Anime Babbles: Belle (2021)

*SPOILER WARNING* This film is only five years old and fairly obscure. We at DRTR encourage you to watch Belle before listening to this episode.

With that out of the way, Wyatt and returning guest Frankie Sparks (@shoottheflick) hop on over to Japan to discuss this Studio Chizu anime, directed by Mamoru Hosoda.

Opening Music: "Dreams from Yesteryear" by Ankari

*Logo by @wayfinderart on Instagram*

References:

“Animation: Belle.” Issuu, Visual Effects Society, 18 Mar. 2022, https://issuu.com/visualeffectssociety/docs/vfxv_issue_21_spring_2022_complete/s/15156621.

Belle. Directed by Mamoru Hosoda. Video commentary by Emi Tamaki and Mamoru Hosoda. GKIDS, 2021. Blu-Ray.

JPVLIVEMUSIC. “BELLE - Lend Me Your Voice [LIVE English Version by Kylie McNeill] (The Bourbon Room 2023).” YouTube, YouTube, 10 Aug. 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuERIxrhkzQ.

"BELLE - A Million Miles Away [LIVE English version by Kylie McNiell] (The Bourbon Room 2023." YouTube, YouTube, 10 Aug. 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MjR2Eb-BPw.

MrPloxX. “Belle Medley - Japanese & English Mix Version.” YouTube, 8 Mar. 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NewGbRUW8yc.

Tuttle, Brit. “Director Ron Clements Coming Out of Retirement, Returning to Disney Animation as a Mentor.” WDW News Today, WDW News Today, 13 June 2025, https://wdwnt.com/2025/06/director-ron-clements-coming-out-of-retirement-returning-to-disney-animation-as-a-mentor/.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Disney Real to Real. A deep, deep, deep delve into the Disney animated canon. I'm Wyatt, and this week, we're not foolin' around. No self-aggrandizing. Not too much explicit language. No offensive subject matter. We're just here to talk about a quality animated movie that wasn't made by Disney. But joining me is returning guest, she may as well be a co-host by this point, and Queen Woman, Frankie Sparks.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Yay! I'm here. No tomfoolery this episode. Very serious stuff.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

Yeah, very serious. We're gonna talk about clickbait likes.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

The internet. Ain't it a thing that exists?

SPEAKER_03 3:03

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Oh man. I I gotta say, I did not know this existed before you told me about it, and I'm very glad that you recommended it to me. Because it was awesome. It was very awesome and very cool.

SPEAKER_02 3:20

Yeah, but in case they didn't, you know, look at the title of the episode, this week's movie is Belle, released by Studio Shisu in 2021. And she liked it.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

I did like it, yes, yes, yes. I was told it was uh I don't remember what episode we were talking about it on, but you said it was basically like an anime based on Beauty and the Beast, and I'm like, well, I'm gonna have to check that out.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

It was our last Beauty and the Beast episode, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Well, yeah, I don't remember because we've had we've talked about so many things at this point on this show, and multiple Beauty and the Beast things, I feel like, so it's hard to gauge which one.

SPEAKER_02 4:04

I swear it's just been twice.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

So everything's running together, guys.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

Yeah. Uh yeah, I've known about this movie existing for three years. I'd heard people talk about it or maybe seen some reviews, and went to my local Walmart. This was another COVID by. And and uh and I've just been obsessed with it ever since.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

So yeah, I I it was incredibly creative and colorful, and yeah, I'd like that's the one thing I was thinking the whole time is like how creative it was, because like we'll get into the you know details and things, but like it's all about different uh characters that you create, like avatars of yourself online, and each character that is in this big internet universe is very different and very unique and very cool.

SPEAKER_02 5:09

Yeah, you best believe they actually like sewed most of Bell's costumes in real life as like demos.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:18

Like high-end designers made those.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

That's crazy. Also that stuff with the the bio technology.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Yeah, like this reminded me of I don't know if because I'm I'm not a an anime connoisseur. I don't know how like experienced you are with anime, but this reminded me of like a mix of Beauty and the Beast and Sword Art Online, which is a anime, I think it was a series that was on years ago that I used to watch like religiously, but it's all about like this internet world and everyone's in that one it was like kind of like almost like Squid Game where everyone's competing to stay alive in this internet world. But in this one, it's it's also kind of like that, but they're trying to stay alive socially, social media-e in this uh internet world.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

They're fighting for relevance.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Indeed.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

Yeah. Yeah. Uh I have only seen two other animes, and they're both Miyazaki, so that means Disney distributed them in the US, so that's how I know.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Yeah. No, I know. I had Kiki's delivery service on a s on a clamshell growing up and would watch it on repeat, not even understanding like that it's not actually Disney.

SPEAKER_02 6:37

Yeah, no. Yeah, I've only seen Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Yeah. Both of those are also very, very good.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Yeah. And Belle and Moving Castle are the only ones I own on Blu-ray, and I think I have the latter because it features Lauren Bacall in the English dev. And I'm like, I love her so much.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

That makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

I love Lauren Bacall. She's cool as hell.

