Beauty and the Beast at the time of the metaverse: this is the new film by Mamoru Hosoda

From early childhood, I wear an unconditional love for cartoons. By the age of 5, my library was full of VHS and DVD cassettes that I could watch over and over without ever getting tired of them. At that moment, my heart was vibrating for the universe of princes and princesses, for the simple and good reason that I wanted a big wedding in a castle, surrounded by unicorns.

Growing up, I scaled back my ambitions and later developed a true attachment to Japanese animated films. Through stories and phantasmagoric creatures these films deliver real reflections on the world and society in which we evolve.

Recently, while trying to expand my film library, I discovered the anime that allowed my love for my childhood princesses to coexist in this Japanese universe that I love so much.

Beauty and the Beast version 2022

Mamoru Hosoda, founder of the famous Chizu studio, is one of the great geniuses of Japanese animation. After his participation in several very famous anime series, Hosoda undertook the production of films. In 2009 he made it Summer Wars which received the Mainichi Award for Best Animated Film. In 2012 he released The wolf children, Ame and Yukithen The boy and the beast in 2015, its goal is tooffer its audience a film every 3 years.

Last December, Mamoru Hosoda presented his new film: Beautiful. In this feature film, the 54-year-old director offers his reinterpretation of the famous fairy tale The beauty and the Beast inscribing it in our time and in the digitization it has generated.

In a universe called U, which is similar to a social network, a shy and anxious girl named Suzu decides to create an avatar and she will then become: Belle. In this virtual world, everyone is hiding behind an avatar that reflects his personality.

Passionate about music, Suzu has a real talent but following the trauma linked to the death of her mother, the teenager can no longer sing. Through her Belle avatar of hers, she very quickly manages to assert herself and become a music icon which arouses a lot of enthusiasm.

During one of his concerts, he meets a dark character. A creature called the Beast, who lives alone in a large, unhealthy castle and is considered an outcast. Suzu then embarks on a search to find out who is behind the Beast.

As in the original tale imagined by Jeanne Marie Le Prince de Beaumont in the 18th century, Belle gradually learns to appreciate and tame the Beast that everyone is trying to hunt. In addition to being punctuated by an original soundtrack performed by singer Louane, I was able to find throughout the film many other references to this fairy tale that shook my childhood.

Between the real world and the virtual world

The beauty and the Beast it has survived the centuries and its success earned him several adaptations, including animated films and plays. Hosoda Mamoru has decided to truly rewrite the story to offer him a fresh hit of metaverse saucea virtual universe in which Internet users embody avatars.

In 2022, daily life is marked by social media and in his work the 54-year-old director decides to de-demonize them completely. Hosoda Mamoru presents the U universe as a refuge for the young Suzu. A world in which to overcome one’s fears and affirm oneself through passion, singing … Social networks and technology are not presented as a danger but rather as another form of reality.

beyond the story, Beautiful deals with highly topical issues that echo in today’s world. Mamoru Hosoda evokes anxiety, death or domestic violence without falling into pathos.

The work is accessible for eight years and also allows the little ones to have elements of reflection on these issues. To form your own opinion on The beauty and the Beast Mamoru Hosoda version, Beautiful is available on DVD from 8 July 2022.