Patema Inverted

Another direct-on-net release from the director of 'Time of Eve'. A very unique concept that resembles Hollywood's live-action 'Upside Down'. It should not be a reason to you to discard from watching. In fact a lot better than that and completely a different storyline. When I picked to watch it I did not think it will reach beyond my expectation, but it did. And now it becomes one of the top rated by me among a few others from the year 2013. Anime movie fans must not miss it.

Patema, a young girl who lives in the underground tunnels is curious about the outside world which is forbidden to enter. Her father, a pioneer who was disappeared trying to find a bridge between the worlds. One day while exploring on the danger zone she falls into a deep hollow pit. Wake-ups and finds in a strange world where people are upside down and to them she's. Meets someone who she can trust, and he saves her from falling further into the sky. The mystery about the inverted world and what cause it was told while Patema makes her escape while other men try to hunt her down.

''The sky eats all sinners.''

Initially I laughed because few scenes looked so funny, like a kid walking on the street having a hydrogen balloon in his hand. In the other end the story narration was pretty serious, so I put back my concentration to the movie. Falling in a hole and finding yourself in a different world is what basically inspired from the fairy tale 'Alice in Wonderland'. We could have expected that from Studio Ghibli, but this one was completely a science-fiction and that is what this director is famous for. The concept was not the fresh, the story created around it was. The animation was only a little disappointing in few parts. Art was great and I don't know what is the framerate, but the motion was not smooth, especially in the slow motions. Other than technical aspect, it can be enjoyed by anyone without age limit.

The end twist totally changes the perspective of the story that involved in the earlier. A nice solution, but it will not explain in detail the experiment that caused the world split with two opposite gravity forces. In my opinion, it is fine for not binding it to thoroughly on the science. As it now, everyone can understand it, even the common people. You know everyone can't be intelligent like who are, entertainment is the notion and this movie serves it well. I thought after the legend Miyazaki's retirement, the anime industry may fall behind, but his son and especially this filmmaker looks very promising and a few others I have noticed. We usually see quite a lot animation movies every year, but not that much anime movies. It is limited, so don't miss the opportunity if you get one for this movie.

Don't read any spoilers for this movie, just watch it if you like anime. I think this is better than most other anime movies out there, including many Ghibli movies.

It does start off a little slow, and the music is pretty mediocre, but if you keep watching you will be surprised how good this movie is. Make sure you pay attention to the small details, and it will all make sense. Watching it a second or third time, you notice things you didn't the first time you saw it! That's all I can really say. Give it a try, you may love it. The story is just fantastically done.

I don't want to spoil anything but when I saw the concept of this movie I did not think much of it. I figured I'd go watch it on the strength of the fact that it won some award in Ireland. I just saw the North American Premiere and I was totally shocked by it. The only review I had read of this movie was that it was "OK".

Folks, this movie is better than OK, it is fantastic. It is not at all what I thought it would be and the concept of "inverted" is key here. They keep on changing what's real and what's not, and your idea of what reality is switches back and forth several times. They have a few really big reveals in the film that kind of blow you away. I don't even want to say what other movies this is like because it would give it away. But similarities aside, it still manages to be original and refreshing. Just be prepared to have your mind blown several times in the course of the movie all the way to the ending.

There is another movie called Upside Down that came out around the same time as this, maybe a bit earlier. I have never seen it but the reviews on it are terrible. These guys may not be the "original" upside down movie but they certainly did a great job with the concept, probably better based on the reviews.

Do yourself a favor and watch it, and do not read any plot synopses on it beforehand. Don't spoil the surprises.

The animation is stellar, no surprises there. Voice acting is great as well. Where this film suffers is pacing; it tends to get a little jarring from time to time, and the ending feels... incomplete. It just ends when it feels like it needed just that one last concluding scene where the plot is wrapped up and you just don't get that. But that aside, I had a good time watching this film, even though a lot of the emotion felt a little hollow. The cinematography was definitely what made this movie a film worth watching if nothing else.

It's been a while since I've seen a descent anime movie. I sometimes think my expectations have been too high.

This is a movie set well after an accident that inverted gravity for a lot of the world causing people to literally fall into the sky. Years later the survivors of this accident live in two worlds below and above ground. Each world fearing the other.

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. I felt it was brilliantly executed and the massive twist at the end then took me ages to work out. The credits were nearly coming to the end before I went "OMIGOD!!" as the meaning of the ending suddenly occurred to me.

Great!