SPEAKER_02 7:14

For real, for real. Um, let's see. I guess we'll just get down into the nitty-gritty of production histoire. So, this movie is directed and written by Mamaru Hosoda, whose previous works include Summer Wars, Wolf Children, The Boy and the Beast, and the Academy Award-nominated Mirai, all of which I've yet to watch. It debuted in the US on the 14th of January 2022 after a showing at Khan and Domestic Japanese Opening, earning 4 million domestically and accumulating 64 million worldwide. So, you know, not exactly, you know, frozen two numbers, but you know.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

Oh, yeah. God forbid. I've seen Mirai, um, like when it came out, because I'm a big Oscar nerd, so like I try to see all the Oscary movies. I remember I don't remember it like super well. I remember thinking it was okay. But it it was time travely. It's it's like this, kind of in the sci-fi realm, I guess. So yeah. But they it was well made and it looked very pretty, which we can definitely say extra extra about this visually. Some of the shots in this are like really insane. Like, I'm kind of bummed I just watched it on my phone. Like I wish that I watched it on a big screen or something.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

So because this is not a Disney-produced film, a couple of our regular talking points seem kind of pointless. But I should note I should note a connection that the the two companies have. This features the work of Disney's supposedly first Korean animator, Jim Kim. Uh, little profile on him, he worked in their television animation division beginning in 1991. Uh, Disney, I should say. And worked on DuckTales, Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, Aladdin, and Bonkers. He made the jump over to Disney feature animation in 1995, beginning with Hercules, and has had a hand in nearly every Disney animated film up through 2021's Encanto.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Hmm. Alright.

SPEAKER_02 9:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

It's a pretty solid resume.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

Yeah, although he dipped out while they were doing Ralph Breaks the Internet and Frozen 2.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

Got out just in time.

SPEAKER_02 9:48

Well, yeah. I think he was working on a movie called Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs in that time. Oh god. It's a Korean movie. So yeah. I'm giving it to a minimum, folks. We're breaking habits this year.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

Let's do it, guys.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

Oh my god. Um, but when asked why he brought Jin onto the project, Hosoda said, quote, All the Disney characters I find attractive were designed by Jin. It all started when my previous film, Mirai, was nominated for an Oscar. I visited LA several times and met him. When I saw him in person, I went, Oh my god. But he was a very calm, gentle person with beautiful gray hair. We said, Let's work together, probably as a gesture, but that ended up turning into an actual project. What's great about his designs is the facial expression more than anything. In that sense, it's not so much his drawing skills, but he's able to give Belle a soul, quote unquote. So he was more involved with the internet portion of the movie.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

Okay, makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 11:00

Yeah. Uh so I love that that kind of went out of order because we didn't give a brief synopsis. Three years in, I'm still learning. So the premise uh revolves around a Japanese high school junior named Suzu Naito. Her mother died when she was a child, and she's so traumatized she cannot sing in public. This propels her to find escape within the social media app You, where her avatar becomes a pop music star. Suzu juggles both playing both parts until they come to a head, and she has no choice but to be seen as she truly is. So we're gonna talk about how this movie is what happens when you put Hannah Montana and Ralph Breaks the Internet in a blender and pour in a little beauty in the beast.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

Yes, that's basically that's basically it.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

If we're keeping the comparison strictly Disney, that's what it is.

SPEAKER_02 12:07

Yeah. Like literally, she gets unveiled and she's like, I'm Anna Montana.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

This takes the wig off. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

Yeah, but I liked it better in this movie. Um but uh yeah. How do how do we go about this?

SPEAKER_01 12:29

Do we just do like general plot questions or like um well I don't know, I guess we can I I feel like it's easy to uh split this between like the internet world stuff and then the beauty and the beastie type stuff? That seems like a good maybe place to start.

SPEAKER_02 12:57

Or just real world internet world. Yeah. Yeah. Alright, so I hate to jump the gun like this, but what does the beauty of the beast portion have to do with Suzu's mom?

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Um well okay. So once for like the first half hour of the movie, I would say it's like all the internet stuff, and you're like, where's the beauty and the beast stuff? I thought this was a beauty and the beast movie, and then the beastie guy in the internet world shows up, and then they he develops this relationship with Suzu and in the Beauty and the Beast, the Disney version that we know and love, and I mean pretty much every version that I can think of, it there's like a romantic connection, and like it seemed like maybe there was some kind of uh weird attraction in the beginning, but then once it's revealed who the beast really is, it's more like a protectiveness thing. I think she relates to him because of the stuff that he's uh clearly been through. Like we don't know exactly what it is in the beginning, but it's very clear he's got bruises all over him, and he's very dark and mysterious and mean. So like we know he's been through some stuff. And Suzy's also been through some stuff that she maybe hasn't dealt with. So I I think there's a connection there, and that's how we connect it with the mom and the stuff because she's clearly repressed about what what she went through with with her mom passing away.

SPEAKER_02 14:50

Mm-hmm. But then in the real world, she has a guy that she's a she has a crush on.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Mm-hmm. Her little childhood friend.

SPEAKER_02 15:00

And he doesn't have an internet avatar.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

No. Well that's what okay, so this is what was confusing to me. That's why I was like, okay, so because the guy in the real world that she likes and that likes her, uh, what's his name? Shin Shinobu. He's very cool and very like slick and nice and hot, and we like him. And he's very protective of Suzu, their childhood friends. And there's definitely something going on there. But then, like, once you meet the beast and you like it, I'm like, okay, this isn't Shinobu. So then who is this guy? Like, are we supposed to want them to be together, or are we supposed to want her to be with Shinobu? So that was like con confusing at at first. I liked it still, but it was I was like, who is this guy? What are we supposed to do with this guy?

SPEAKER_02 15:52

Because it doesn't feel like a love triangle.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

No, definitely not. It feels it weirdly, I don't know why this comparison just popped in my head because it's different in many ways, but it kind of felt like a phantom of the opera situation where like we have this weird attraction to the beast guy that we can't quite explain, but isn't really tenable for any kind of real relationship. And then we have the very nice normal guy over here who is nice and normal and sweet. Now we like Shinobu more than we like, I don't even remember his name. He's so boring from Phantom of the Opera.

