This is a fun action adventure that resonates because it doesn’t glamorise everything. You feel a warmth after watching it, as there’s something in its depiction of imperfect, loving family relationships that stays with you.
Napping Princess(ひるね姫~知らないワタシの物語~)
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Japan · 2017
1h 51m
Director Kenji Kamiyama
Starring Mitsuki Takahata, Yosuke Eguchi, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Rie Kugimiya
Genre Fantasy, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Science Fiction
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Kokone is a student studying for her university entrance exams in the not-so-distant future. While this sounds perfectly doable, Kokone is struggling to stay awake long enough to actually get any studying done. What's more, she receives mysterious visions in her dreams that hint at long-hidden family secrets.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Los Angeles Times by Charles Solomon
Inventive and imaginative, Napping Princess confirms [Kamiyama] as one of the most interesting writer-directors working in Japanese animation.
The Hollywood Reporter by John DeFore
Kamiyama, a vet of the Ghost in the Shell franchise, brings plenty of sci-fi genre ingredients to what at times might look like a Miyazaki coming-of-age adventure. Though occasionally lopsided, the mix works well.
As reality and fantasy blur, we’re taken on an occasionally confounding but enchanting quest with poignant reveals in store.
It starts feeling fairly mechanised itself, every clank of those boysy Transformer knock-offs further drowning out its wistful heroine.
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