The Ni No Kuni games are widely regarded as wonderful packages of inspiring gaming. With various interesting and riveting story lines, complex yet smart combat, great style and longevity, these games have a lot to offer. Coming from a strong base, we get an anime adaption of the world of Ni No Kuni, but neither of the specific stories from the first or second games. This is for the best; it fits the length of a film very well and shows how great the universe as a whole Ni No Kuni can be.
The movie starts out with three friends who are enjoying normal, everyday life. Two of them are dating and the other loves being around his friends, but clearly longs for more. One day, the young lady gets hurt, and a series of other events occurs, sending the boys into a fantasy world with many alien things, but people and connections still seem oddly similar. They slowly unfold a larger plot of evil that connects directly to the real world. They must find power within and courage to save both worlds.
This movie really was great from start to finish. The voice acting in Japanese and English are both great. The animation is very reminiscent of a Studio Ghibli film, along with a number of CG things added in. The story was well-paced and pretty interesting throughout the whole runtime. It wasn’t a revelation of storytelling or filled with super memorable characters, but it is a fun movie for sure. The universe of Ni No Kuni has a very specific set of rules that connects the two worlds: real and magical. I was happy to see the film take full advantage of that from foreshadowing at the beginning and the big reveal at the end.
There were a couple of instances when very CG particle effects were used to make certain things like smoke, those really looked odd and foreign in the film and were more bad than good. Also, I found that the main antagonist didn’t have well-deserved motivations or was well enough explained.
Considering all of this, Ni No Kuni could have been a half baked disaster, only being partially as good as the games before it. But it is clear the writers and animators put a lot of work into the film to deliver a worthy continuation of the Ni No Kuni universe with a great story, good animation, and fun ties to the games.