SPEAKER_02 16:31

Is it Raul?

SPEAKER_01 16:33

Raul, yes. Thank you. We like Shinobu more than Raul, but the principle still applies. We're like, he is nice and normal and sweet and lovely, but there's this guy over here. It's a hot mess. And we want to fix him.

SPEAKER_02 16:51

No, don't start pulling that out now.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

No, I'm kidding. But we wanna, you know, we want to help him at least somewhat, you know.

SPEAKER_02 16:59

Well, yeah. And I'm spoilers, she rescues him from his abusive dad. Um because that's what her mom she's inspired by the memory of her mom rescuing a child during a floodstorm. And this is this was kind of my big issue with the movie. Let's talk about Suzu.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Let's let's talk about Suzu.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

Okay, so basics thing out of the way.

SPEAKER_04 17:37

Uh, in the English dub, she's voiced by Kylie McNeil, who does a fantastic job, and then we're gonna get a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

I I listened to the I I listened to the the Japanese audio with subtitles. Oh my god! I thought that was the way you're supposed to do it.

SPEAKER_02 18:41

No, no, no, you're right. But in fact, that might help with uh with my with my uh rant coming up.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

Okay, it might be a translation issue. But Kylie, she sounds like fucking flower petals floating through the breeze when she sings. Um it's beautiful, it's beautiful. Um definitely look up the soundtrack on Spotify.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

It's very pretty, the music.

SPEAKER_02 19:09

Yeah. Um okay, but getting back to Susu, she's repressed, she doesn't have very many friends. Uh it's very like slice of life, you know, schoolgirl going about her day, trying to maneuver between like friendships, relationships, family stuff. Um and near the end, she's trying to connect with this guy who is the beast in the online world. And when she discovers that he and his younger brother are being abused by their father, she uh makes a concerted effort to rescue them and is like honoring the legacy of her mom. Do we feel like she had a lot of agency in this movie?

SPEAKER_01 20:05

Do we feel like Suzu had a lot of agency?

SPEAKER_02 20:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

I mean I mean Well, at first she's very I wouldn't I don't even know if I would say meek, but she she definitely keeps to herself like in her own little cocoon, I guess. And then being Belle, this other persona, kind of in a way gives her more agency, I feel like it freaks her the hell out for a while. She's like, I'm a freaking famous, I don't want I don't like this, no. And then but in time, once she connects with the beast and then realizes everything she's gotta do and like save him and stuff, like she definitely gets more agency, I think, towards the end. Like she's standing up to a grown ass abusive man at the by the end of the movie, and he's like cowering to her by j by just giving him the deadest stare. Yeah, in the rain. The rain helps, the torrential downpour, and he's screaming at her, about to punch her in the face. He's like, ah. But she's just like just dead, just dead-eyed stare.

SPEAKER_02 21:20

It's like listen to my heart beating, or I will fucking kill you. Um yeah, that was just a big thing for me because it was like I felt that there was a greater emphasis on her doing that to honor her mom than it was for her to be like oh, I need to go and do this thing because these guys need it. It's like there's like a double double motivation.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

Yeah, I would say that's probably true. I feel like she didn't get I feel She didn't connect it fully to her mom until she like was in the moment, like singing as herself, and then kind of it like clicked that oh, like I'm doing this and I'm doing something really terrifying because I need to save these kids. And my mom, even though it was incredibly scary and terrifying, jumped into a raging river to save this kid because she felt like she had to save the kid. So yeah, I think she eventually made that connection to her mom. But I also think if yeah, if anything, it's like you said, double motivation, where like genuinely she was trying to do what was best just to to improve not only their lives but her own life. And then she eventually connected it to her mom and what she did. Because as a kid, you don't understand, like you you know, everything's black and white. So she felt like her mom abandoned her by jumping in there and going to save this kid that she didn't even know, and ab eventually or excuse me, essentially abandoning her. Um but then yeah, when you get older and you see shades of grey in life and not everything is black and white, you realize like what what complex adult motivations can be.

SPEAKER_02 23:25

Well, yeah. And you'd be surprised how many people I've read on like Reddit boards and comments and all that stuff, how many of them criticize that part?

SPEAKER_04 23:36

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 23:36

Because they're like, like, why didn't you get the proper authorities to take care of this? Or like, why is it a minor's responsibility?

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Or like it okay. Well, we weren't exactly I think at one point they did call like the police and they're like, Yeah, we don't know what to do. They're like, Okay, thanks for nothing.

SPEAKER_05 23:59

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

I mean, even if even if they did like some just sometimes that's not really an option. We're in a bit of an emergent situation. Do what you gotta do. Same thing with the kid in the river. It's like, well, why didn't you get the pool? Why'd you jump in there? You think you're a good swimmer? Because you can swim in the pool. It gets some like just get a professional. There was nobody else around, and this kid was gonna die. So you gotta do what you gotta do.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

Yeah, so probably just not paying close enough attention. But again, this movie is a lot more nuanced than a lot of stuff we've talked about.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

Yes, definitely. Definitely, and like with uh animes in particular, like again, I'm not an expert, but I've seen uh uh well, maybe a couple handfuls of animes in my life. Like, there's definitely a a a penchant for over-dramatics a little bit. I was like, this wasn't as bad as it could have been. Like, there was a lot of crying in this, but it could have been a lot worse and a lot more melodramatic. Like, I feel like they tried to ground this insane premise as much as possible, which is very difficult to do, but I appreciate that they tried.

