Recently travelled overseas. On the way there, I watched a Japanese film starring Hiroshi Abe (Thermae Romae) and a princess-themed Hollywood movie (Snow White and the Huntsman). On the flight back, I watched another Japanese film starring Hiroshi Abe (Cheers from Heaven) and another Hollywood princess movie (Brave).

Thermae Romae (2012)

• 3 stars (out of 4)
• An ancient Roman bathhouse architect gets magically and repeatedly transported to modern-day Japan; and a somewhat parallel story about a manga artist he encounters there.
• Best parts were the fish-out-of-water scenes. Great camera work and expressions on Hiroshi Abe. Makes you appreciate the wonder of modern devices, but also pokes fun at the silliness of some of them. Hilarious!
• Waaay too much censorship in the modified version that I saw; even a nude painting was censored!
• Some parts at the end may have dragged on a little longer than necessary, but I might have just been starting to get tired at that point.

Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)

• 3 stars (out of 4)
• Thankfully, not really about romance at all. Really about Snow White’s plight to free her people from the tyrannical rule of her stepmother, the queen.
• Elements from the original fairy tale were mainly cursory. For example, there didn’t need to be seven dwarfs, but hey, this is “Snow White”, after all.
• Small airplane monitor didn’t do justice to the special effects.
• Great nuanced performance by Charlize Theron as Queen Ravenna
• Great costuming on Snow White. Even though Kristen Stewart spent the movie grimy and tattered, her clothes looked really good!

Cheers from Heaven (2011)

• 3 stars (out of 4)
• Based on a true story.
• Bento caterer suddenly decides to build a music studio for the local high school kids, borrowing money and volunteering his own time and effort. Basically, one hell of a random act of kindness.
• Well, there are no special effects, so it isn’t necessary to see this on a theatre screen, but it is well-executed, with solid scripting and acting and an uplifting message to boot.

Brave (2012)

• 2 stars (out of 4)
• Some superficial similarity to La storia della Arcana Famiglia anime – a princess wants to participate in the contest for her own hand in marriage.
• The original marriage issue resolved relatively easily, though. This film turned out to not really be about romance either! Like Snow White, it’s actually about the conflict between mother and daughter; except, of course, in Brave they are learning to understand each other, not trying to kill each other…
• Many scenes in the second half were so dark that I couldn’t see anything on the small airplane monitor. Admittedly, that might have contributed unfairly to my low opinion of the movie.
• Maybe I expected too much from Pixar, but I found the whole film to be mainly a yawn. Merida was a pretty good heroine, but there was nothing particularly original or amusing here.