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Belle (竜とそばかすの姫, Ryū to Sobakasu no Hime, literally "The Dragon and the Freckled Princess") is a 2021 Japanese animated science fantasy film written and directed by Mamoru Hosoda and produced by Studio Chizu. The story is inspired by the 1756 French fairy tale Beauty and the Beast by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, with Hosoda taking cues from the 1991 Disney animated movie.[2]

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Belle
Theatrical release poster
Japanese	竜とそばかすの姫
Hepburn	Ryū to Sobakasu no Hime
Literally	The dragon and the freckled princess
Directed by	Mamoru Hosoda
Written by	Mamoru Hosoda
Produced by	Nozomu Takahashi Yuichiro Saito Toshimi Tanio Genki Kawamura
Starring	Kaho Nakamura Ryō Narita Shōta Sometani Tina Tamashiro Lilas Ikuta Kōji Yakusho Takeru Satoh
Edited by	Shigeru Nishiyama
Music by	Taisei Iwasaki Ludvig Forssell Yuta Bandoh Miho Sakai
Production company	Studio Chizu
Distributed by	Toho
Release dates	July 15, 2021 (2021-07-15) (Cannes) July 16, 2021 (2021-07-16) (Japan)
Running time	124 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Box office	$63.8 million[1]

The film received its world premiere on July 15, 2021, at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival,[3] where it was well-received by critics with a standing ovation that lasted fourteen minutes.[4] The film was additionally dubbed into foreign languages (English and German). It was released theatrically in Japan on July 16, 2021. GKIDS has licensed the film in North America, with a nationwide release date of January 14, 2022,[5] and previews in select IMAX theaters on January 12,[6] while Anime Limited released the film in the United Kingdom on February 4, 2022.[7][8]

Belle is the third-highest-grossing Japanese film of 2021, accounting for ¥6.53 billion in box-office rakings as of December 12, 2021.[9][10]

Plot

Suzu Naito is a seventeen-year-old high school student who lives in the rural Kōchi Prefecture of Japan with a lost passion for singing and writing songs. As a child, she witnessed her mother rescuing a child from a flooding river at the cost of her own life, causing her to resent her mother for "abandoning" her for a stranger's child. The event led to her growing distant from her father. She remains in contact with a group of older choir teachers who were her mother's friends. She is alienated from most of her classmates, with the exception of her childhood friend and self-appointed protector Shinobu Hisatake, on whom she has a crush; popular girl Ruka Watanabe; sportsman classmate Shinjiro Chikami, nicknamed Kamishin; and her genius best friend Hiroka "Hiro" Betsuyaku.

On Hiro's suggestion, Suzu signs into the popular virtual metaverse known as "U" and creates a beautiful avatar with freckles she names "Bell", the English translation of her own name, Suzu. Upon logging into U, she finds herself capable of singing again. With the assistance of Hiro, who has appointed herself Bell's manager and producer, Bell becomes a big hit and people start to refer to her as "Belle", which means "beautiful", in French.

During one of Belle's concerts, an infamously strong and near-unbeatable user called "The Dragon" (or "The Beast") ruins the concert. This prompts a vigilante group named the Justices, led by the self-righteous Justin to begin hunting the Dragon, accusing him of disturbing the peace of U. Using a specialized program, Justin plans to unveil the Dragon's identity to the public. Suzu feels intrigued by the Dragon and begins to gather information about him. She discovers that he is popular amongst children, who consider him to be their hero, particularly a shy boy named Tomo who was in the news following his mother's death. Belle searches U for the Dragon and is led to the Dragon's hidden castle by a mysterious angel avatar. She meets the Dragon and his five guardian AIs. Belle and the Dragon grow close. In the real world, Ruka confides to Suzu that she likes Kamishin. With Suzu's help, the two confess their feelings.