SPEAKER_02 25:19

Yeah. It it makes it tries to turn something really complex into something simple, but not in a way that's like condescending.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:31

Which I I wish that was a method that Disney would use as part of their strategy right now, but can't sell merch like that, I guess. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

I guess not, you know. Jeez. Can we talk about how the villain's name was Justin? It really threw me off. Just the villa because I was like, oh, okay, this is Gaston, great. Like, cause he's, you know, trying to hunt the beast down. Kill the beast, and da da da, and like, you know, he's chasing Bella around trying to get information on the beast. But I'm like, Justin? Justin. Okay. Like, it's giving very like 90s college comedy villain, but okay. Sure, buddy.

SPEAKER_02 26:19

Yeah, Justin, Justin, with all the sponsorships behind him, literally.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

It was so funny to me. Like, cuz uh also because everyone has a very like Asian name. Because this is a this is a is the Korean Japanese. Japanese, excuse me. It's a very everybody's Japanese, I would assume. Everybody's got a Japanese name, and then you just got Justin. I was like, sir.

SPEAKER_02 26:47

Well, don't don't forget, don't forget Peggy Sue.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

Oh, yes, Peggy Sue. Like, just that was weird. She was kind of straight, like, she was she was sort of uh the like the it girl before Belle came along, and then she was like, Well, Belle's not that special, da-da-da-da. And then at the end of the she's gone for like most of the movie, and then at the very end, when she's having her big reveal, like, I am not Belle, I am Suzu, and here I am singing a beautiful song as myself, and then she starts singing, and Peggy Sue is like her biggest stan like, go girl, keep singing! I'm like, oh my god, okay.

SPEAKER_02 27:28

Well, but also I'm like Suzu unveiled herself, and now we know that she bears she can bear herself like on the internet and in the real world. But who the fuck is Peggy Sue? IRL?

SPEAKER_01 27:42

Yeah, who is she? Because she said, actually, she said, oh, she's just an ordinary girl, just like me. And I was like, Oh, okay. Well, I liked that though. I liked that because you know, that's a very young teenage girl thing, you know. If you're uh a I mean, there's a million movies, chick-flick movies in particular, about just an ordinary plain Jane girl who just wants to be a pretty little princess.

SPEAKER_02 28:08

Miley Ray Stewart is a typical high school dude.

SPEAKER_01 28:14

But yeah, so like that's the vibe, and it's cute. Like, I I like Suzu. I love her best friend hero because she's like evil, like there are she does evil laughs throughout the whole. She's basically Belle's like manager, and it's like making like keeping her, you know, on the charts. And I'm like, this girl is she's so cool.

SPEAKER_02 28:37

You want to tear down everything we worked for?

SPEAKER_01 28:41

She's like, they don't even know that she's an ordinary girl. They think she's a celebrity.

SPEAKER_02 28:49

She's like, if Lily went maniacal.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

Yes.

unknown 28:53

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 28:55

It's so funny. But yeah, and then they had a decent, like well-rounded kid. They had the popular girl who, when I first met her, I was like, she's gonna be a bitch. But no, she was very nice, and then she likes the weird canoe guy, and I'm like, oh, this is so cute. Yeah, we love the weird canoe guy. Yeah, who doesn't? That was funny too. It's like I forget his name now. I had the cast pulled up, but my phone went dark because I was talking too much. But no, he was like, I'm gonna start a canoe team, a one-man canoe team, all by myself. And I was like, Okay, sweetie, you go off.

SPEAKER_02 29:33

Follow your bliss.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

Yes, exactly. Who is that? Shinjiro. But yeah, he was cute too. Everybody was very cute.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

Yeah. Uh I guess pivoting back to Suzu a little bit more. Uh, I was real in my research, the hardest thing to look for was Hasoda's like personal inspiration for wanting to make the movie. And again, shit you can't find in articles or YouTube videos or anything like I had to pull out the damn Blu-ray just to get this really valuable nugget. Uh he says, quote, I use something simple, like my family or children, as an inspiration to make a film. Suzu and Belle really are derived from my daughter. She's still just five, and yet the character was made with her in mind. You see, in the house, my daughter, she's like a princess. She's carefree and puffed up with pride as she does whatever she pleases. She's a really daring girl. But when she goes to preschool, she gets very timid and withdrawn. She's always and she's always playing with the same girl. It's like she only has one friend. And when I see that, I thought on how big of a gap between how she acts at home and outside. I can already see those two aspects of her. And when she gets a smartphone and starts doing NSS messaging and line groups, she may learn more about interpersonal relationships. And then there will be puberty, and who knows how that will go. And well, I want her to grow up happy and healthy. And those feelings led to this film.

SPEAKER_00 31:17

So sweet. That is very sweet.

SPEAKER_02 31:22

But it's just really interesting how, like, depending on the region and the creator, it's like the way the ways that people are inspired to make movies like Disney, they always pull from a story. Pixar always pulls from an idea. DreamWorks used to pull from Jeffrey Katzenberg's Rage. Um and uh Posoda pulls from his family.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

So sweet though. I like that.

SPEAKER_03 31:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:54

Because I feel like everybody that's a very relatable feeling. Like feeling one way when you're with your family or even just by yourself, and then when you're out in the world you're more reserved or more awkward or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 32:12

Just like Miley Ray Stewart.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

You got the limo outfit.

