BELLE is a 'Beauty and the Beast' anime for the TikTok era

“Who’d guess that Belle’s user is really a mousy nobody?”

This past weekend saw the release of BELLE, the latest animated feature from Japanese anime house Studio Chizu, known for their incredible anime films such as WOLF CHILDREN, SUMMER WARS, and THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME.

BELLE is a hyper reinterpretation of Janne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s iconic fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast” for the VR / TikTok crowd, and has a lot to say about healing from tragedy, confronting child abuse, the pitfalls and positives of the internet age, and – of course- falling in love.

The film follows Suzu, a 17 year old in the idyllic Japanese countryside who lost her mother at an early age and has been unable to sing or play music since. One day, Suzu registers for the wildly popular virtual world known as “U” where she begins to sing- free from the shackles of the real world- and becomes a viral over-night sensation known by her username “Bell”, which the users of U add an ‘e’ too for Belle, French for ‘beauty’.

Now the most popular user on U, Belle is set to perform at a lavish online concert when the event is crashed by a beastly user known as “The Dragon”. This seemingly terrifying foe captures Suzu’s attention and she finds herself drawn to him, despite his reluctance to open up to her and his violent temper that causes him to push her away.

Soon, Suzu and The Dragon are being hunted throughout U and Suzu realizes that The Dragon’s live may be in danger in the real world as well.

BELLE is, like the aforementioned films from Studio Chizu, visually breathtaking. I got the chance to see it at the AMC in Stillwater, marking my very first time seeing an anime film like this in theaters and it did NOT disappoint.

The film is dubbed with voice talents including newcomer Kylie McNeill and Paul Castro Jr. as Suzu and The Dragon as well as Hunter Shafer, Chace Crawford, Wendee Lee, and Barbara Goodson.

I absolutely loved the film, and it is infectiously joyous as much as it is shockingly depressing. There are some seriously heavy moments here that allow the film to be open for discussion by families who might see it expecting a colorful Japanese version of “Beauty and the Beast”.

BELLE updates the “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” ideology from the classic story of Beauty and the Beast for the internet age and uses it to great effect and with a surprisingly optimistic message that the internet might bring out the worst in people, but it can bring out the best in us if we let it.

In the film’s climax, during Belle’s final performance, the animation and spectacle of it was jaw-dropping. Literally one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in my life.

The raw talent powering Studio Chizu might be giving storied Japanese anime-house Studio Ghibli a run for their money soon, especially with recent hits like SUMMER WARS and now BELLE.

BELLE is an important film for kids and families, and it really a masterpiece of animation. Highly HIGHLY recommended.