In U, Justin captures and interrogates Belle and threatens to unveil her identity to the world if she refuses to cooperate. The Dragon's AIs rescue Belle but their intervention allows Justin and his group to locate the Dragon's castle and destroy it. The Dragon flees before Belle can help. Suzu and Hiro work to find out the Dragon's real identity before Justin can and warn him. They find a live video feed of Tomo singing a song only Belle and the Dragon know, and realize that Tomo is the angel avatar, and his older brother Kei is the Dragon. Kei and Tomo are being abused by their father. Kei's anger in protecting Tomo is what gives The Dragon his unbeatable strength in U. Suzu contacts Kei to help but Kei does not believe that she is Belle. Shinobu, Ruka, Kamishin, and the choir teachers reveal their knowledge of Belle's true identity and urge Suzu to sing to gain Kei's trust. Suzu unveils herself to the world in U and begins to sing. Seeing this, Kei decides to trust her and tries to contact her again. But Kei's father sees the video of his abuse posted online and cuts off the internet connection before Kei can tell Suzu their address.

Using context clues, Ruka and Kamishin deduce that Kei's hometown is Kawasaki, Kanagawa, near Tokyo. Since the authorities cannot intervene on abuse charges until 48 hours have passed, Suzu locates Kei and Tomo on her own and protects them from their father. The next day, Suzu returns home; she and her father warmly greet each other at the station. Shinobu praises Suzu for her bravery and decides she no longer needs his protection, feeling free to pursue the romantic relationship he has always wanted with her. Finally understanding her mother's selfless actions, Suzu comes to terms with her mother's death and is ready to sing with her friends.

Voice cast

Character	Cast
	Japanese	English[11]
Suzu Naito / Belle	Kaho Nakamura[12]	Kylie McNeill
Dragon / Kei	Takeru Satoh[13]	Paul Castro Jr.
Suzu's father	Kōji Yakusho[14]	Ben Lepley
Hiroka "Hiro-chan" Betsuyaku	Lilas Ikuta	Jessica DiCicco
Shinobu "Shinobu-kun" Hisatake	Ryō Narita	Manny Jacinto
Shinjiro "Kamishin" Chikami	Shōta Sometani	Brandon Engman
Ruka "Ruka-chan" Watanabe	Tina Tamashiro	Hunter Schafer
Justin	Toshiyuki Morikawa	Chace Crawford
Okumoto	Fuyumi Sakamoto	Ellyn Stern
Jellinek	Kenjiro Tsuda	Andrew Kishino
Swan	Mami Koyama	Noelle McGrath
Muitarō Hitokawa / Tokoraemaru	Mamoru Miyano	David Chen
Kita	Michiko Shimizu	Jessica Gee George
Yoshitani	Ryoko Moriyama	Barbara Goodson
Hatanaka	Sachiyo Nakao	Martha Harms
Nakai	Yoshimi Iwasaki	Wendee Lee
Suzu's mother	Sumi Shimamoto[15]	Julie Nathanson
Kei's father	Ken Ishiguro	Kiff VandenHeuvel
Peggie Sue	ermhoi	Cristina Vee

Production

While Studio Chizu worked on the project, they had help from veteran Disney animator and character designer Jin Kim and Michael Camacho on the design of Belle and studio Cartoon Saloon for the background work of the world of U.[16][17]

Hosoda initially intended for Belle to be a musical, but considered the idea difficult due to Japan not having a culture of making musicals. However, he still wanted music to be central to the film, so he searched for a protagonist that could sing. He stated that he preferred the same person doing both speaking and singing voices to make it convincing, and searched for a singer who could express their feelings though song and move people, even if they don't understand Japanese. He then found Kaho Nakamura, whom he considered relatively unknown, but a perfect choice for the role. Hosoda stated that Nakamura was also involved in writing lyrics, so she could feel the lyrics she was singing.[18]