SPEAKER_04 32:24

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

Oh my god. Oh god. Now if Miley Stewart was in Beauty and the Beast.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

Oh my god. Music by Jack Antinoff.

SPEAKER_01 32:41

Jeez. Too funny.

SPEAKER_02 32:45

Oh my god. But yeah, go ahead. Take me through more of your feelings. I need to. I I got very feelings. More feelings, please. I don't have many notes.

SPEAKER_01 32:59

So um oh gosh, I'm trying to think. Okay, so yeah. I mean, we talked about so the the the clothes were snatched. The the the songs were very uh flowery. I liked all the characters, the visuals were insane, like gorgeous. Like I just wanted to like take a frame of like one shot and just like put it on my wall. It was very, very nice. Um and then once we get like into the like I said, the first half hour is maybe like all kind of internet stuff, and that it does have commentary also about just internet culture, like you post one thing, and half of the people will be like, Oh my god, it's amazing! And then the other half will be like, This is stupid. Why would you even post this? You're stupid, you should die. It's like okay, hold on, but it's very like it depicted just the internet culture very well, I think. Of like everybody's got something to say, and I think the best friend said it too, was like, oh, if everybody liked you, that that doesn't mean anything. That's like a flash in the pan. But if people are divided on you, that's how people because people are talking about you, and then it gets that's how stardom is made. I'm like, ooh, that was a sick little nugget.

SPEAKER_02 34:27

Um I mean, I mean look no further than Trump v Biden. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:31

I mean, girl. Um, but yeah, then when the when the beauty and the beast stuff sort of arrives, um, it does kind of it it does kind of come out of nowhere almost. Like immediately you're like, okay, that's the beast, because he literally looks like like an anime version of the beast. Like it's like a half poor, half buffalo man with a big cape. And um then yeah, we get his introduction, we get our fake Gaston introduction with Justin. Um and then yeah, and like all the townspeople, aka the other people that are in this app, like hate the beast because he's like, Oh, you're so ugly, why are you even here? Get out, you're ruining everything.

SPEAKER_02 35:28

Oh, because yeah, she's throwing a concert inside a dome.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

In a dome, because that's I mean, okay. You go off, sis. Go off. Um But they had like they had like holographic dolphins and shit. Oh yeah, it was like a whole big production. I was like, okay. Uh, but yeah, and then even after that, I was like, okay, is this is this all we're doing? Like, is this the only connection we're having? And then all of a sudden they're like, oh, he has a secret castle, and no one's been able to find it, and then like within two scenes, she magically finds it. Yeah, and she's like poking her when she goes in the castle and it's basically just a cut and paste of the beauty and the beast castle. In I was like, okay. Is anyone here?

SPEAKER_03 36:19

Hello.

SPEAKER_01 36:21

And they have like the little, like the little guys, like the little, little avatar people in the in the corner being like, get out. I was like, oh, it's Codsworth, it's Lumiere. Like they're up there. I was like, all right, I see you. And then yeah, they find she finds him in like a secret part of the castle, and he just like, okay, I get it. I got it now. We're in Beauty and the Beast now. This is the Beauty and the Beast portion of our viewing.

SPEAKER_03 36:54

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 36:56

By the way, did you know that the real world portion is based in a real life location?

SPEAKER_01 37:04

No. I mean, I I guess that would make sense.

SPEAKER_02 37:07

Yeah, it takes place in the rural countryside of Kochi in Japan. And it's be it's since become like a big tourist destination. So all those background paintings may as well have been photographs.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

Like there were some of them that were very photorealistic. I was like, whoa, are we okay? I for some. I really did think because at one point when we went from the internet world and then hard cut to the real world, and like it popped up like some image of like uh uh establishing shot in the real world, and I was like, are we live action now? Oh shit, like I actually thought for a second, and I was like, oh, which I mean is pretty impressive, I guess. If you're you know watching an animated movie for like an hour and then all of a sudden it pops up to another animated image, but you think it's live action, that's pretty cool. Um and then Yeah, I mean, how did you how did you feel about like the the inclusion of the beauty and the beast like elements? Do you think it like was did it did it make sense to you?

SPEAKER_02 38:26

I'd be lying if I said it wasn't what drove me to watch it the first time. But now I think I'm invested in what else it had to say. Um but I can't deny that Lend Me Your Voice, the song that plays when they're dancing and sewing up in the air. I play that song like at least once a week.

SPEAKER_01 38:51

That was probably my favorite too. They were doing like a little la land thing where they're just floating in the stars. I was like, oh, okay. And they, oh my god, when they twirled her ass around and put her in that pink ball gown, I was like, Okay, I know what you're trying to do. How dare you? I was like, okay, this is her dress, and then they literally and they put him in a suit, poor thing. Put him in a suit with his cape on, and then they make a like holographic ballroom, and I'm like, okay, all right, I see you.

SPEAKER_02 39:30

So you felt that that was like really shoehorned.

SPEAKER_01 39:33

I mean, yeah, but I mean I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad thing because like it looked really nice and it was really well done. But I mean, yeah, I mean it was pretty on the nose. I feel like if the whole movie was that, like if that whole vibe throughout the whole movie, then it would be different. But it felt sometimes like like it was two different movies sometimes. Like it was dark, it was like this darker, like vr I hesitate to say romance, but you know what I'm saying, and then the internet stuff, and then even if you could say three things, because then you come out in the real world and it's like a high school drama or whatever. So I you know, I don't know. I I I did like it, I know I liked it a lot, but yeah, there were parts that I was like, okay, what kind of movie are we watching? What kind of movies this what are we doing?

