Belle

Belle (竜とそばかすの姫, Ryū to Sobakasu no Hime, translated as "The Dragon and the Freckled Princess") is a 2021 Japanese anime, coming of age, sci-fi, fantasy film directed by Mamoru Hosoda. It was release on July of 2021 in Cannes International Film Festival and its release in Japan the day after.

Why It's Now or Never

 * 1) The idea of a quiet girl who lost her voice after the death of her mom and then sing again in a virtual app is pretty interesting. Not only that, using Beauty & the Beast without it, technically, being Beauty & the Beast is pretty amazing.
 * 2) As expected for the same company that animated Wolf Children, the animation, which often switches between 2D in the real world and 3D in the world of U, was so beautiful to look at.
 * 3) Songs like U, Gales of Song, Lend Me Your Voice and A Million Miles Away were outstanding, addictive to listen to and were written amazingly.
 * 4) Suzu is a very likable and relatable protagonist.
 * 5) The scene when Shinjiro and Ruka confess each other in the train station is hilarious.
 * 6) The idea for the world of U is pretty amazing. Think of the Oasis from Ready Player One but in a different way. Instead of one just creating their avatar, which are called "AS" in the movie, it's created for them and is based off of one's biometric info.
 * 7) The themes for the movie is not just love but also abandonment and abuse, which the movie tackles pretty well instead of it just being an outright joke like some bad movies tend to do.
 * 8) Justin is a pretty good antagonist for Suzu in the world of U while her thoughts about her mother abandoning her due to dying also makes a good antagonist for the real world.

The one bad quality

 * 1) The avatars that Suzu's comes across when she first steps into the world of U were pretty unlikeable due to the fact that they were outright being mean when Suzu was enjoying the fact that she can sing again and going as far as to even hate the freckles on her avatar's face.

Reception
Belle received positive reviews from critics, standing at a 95% from 114 critics, with the average reviews at a 7.9/10. The website's consensus reads, "A remarkable story brought to life with dazzling animation, Belle finds writer-director Mamoru Hosoda setting a brilliant new benchmark." Metacritic assigned the film a score of 83 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". The movie received a 14-minute standing ovation at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. Belle became the third-highest-grossing Japanese film of 2021, accounting for ¥6.53 billion in box-office rakings as of December 12, 2021.

Acolades
The film has received five Annie Award nominations, including one for Best Independent Animated Feature. Its total makes it the most nominations for a Japanese anime film ever at the awards, surpassing previous films Spirited Away, Millennium Actress (both 2001), and Weathering with You (2019) with four.

Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taUowbke2T0