Belle (2021 film)

Belle (竜とそばかすの姫) is a 2021 Japanese animated science fantasy film written and directed by Mamoru Hosoda and produced by Studio Chizu. The story is inspired by the 1756 French fairy tale Beauty and the Beast by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont as well as the 1991 Disney animated film.

Belle premiered on July 15, 2021, at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, where it was well-received by critics with a standing ovation that lasted fourteen minutes. The film was additionally dubbed into foreign languages (English, Chinese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, Greek, German and Polish). It was released theatrically in Japan on July 16, 2021. Belle is the third-highest-grossing Japanese film of 2021, accounting for ¥6.53 billion in box-office rankings as of December 12, 2021.

Plot
Suzu Naito is a third-year high school student living in the rural Kōchi Prefecture of Japan, with a lost passion for singing and songwriting. As a child, Suzu witnessed her mother rescue a girl from a flooding river at the cost of her own life and thus resents her for "abandoning" her for a stranger's child. Suzu remains in contact with a group of older choir teachers who were her mother's friends but is alienated from most of her classmates, except her childhood crush and self-appointed protector Shinobu Hisatake, popular girl Ruka Watanabe, sportsman Shinjiro "Kamishin" Chikami, and her genius best friend Hiroka "Hiro" Betsuyaku.

At Hiro's insistence, Suzu signs into the popular virtual world "U" and is appointed a beautiful avatar with freckles (through the AI engine's biometric analysis ), whom she names "Bell", the English translation of her own name. Upon logging in, she finds herself capable of singing again. With the assistance of Hiro, who appoints herself Bell's manager and producer, Bell becomes a hit on U's music charts, and people start referring to her as "Belle", meaning "beautiful" in French.

During one of Belle's concerts, an infamously strong and near-unbeatable user, "The Dragon" (or "The Beast"), arrives, fleeing from the Justices, a vigilante group led by the self-righteous Justin, who fight the Dragon and accuse him of disturbing the peace of U. Justin plans to unveil the Dragon's identity to the public using a specialized program mostly reserved for U's owners. Intrigued by the Dragon, Suzu begins to gather information about him. She discovers that he is popular amongst children, who consider him to be their hero. She meets the Dragon and his five guardians AIs. Belle and the Dragon grow close. In the real world, Ruka confides to Suzu that she has a crush on Kamishin. Suzu helps the two confess their feelings.

In U, Justin captures and interrogates Belle, threatening to unveil her identity to the world if she refuses to cooperate. The Dragon's AIs rescue Belle, but their intervention allows Justin and his group to locate the Dragon's castle and burn it down. The Dragon flees before Belle can find him. Suzu and Hiro work to find out the Dragon's real identity before Justin can and warn him. They find out the Dragon is a third-year junior high school student named Kei who is being physically and verbally abused by his father; Kei's protectiveness over his younger brother, Tomo is what gives the Dragon his unbeatable strength in U. Suzu contacts Kei offering help. Kei does not believe that she is Belle, and generally distrusts everyone who offers him help, since nobody has ever followed through. Shinobu, Ruka, Kamishin, and the choir teachers reveal their knowledge of Belle's true identity and urge Suzu to sing to gain Kei's trust. Suzu unveils herself to the world in the U and sings. Tomo convinces Kei to trust her and they try to contact her again. When Kei's father sees that evidence of his abuse has been posted online, he terminates their internet connection before Kei can tell Suzu their address.

Using context clues, Ruka and Kamishin deduce that Kei's hometown is Kawasaki, Kanagawa, near Tokyo. Since authorities cannot intervene on abuse charges until 48 hours have passed, Suzu locates Kei and Tomo on her own and protects them from their father. The next day, she and her father warmly greet each other at the station. Shinobu praises Suzu for her bravery and deciding she no longer needs his protection, finally feels free to pursue the relationship he has always wanted with her. Finally understanding her mother's selfless actions, Suzu makes peace with her death.

Production
While Studio Chizu worked on the project, they had help from veteran Disney animator and character designer Jin Kim and Michael Camacho on the design of Belle and studio Cartoon Saloon for the background work of the world of U.

Hosoda initially intended for Belle to be a musical, but considered the idea difficult due to Japan not having a culture of making musicals. However, he still wanted music to be central to the film, so he searched for a protagonist who could sing. He stated that he preferred the same person doing both speaking and singing voices to make it convincing and searched for a singer who could express their feelings through song and move people, even if they don't understand Japanese. He then found Kaho Nakamura, whom he considered relatively unknown, but a perfect choice for the role. Hosoda stated that Nakamura was also involved in writing lyrics, so she could feel the lyrics she was singing.

Release
GKIDS acquired North American distribution rights in June 2021, and released the film theatrically with a nationwide release date of January 14, 2022, and previews in select IMAX theaters on January 12,

Sale rights to the film outside Japan were handled by French company Charades who pre-sold the rights internationally, including Kismet in Australia and New Zealand, Anime Limited in the UK, Ireland and France (with Wild Bunch), and Koch Media in Italy and German-speaking territories. The deal size was due to the popularity of Japanese anime and the international status of Mamoru Hosoda.

Music
The music for the series was composed by Taisei Iwasaki, Ludvig Forssell, and Yuta Bandoh. The soundtrack album was released on August 18, 2021, by Ariola Japan.

Box office
Belle is the third-highest-grossing Japanese film of 2021, accounting for ¥6.53 billion in box-office rakings as of December 12, 2021.

In the film's U.S. opening weekend it made $1.6 million from 1,326 theaters, and a total of $1.8 million over the four-day Martin Luther King Day holiday frame. The film dropped out of the box office top ten in its second weekend with $570,213. The film was released on May 17, 2022, on DVD & Blu-ray by GKids (through its distribution partner Shout! Factory).

Critical response
American audiences polled by PostTrak gave the film an 86% positive score, with 63% saying they would definitely recommend it.

At the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, the film received a 14-minute-standing ovation. Joe Morgenstern wrote for The Wall Street Journal that "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." Manohla Dargis of The New York Times praised the visual quality, character development, worldbuilding, and called the film "unfailingly touching." Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times praised the visuals and story, writing "It’s a tale as old as time and as newfangled as TikTok, in which the virtual world, though packed with fantasy and artifice, can bring startling truths to the surface."

Accolades
The film has received five Annie Award nominations, including one for Best Independent Animated Feature. Its total makes it the second most nominations for a Japanese anime film ever at the awards, tied with Ghost in the Shell (1995), and behind Suzume (2022) and The Boy and the Heron (2023).

Cultural influence
After the release of the film, Ochi, Kōchi in Kōchi Prefecture, which served as the prototype for filming, was certified by the Anime Tourism Association as one of the "88 Japanese Anime Mecca I Want to Visit". The Kochi Prefectural Tourism Bureau plans movie sightseeing routes to attract tourists with movie locations.

Belle was included in a high school art textbook released in Japan as a teaching example of animation production, and passed the audit of Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in March 2023. This textbook will be used as a high school art textbook to be launched in 2024.