SPEAKER_02 40:36

I've uh I guess I just took some of that the internet world stuff as just like being in this like weird dream state. Where it's like Because it's it's not like a totally accurate depiction of the internet. Um it it it kind of runs on dream logic sometimes, and I guess that's how I chose to accept all the beauty and the beast stuff happening.

SPEAKER_01 40:59

Sure. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 41:01

Um but no, I I I could see like if you're not looking at it that way, I could see how that could be like you guys aren't very subtle about this.

SPEAKER_01 41:13

That's that like that's I mean, yeah. I would say the the beauty in the beast, like iconography, like the inclusion of those elements wasn't exactly subtle.

SPEAKER_02 41:26

No, especially when she ran out of his of the West Wing and he just Oh yes, and then the wolves, the wolves.

SPEAKER_01 41:34

I was like, oh, I felt so clever. I'm like, these are the wolves, and then led by Justin just in time, and then he goes and saves her, and I was like, oh, this is really nice. But then yeah, I couldn't help but ask myself the question. I'm like, okay, so is she gonna get with the beast, or is she gonna get with the high school guy? I was like, oh, but they're both so nice. I like both of them. But yeah. Then we realized the guy was the the beast was a 14-year-old boy, and then we suddenly were over that. We're like, okay, got it.

SPEAKER_02 42:10

We pivoted, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:11

Got it, got it, we're not there. But I think it made sense because like it made sense why she connected with him even if it wasn't romantic, because they have both been through some shit. But then what does that connected in that way, I think.

SPEAKER_02 42:26

But then what does that say about Bell and the Beast? The the Disney Bell and the Beast. Oh, I mean Because they're like they they don't have like a sexual attraction to each other.

SPEAKER_01 42:37

No. But I think they they connect on a real level, and like then when he turned well, I mean, like, she loved him though.

SPEAKER_02 42:46

Yeah, but there was never like you know, a peck on the cheek or anything till he was her human.

SPEAKER_01 42:52

No, no. But like theoretically, like Belle didn't have a like a childhood friend that was kind of hot that was like sort of pining for her. Like, if she had a guy like that hanging around in the background, instead of getting started, no, she had to deal with her.

SPEAKER_02 43:10

She had to deal with her mother dying from the plague.

unknown 43:13

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 43:15

Oh no, not the plague.

SPEAKER_02 43:18

This was the Paris of my childhood.

SPEAKER_04 43:21

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 43:23

Oh my god. And I also like the dad in this movie, like the relationship with the dad was like I got like they didn't have a great relationship, Suzu and her father, and then towards the end, like they kind of reconcile, and you know, he's like, You're you know, you're the way you are so caring and loving because your mother raised you and da da da da and then they kind of made up. But um Yeah, I don't know, like she didn't really have any like in the beauty and the beast that we know, she had Maurice, crazy old Maurice, and that was kind of her her her heart her her center and then in in that one though we didn't even know the mom's name let alone what she did or what she died from so yeah I guess yeah thinking about it now it's like it all worked out I guess because in the in this movie her mother is kind of her moral core of like yeah that's why she's so affected and thinks like she abandoned me you know why did she abandon me but yeah and the other one she in the animated one the Disney one she sacrifices her life to protect her father so it's this it's the same thing just different parents I guess yeah let's see anything else uh how did you feel about the other songs like uh and especially with it being a kind of musical yeah I would I would classify it as a kind of sorta not really musical like you know kind of in the way like Josie and the Pussycat is a musical like they just they sing songs like but it's part of the plot I guess I I thought that um I don't know like the songs were fine I liked the the I liked her voice a lot um but like the lyrics are for the most part outside of the Lend Me Your Voice one I think that was a the strongest song but the other ones are just like the lyrics are kind of like you know it's a glowing flower and da da da it's like very like you know like kind of blandish lyrics but they're very well sung and she has a great voice so it's like what did you think of um what did you think of a million miles away when did she sing that one I'm trying to remember that's the one when she gets unveiled oh yeah um that was good and when the the crowd got hyped up the scene itself was more powerful that kind of gave me shells like everyone kind of rallying behind her and stuff that kind of you know that that I feel like powered the scene more than like the lyrics but I like like I said I like her voice a lot you know i is this a a a perfect movie no is it the best anime I've ever seen in my life no but it's I I would say it's very entertaining and incredibly creative um yeah I mean that's really what even just with what you said about the director like there's clear love and care being put into this and it's so very clear that in the past at least five years there have been not an not an ounce not a drop of love and care in most of the the projects that they that Disney cranks out it's all about the moolah you know so but I feel like people respond because I also I feel like if you tell people like oh have you ever seen the movie Bell a lot of people won't know what you're talking about and I think that's also the problem when you have a big company like Disney you're just naturally gonna have because you have that name behind it whatever you put out it's just gonna get more attention.

SPEAKER_02 47:07

But but also this was a COVID movie as well so oh yeah 2021 that's true.