Soundtrack

Belle (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Soundtrack album by Various artists
Released	July 30, 2021
Recorded	2020–2021
Studio	Victor Studio, Bunkamura Studio, Studio Tanta, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan Abbey Road Studios, London, UK
Genre	Film score J-pop Anison emo pop[19]
Length	76:52
Language	Japanese, English, German, Latin
Label	Studio Chizu Sony Music Entertainment Milan Records (international)
Producer	Taisei Iwasaki
Studio Chizu chronology
Mirai: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2018) Belle (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021)

Track listing

Reception

Box office

Belle is the third-highest-grossing Japanese film of 2021, accounting for ¥6.53 billion in box-office rakings as of December 12, 2021.[9][10]

In the film's U.S. opening weekend it made $1.6 million from 1,326 theaters, and a total of $1.8 million over the four-day Martin Luther King Day holiday frame.[20][21] The film dropped out of the box office top ten in its second weekend with $570,213.[22] The film was released on May 17, 2022 on DVD & Blu-ray by GKids (through its distribution partner Universal Pictures Home Entertainment).[23]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 95% of 114 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 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."[24] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 83 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[25] American audiences polled by PostTrak gave the film an 86% positive score, with 63% saying they would definitely recommend it.[26]

At the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, the film received a 14-minute-standing ovation.[27][28] Joe Morgenstern wrote for The Wall Street Journal that "There's too much plot for the film to manage, but its heart, and sumptuous art, are so firmly in the right place that its appeal comes through sweet and clear."[29] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times praised the visual quality, character development, worldbuilding, and called the film "unfailingly touching."[30] Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times praised the visuals and story, writing "It’s a tale as old as time and as newfangled as TikTok, in which the virtual world, though packed with fantasy and artifice, can bring startling truths to the surface."[31]

Accolades

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.

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
Detroit Film Critics Society	December 6, 2021	Best Animated Feature	Belle	Nominated	[32]
Chicago Film Critics Association	December 15, 2021	Best Animated Feature		Nominated	[33]
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards	December 18, 2021	Best Animated Film		Runner-up	[34]
Florida Film Critics Circle	December 22, 2021	Best Animated Feature		Nominated	[35]
San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle	January 10, 2022	Best Animated Feature		Nominated	[36]
Austin Film Critics Association	January 11, 2022	Best Animated Film		Nominated	[37]
		Best Voice Acting/Animated/Digital Performance	Kaho Nakamura	Nominated
Crunchyroll Anime Awards	February 9, 2022	Best Film	Belle	Nominated	[38]
Annie Awards	March 12, 2022	Best Animated Feature — Independent	Belle	Nominated	[39]
		Outstanding Achievement for Animated Effects in an Animated Production	Ryo Horibe, Yohei Shimozawa	Nominated
		Outstanding Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production	Mamoru Hosoda	Nominated
		Outstanding Achievement for Writing in an Animated Feature Production		Nominated
		Outstanding Achievement for Production Design in an Animated Feature Production	Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, Alice Dieudonné, Almu Redondo, Maria Pareja	Nominated
Japan Academy Film Prize	March 11, 2022	Animation of the Year	Belle	Nominated	[40]
		Outstanding Achievement in Music	Taisei Iwasaki, Ludvig Forssell, Yuta Bandoh	Won
VFX-Japan Awards	March 2022	Excellence Award - Animated Theatrical Film Category	Belle	Won	[41][42]

References

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Belle at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Belle at IMDb

На других языках

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- [en] Belle (2021 film)

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[ru] Красавица и дракон

«Красавица и дракон» (яп. 竜とそばかすの姫 Рю: то собакасу но химэ, букв. «Дракон и веснушчатая принцесса») — японский анимационный научно-фантастический фильм 2021 года, снятый Мамору Хосодой по собственному сценарию и спродюсированный Studio Chizu[en] (приурочен к 10-летию студии). История вдохновлена ​​​​французской сказкой 1756 года «Красавица и чудовище» Жанны-Мари Лепренс де Бомон, а Хосода заимствовал реплики из диснеевского анимационного фильма 1991 года[5].

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