I have no idea whether it's a Wes Anderson's thing or a Roald Dahl thing (Never watched or read either person's works) but this movie is so weird?!??!?
I was drawn into it from the peculiar way the story is being portrayed where the actors literally narrate the book while being one of the characters. Akin to a reader reading a book outloud to themselves. The sets and the choreography are fantastical but it gets tiring and frankly boring after a while. Thankfully, it's not a very long one. I'm not sure how and if the film has utilised its slew of virtuoso cast; I do feel disappointed to not see more dramatic acting.
I wouldn't recommend anyone watch it other than for its unique manner of storytelling in film, listening to Ralph Fiennes and Ben Kingsley speak at length, and the elaborate sets (kudos to the set and construction teams).
I haven't watched animations in a while and man, the level of details in animations nowadays! Especially the cooking scene at the beginning. If we were to grade technicality, I would definitely give it a 9/10. Unfortunately, the story is boring. It wasn't as complex and the songs weren't as great as I hoped it would be. It's especially disappointing because Western media is finally using Asian characters as the main leads with an original story and the representation meant so much. At the very least, they tried to hire voice actors' whose ethnicity (somewhat) matches the characters, so hurray?
Honestly, I felt that the story line is meh but the songs are what took me by surprise. It's really rare to to have more than one great hit in a musical and almost all the songs in this show is amazing! I'm also very impressed with Hugh Jackman's singing. Finally, the shed his operatic voice and did these songs justice by singing more contemporarily. Great job!