SPEAKER_01 47:14

But ultimately I think people are going to respond in the long run better to mies with love and care. I mean we've talked about that kind of stuff before on here of like the movies that are more timeless definitely have that feeling of like this is really was a passion project as opposed to like Frozen six like let's make some money like that's you know it's a difference in quality but it's weird because they Studio Chizu it's like they're pulling all of Disney's old techniques in making that move in making Belle and it's just so like they're doing what you do what you used to do only better Right exactly they're getting like great voice actors great writers a great director in here and getting a great story together and you know really giving a shit about how it comes out yeah Yeah oh yeah absolutely the visual art we haven't even talked about that well that's outside of the real world but the internet it's yeah like the grid is literally in the shape of like a harp oh yeah and like it's funny because we just went to go see um me and my husband went to go see Superman in the theater and they have this part of the this is gonna make sense I promise they have this part of the movie I'm gonna bring it back they have this part in the movie where they're in like a pocket universe right and they're like it's basically this whole other dimension and it's just this like flat black void and then like this like I called it CGI soup. It's just a bunch of like colorful blocks of blood just like thrown at the screen for Superman to fight in and swim through like it's just a bunch of gobbledygook and when you're in another dimension which is what the internet world in this movie basically is you have a boundless amount of imagination that you can like play with and they do that to the max not just with the backgrounds but the like the way that they the way that they planned out like the like how everybody moves around in this world and like the like the little highways and byways of how people float around and like all the different characters are just all very distinct and unique. Some of them are humanoids some of them are animal like some of them are like little robots like it's so it's just so very some of them are supernatural. Yeah it's just super creative and it's like just a completely empty canvas and like here do whatever you want and they just went to town yeah so yeah I mean and there and there wasn't a lot of brand product placement no in an internet movie that's pretty crazy. Yeah looking at you Ralph breaks the internet I was just about to roast that son of a bitch looking at you sir God that movie is the worst corporate circle jerk I've ever seen in my life it's pretty wild but don't you all love that scene with the Disney princesses they all all the all the actresses came back for their all the voice actresses came back for their little roles isn't that fun meanwhile Jeff Bezos is getting it you know stop very inappropriate why they can't see it so you'll just have to imagine it yeah the world may never know but I feel like also when you aren't part of a big company like it kind of lets the reins loosen a little bit because you can be more creative. Like when you're part of I I can't imagine the Disney animators during this time that we're in right now are like super they feel super free to create like what you know new stuff.

SPEAKER_02 51:40

Like it's all very we're at we're at an we're at an interesting crossroads right now. So A on one hand they're chilling out to other outsourced studios for movies like Moana 2 and reaping the credit from that Jesus but on the other hand they're kind of pulling back on 3D animation a little bit and I you were kind of right that they are taking hand-drawn animation a bit more seriously now.

SPEAKER_01 52:12

I mean if they are I think that that's a good idea because they have to change it up because they have to recognize that it's not working the way it's going now they have to switch it up and they have to but you know them changing the animation style is not enough. And I know I read something I don't know if we talked about it but I read something that they brought somebody out of retirement to come back to Ron Clements. Yes and I was like I know that name and I was like okay that might be that might be useful they brought back a renaissance guy to you know so maybe but I mean on one hand he did Little Mermaid on the other hand he did Hercules and Treasure Planet which was his passion project but also yes Treasure Planet shit the bed but like watching treasure planet back as an adult it's a lot better than you probably thought it was when you were a kid so if you if you're like me and watch Treasure Planet as a kid and was like this is stupid and boring watch it again don't watch Atlantis again Atlantis is still boring no not my gay icon Milo such I'm so sorry I love Milo because he's voiced by MJF as well so I love Milo but still boring but Treasure Planet you can give another shake and be like oh this is kind of cool but yeah it I get what you're saying but I think I think that's what you need you need somebody with a a real passion project to like put their heart and soul in something instead of making frozen three like just or Moana three or whatever four Zootopia two oh god I'm scared about that because I really like Zootopia that's such a bummer oh and it's funny too because okay so I work at a summer camp with kids right and we um we had a character week so every day we would do a different character and one day we had Moana so we you know did Moana crafts and watched Moana stuff and we threw on Moana too because they all wanted to watch the second one. I'm like y'all don't understand I know what's best for you I know that's literally those things but we throw the second one and I was like these okay either the songs are trying to mimic the first movie songs that are not as good as them or it's just kind of boring and bland and I don't care. And then the whole story also boring bland and I don't care and it's but they're all popping their heads along and they're all singing the songs I'm like but then I'm like wait was this me when I was a kid because when I was a kid I loved return to Jafar and return of Jafar excuse me and like return return to Jafar that's hilarious. That's like I got this biopic or um what was it the the the third Aladdin one the King of Thieves I loved that one. Yeah or Ladding King 2 and I'm like oh god wait am I these kids like was I this when I was a kid am I not wrecking but then as an adult but I'm out but at the same time I was that kid with with uh Return to Neverland and Cinderella 2. Yeah so we both had we both had I don't know man I don't know man I don't know but yeah I mean they used to never make Disney sequels and now that's all they freaking do so I don't know I don't know. Michael Eisner may be gone but his spirit lives on forever Jesus Christ uh but I th like that's why I'm glad that we watched this and we're talking about Belle because like you know like I said it's not perfect but it's incredibly creative and incredibly filled with passion and it's you know it's got a little Disney flavor for the Disney kids you know for the for the Disney adults but like it's a perfectly lovely and awesome and heartwarming little tale. So I I appreciated it. Yeah are are we allowed to encourage Disney adults to watch this is that's still a term I mean listen the now see but it's funny because when people say Disney adult I'm like no I'm not a Disney adult because it's got such a negative connotation now. But like yeah fuck it I'm a Disney adult but it's okay. Yeah and yeah if you are an adult that likes to watch Disney movies or likes to partake in Disney stuff then yeah watch this and you'll probably have a good time because it's really fun.

SPEAKER_02 57:22

It'll give you a lot to chew on for sure.

