Summer Wars (2009)

A older movie today, well older in the sense it did not just come out on dvd or at theaters. When I was a kid I was obsessed with Digimon. They were monsters that lived inside computers, and they had tv shows, toys, card and video games. One of the movies titled "Our War Game" came out int he late 90s and was directed by Mamoru Hosoda. When released state side it was slightly edited down and put along side 2 other feature films to create the US digimon movie. Our War Game stood out from the rest of the film however. It had a much more interesting animation style and over all story then the other two. So years later when Mamoru Hosoda directed another film that was being called a much grander version of that same story, it caught my interest. I have been sitting on a copy of Summer Wars for a few years now. But my fondness for the Digimon one kept me from watching it. That may seem odd to most, but as somebody who still plays the old digimon games and watches the shows, I didn't see how it could provide anything better then what I had seen.

The story for this film is very similar to the Digimon one. A online company has created a digital world called Oz. In Oz you can do pretty much anything you could think of online. You can watch movies, play games, chat using a advance program that instantly translates speech into any language. You can buy items from any online store, you can pay your taxes and buy a car. You get the idea, Oz has grown so large that pretty much everything internet related has been attached to it in one way or another. Kenji and his friend are spending their summer working maintenance on Oz. However a girl from their school named Natsuki begs for one of them to take her up on a part time job. She needs somebody to accompany her into the country for 4 days while she visits her family. Kenji ends up going with her, unsure as to what exactly is expected of him. We find out Natsuki's grandmother is turning 90, and the entire family is trying to get together for the party. Natsuki is part of the Jin'nôchi family, a old family from back in the Tokugawa period (Samurai). It turns out Kenji was hired to play as Natsuki's fiance. The logic behind it seemed poor, but she wanted her grandmother to be happy. It sounds as if she thinks she will die soon, however she also says she will claim they broke up shortly after the trip is over.

So we have what appears to be a normal romance story with some comedic tones. However Kenji is a math wiz, and loves solving math problems. He receives a text from Oz with a few thousand numbers and is simply tasked with solving it. Thinking it is some sort of game event, he does just that. The next morning his picture is all over the news as a cyber terrorist. What he solved was the encryption to Oz, and now his account has full access to every ones user info. Who ever has taken over his account uses it to start causing wipe spread panic across the globe. Everything internet related goes through Oz. Gps system stop working. Traffic lights go crazy. Those alert buttons old people keep in their homes, they all go off. Fire alarms start ringing in around the clock, with no actual fires. The world falls into chaos as the internet is now working against us. The movie is about Kenji trying to figure out what exactly he has done, and how to fix it before to many people die.

The movie raises a interesting point. Just how dependent are we on the internet? It was neat to see how the different parties reacted to what was going on around them. Some didn't believe that what was happening was real, others tried to band together to fight the threat. But what really made the movie work, was how we had just as much time outside of Oz as we did in it. There were multiple stories going on at once, but it never lost focus on what it was trying to do. Everybody got their time to shine, and each character was fleshed out in at least some detail. For the large cast this movie had, that alone was impressive. I also enjoyed how Oz was filled with games, which allowed for them to make the computer sequences more action orientated. One of the main heroes was a champion in the Oz fighting games. His avatar was a giant rabbit who used Shaolin Kung Fu. He challenges the villian, who goes by the name "Love Machine" to a game. They then have a very over the top and well animated battle. By having Oz as the fighting ground, we are able to see them compete against the threat in a variety of ways that would not normally be present in a computer hacking movie. It all comes together in a final showdown where they essentially play a card game against the Villain while betting user accounts instead of money. It is just so absurd, but it works flawlessly in the confines of the film.

The story has its emotional moments, it has good action, and it is very touching and relatable at times. It uses the two different worlds quite well, and I enjoyed seeing the digital representations of each family member as they appeared. At its core though, this is a movie about family. We have the 20ish members of the Jin'nôchi family all helping each other out in this conflict. They are actually the ones who declare war on the Villain and give the title to the movie. The Jin'nôchi have been around for many generations, and have many different jobs in our current society. A fire fighter, a EMT, a doctor, a police officer, and more. We get to see the havoc from their perspective as they try to assist and help as many people as they can before coming together to make a final stand. It was actually quite interesting how the main Character Kenji had so little to do most of the film. Really the Jin'nôchi were the stars here, and they did most of the work while Kenji was on the sidelines.

The animation was handled by Madhouse who has a very extensive list of works. They did a wonderful job with this one. There were two very distinctive styles that differed depending on which world they were in. The world of Oz was by far the most visually impressive. Vibrant colors, and harsh shading to create a distinctive look I have not seen outside of this film. Well other then in "Our War Game". In the real world they went with a more realist approach, and subtler line work. But even that world was beautiful. The scenery shots were fantastic, and frankly I have no idea how one draws like that. Madhouse really delivered on this one. The different avatars for each of the characters in Oz were varied and unique. They presented a different look at the personality of each of the characters. Each avatar was carefully constructed to reflect each of the different people. Even all the background avatars seemed unique and interesting. The world of Oz was truly the visual highlight of the film.

A strong story, with different tales to tell. A romantic story filled with action and a few laughs. A few tears and powerful moments, mixed with very impressive animation. Summer Wars really does deliver on all fronts. If your a fan of anime, or even just animated films in general, give it a shot. I am sorry I waited so long to. While it was a very similar movie to the digimon one, it had so much more going for it.