This is no Disney mermaid, not least because the conventions of creepy in Japanese culture are very different to what would pass standards and practices in the U.S.
Lu Over the Wall(夜明け告げるルーのうた)
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Japan · 2017
Rated PG · 1h 57m
Director Masaaki Yuasa
Starring Shota Shimoda, Soma Saito, Minako Kotobuki, Kanon Tani
Genre Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Music
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Kai is a lonely, pessimistic middle schooler living in a small fishing village. Things start looking up when some of his classmates invite him to play keyboards in their band. During one of their practice sessions by the ocean, they have an unexpected visitor: Lu, a mermaid whose singing causes humans to compulsively dance.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Paste Magazine by Andrew Crump
Does the experience improve under the influence? Possibly. Then again, Yuasa’s work is effectively intoxicating on its own merits, squiggly and colorful, animation off-kilter enough to send you on a cinematic trip so long as you let it wash over you.
Los Angeles Times by Charles Solomon
Yuasa's bold imagery and sometimes convoluted storytelling defy the conventions of traditional animated filmmaking, but he is clearly an artist with an individual vision whose work offers something genuinely new and eye-catching.
The Film Stage by Daniel Schindel
It’s an energetic, frequently hilarious, always visually riveting ride.
Throughout, director Masaaki Yuasa’s imagination runs so wild that it becomes impossible to resist.
New York Magazine (Vulture) by Emily Yoshida
Lu Over the Wall...is every bit as imaginative as the rest of his body of work, but whereas previous Yuasa works would veer from ominous to outrageous to sweet to explicit to metaphysical, Lu is perfectly happy to stop at sweet. And so am I, quite frankly: Yuasa can be really good at sweet, something that’s often overshadowed by his more mile-a-minute tendencies.
The end-stretch is overlong, but the Flash animation style pops with colour, the music is fun, and off-the-scale creature cuteness abounds.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
It seemed overextended and self-conscious.
Village Voice by Sherilyn Connelly
Even by anime standards, Lu Over the Wall is best enjoyed by disconnecting your logic circuits and just enjoying the pretty colors and sounds.
The New York Times by Teo Bugbee
Lu sometimes feels more like a cynical plot device than a character. The problem is only amplified by the animation itself.
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