Summer Wars (2009)
One of the most surprising and impressive Oscar nominations in recent history has to be in 2019 when director Mamoru Hosoda's film Mirai managed to get a nomination for Best Animated Feature. Since changing the voting process for the category opening voting to all Academy members, the category has overall become far more supportive of mainstream animated films with the smaller animated films that didn't get a ton of attention by general audiences getting into the nomination lineup less and less. Where Studio Ghibli has broken into the mainstream conversation enough to be a category regular, no other Japanese anime franchise managed to score a nomination until Mirai showcasing not only the power of that film but the result of a long and well-respected career from Mamoru Hosoda charming audiences with unique worlds and stories that feel completely unique. One of those films which garnered Hosoda not just a lot of attention but a lot of respect from both the anime industry and anime community was Summer Wars. Following high school student Kenji Koiso (Ryunosuke Kamiki) who gets roped into joining classmate Natsuki Shinohara (Nanami Sakuraba) on her family trip to visit her great grandmother Sakae Jinnouch (Sumiko Fuji) for her birthday. Kenji is enjoying his time when the major virtual world OZ faces a new threat, a hacker has taken control of the game and is threatening not just the game but the entire world outside the game considering the two have become so intertwined, it is up to Kenji to stop the hacker before it is too late.
For better or for worse, Summer Wars definitely feels like a Mamoru Hosoda film in nearly every way. Starting with the positives, the setting of the film is honestly breathtaking. Hosoda captures the feeling of a big family get together perfectly teleporting the audience from wherever they are viewing the film into this house in the countryside. The film captures so many different family dynamics and small nuances that it is almost eerie how honest and genuine this interpretation of a large family get together feels at times. The setting of summer is also extremely well-realized bringing the heat and atmosphere truly to life. It is this ability to inject his films with legitimately real emotion and settings that continually is the thing to stick out as the most impressive and memorable from Hosoda's filmography but it is far from what defines his career.
Where Hosoda might be close to a master to down to earth and relatable world-building and drama, it is the surprising divergence into fantasy that is where Hosoda films find their signature voice. In every film he has created, Hosoda attempts to inject a fantasy element into the relatable and grounded setting and story built. Where there have been some films where this overall works such as Wolf Children and Mirai, overall this tends to be where Hosoda's films lose their path with his earlier work especially suffering the consequences. Easily the biggest issue specific to Summer Wars is how unclear and far from logical the story is. Where the idea of a VR world getting so intertwined with how the world works creating a threat to society is interesting, Summer Wars gives the audience close to no grasp on how this relationship works and sets nearly every scene within OZ in a bizarre combat setting that fails to feel realistic or even close to being understandable at all in the concept of a game. For a concept like this to work there needs to be some basis of understanding in realism but Summer Wars feels nearly completely void of this. To really enjoy Summer Wars it is required to ignore nearly all logic and attempts to look at the film in a realistic light which a lot to ask.
Where it is far from perfect, Summer Wars feels perfectly in place in Mamoru Hosoda's filmography. It has fantastic animation and characters that bring this world and the family drama to life but immediately loses steam when it tries to bring the fantasy element to life. The action is fun and the conclusion is well structured enough to be enjoyable, but sadly the film overall fails to connect when it gets to the main story. For those who have really enjoyed Hosoda's other films and can get invested in a plot even if it makes very little logical sense, Summer Wars will probably be a perfectly enjoyable time, but if Hosoda hasn't quite connected you in the past or fantasy films that throw logic away tend to fail to connect with you then it probably is safe to skip this one despite some of the strong craft in the first half.
Where it is far from perfect, Summer Wars feels perfectly in place in Mamoru Hosoda's filmography. It has fantastic animation and characters that bring this world and the family drama to life but immediately loses steam when it tries to bring the fantasy element to life. The action is fun and the conclusion is well structured enough to be enjoyable, but sadly the film overall fails to connect when it gets to the main story. For those who have really enjoyed Hosoda's other films and can get invested in a plot even if it makes very little logical sense, Summer Wars will probably be a perfectly enjoyable time, but if Hosoda hasn't quite connected you in the past or fantasy films that throw logic away tend to fail to connect with you then it probably is safe to skip this one despite some of the strong craft in the first half.