also tell a deeper story of community and healing.

| Jan 13, 2022

It's terrific.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 13, 2022

Colors and hearts explode in "Belle," and your head might too while watching this gorgeous anime.

| Jan 13, 2022

The heart of Hosoda's sincere film never falters.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 13, 2022

A complex but incredibly accessible look at online life in all its dark menace and strange potential.

| Jan 13, 2022

Ultimately, Belle is a thoughtful exploration of the opportunities allowed by internet anonymity.

| Original Score: B+ | Jan 11, 2022

For all of the film's visually striking action and musical set pieces, it's the generosity of spirit with which it approaches the modern teenage experience that's its most impressive attribute.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 9, 2022

This is an absolutely lovely and beautiful film.

| Jan 7, 2022