SPEAKER_01 57:26

Yeah because it it also yeah it does make you think because it's got like the commentary and it's got the the heart tugging stuff with Susie's story and but it's also got a little like dark beauty and the beast quote unquote romance question mark stuff. That's kind of fun. So like all that's fun.

SPEAKER_02 57:47

Yeah that's fun honey yes oh god yeah I think you've pretty much taken the words right out of my mouth so there's this YouTube movie critic that the internet loves still to this day that I can't stand. Uh you probably remember his little stint as the nostalgia critic Okay go I'm ready for this go. Okay Doug Walker is the name and he was a contemporary of Lindsay Ellis who was formerly the nostalgia chick and she also did have some professional film criticism to do after she parted ways with him which I think was for the best um but as much as I dislike him one point he made during his Disney Sumber review series where he went through all the he's I'm pretty sure he's gone through pretty much every Disney piece of pretty much yeah I mean I haven't watched him in years but yeah it's fine if you don't it's okay you don't have to if I don't have to know about Brian Adams you don't have to know about Doug Walker That's great. But during that review session uh he was talking about Snow White for an episode. He he tapped into something that speaks for how I feel about Bell. He said this is a film that is entirely fueled by emotion. Logic plays very little part in it in it. And to be honest I find films like that very fascinating. They don't give you what you logically or ethically want to see they give you what you emotionally want to see unquote. So in Belle's case like I'm rooting for Suzu to feel accepted by her family and peers. I want her to continue living authentically on and offline but also technology researcher Emmy Tamaki summarized this as well. She said with everyone so influenced by the voices of others how do you face yourself and another you I like to think of this film as a kind of role model for growing up unquote I think that's very very poignant. I like that yeah but I mean like I don't want to like trigger a negativity bias because we've been really shitting on Disney these last couple episodes but like it this taps into something that my favorite Disney movies have and I didn't think any other creator other than Walt Disney could could do that.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:40

But Mamaru Hosoda he fucking did it so yeah I would definitely say that sh that's true like it you can't think about this too logically like even with the like going in and out of the internet world like it's not clear like the logic of it like how it's done like do you physically or biometrically like how does it how does it work? How do your how does your conscious like go back don't worry about it. Don't think about it too hard.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:13

It doesn't matter yeah uh I can't get over those kinds of things in a movie like Sleeping Beauty but that's a discussion for another day where did that cliff come from anyway I haven't seen Sleeping Beauty in like years. Oh god we could probably talk about a sequence at some point but okay okay I'll have to rewatch the whole movie then but that works for me but we have to we finally arrived to my final question how do you think Bell this anime movie that Disney had no hand in making kind of uh influence how the Walt Disney Studios produce films produces films to this day I don't think it does at all but it should. Yeah because like we were saying like you know it's all we should have a little more heart and a little less cha-ching cha-ching in the minds of the Disney powers that be it ain't about the cha chang cha chang ain't about the blah blah bla blang blah blah blah blang we just want to make the world dance forget about the price break it down now when music made us all unite okay I gotta stop now okay um I think it should influence them in the sense that it still has faith in people it's optimistic oh yeah sure like it is aware that people can be dirtbags online but unlike Ralph Breaks the Internet which I believe there's a section where they talk about dealing with hate comments and basically the point is to the the solution is just to like ignore whatever people say about you because you know their punctuation's incorrect or their spelling or you know but still keep pursuing that validation you know and those likes that's that's what happens when grown adults try to connect with the kids yeah in a movie yeah to be fair they they did that stuff in our generation too you know you can tell like you know whether it's a a regular Disney movie or a well no regular Disney movies in the 90s treated kids a little more like you know actual humans instead of little babies little dumb babies but like you know like Dcoms or like other 90s kids movies like you could tell most of the time that it was written by like a 40 year old white guy by a boomer trying to yeah trying to like connect with the kids and it was like no sweetie I'm so sorry go back home and now what is it the Gen Xers the Millennials they're treating Gen Z and Alpha like babies indeed it's a it's a lovely cycle anyway but yeah that was Belle everybody that was Belle everybody check it out it's on HBO Max for free yeah and it's pretty good and while I'm happy that we both watched different dubs I think it's great to watch in either format.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:15

So yeah whatever you prefer yeah but uh I guess that concludes this chapter on Disney Real to real twas fun as always being on with you good sir indeed and we made it so clean guys aren't you impressed by how clean we are guys I wasn't the one that brought up circle jerks just remember that okay other than that other than that I didn't do it I'm sorry those that's just remnants from Pride Month don't worry about it um yeah um where can people find you on your lovely little show oh my lovely little show it's called shoot the flick and we are usually posting something every single week we're posting new reviews where me and my husband show each other a new movie we just put up our Superman 2 episode to celebrate the new Superman movie um and then yeah we've got some other stuff coming down the pike that's pretty fun so yeah feel free to check that out or you can watch some fun marital spats over cinema that should be your tagline yeah that's amazing uh but as for me you can find our show at Diz Real to Real Podcast on Instagram any emails can be sent to disneyreal to real at gmail.com um we're available on YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher please listeners find me um but uh any parting thoughts before we close out um yeah don't don't poo-poo um any kind of movie or media in general just because it's in another language subtitles are a real thing and they are cool and they are there to help you and enjoy cool media that maybe you wouldn't have checked out before for sure did I just poo-poo it or what? No no I'm just saying in general okay okay yeah yeah yeah I guess I'm just saying some people might hear like an anime and be like oh god I don't watch anime but check it out don't be scared don't be scared guys don't be scaled don't be scared I'm quaking now I can't have a magical day everybody