Miraculous - Le film

Where to start? To begin with, let's look at the good parts; the animation and art was obviously SO much better than the series. The setting and characters weren't so generic and they all looked well made. Everything in this movie was so much more in depth than in the series. The art, the score (soundtrack), the animation, the fight scenes, the setting, the stakes were all so much better. Because the movie was basically an alternate storyline (parallel but not connected to the original) lots of details were changed. Now, I happened to like a lot of the changes. They showed how much more thought was put into this movie than the series. Like how the yo-yo got an upgrade and the way it operates made so much more sense. However, not all changes were for the better.

For instance, it's a ...musical for some reason..? I guess this was the creators' way of trying to make the movie more likable and trendy, but at least in the English version, the voice actors for the singing parts weren't all the same as the speaking parts and especially in Marinette it was VERY noticeable. It was like she was a completely different person! And why was the singing necessary anyway?

Music aside, the plot could have used some work. I mean, I'm a fan of the series, so my bar is already pretty low, but in a movie you expect more. Because this wasn't canon there were lots of little details that got swept under the rug and lots of stuff that just didn't make sense. Like after Marinette meets Tiki they have a whole musical conversation about how Marinette doesn't want to be Ladybug and at the end of it, all of a sudden there's a threat and the Yo-yo pulls her around the city to find it - that makes sense - but what doesn't make sense is when she gets to the location and meets Cat Noir she completely switches from "I'm not cut out for this" to "No, I'm not your sidekick, I'm Ladybug, the hero" I just...I don't know man. The movie was enjoyable to me purely for the sake of the art and the little details that were explained in a way that made so much more sense to me. They didn't go very in depth with the lore of the miraculous, but they did do a little bit more background on Gabriel and why he does these things, but the ending was so lackluster and didn't make so much sense. So...is it necessary to watch? No. Should you watch it? Probably not. But if you're obsessed with the characters and are the kind of person to look up fanart just to look at all the cute art styles, you might enjoy this movie just to see a different (slightly better) version of them.

A film based on a popular animated series in French, as someone who is not familiar with the lore, it felt very compact, easy to digest and had a good time watching it.

In terms of the cast, obviously, Ladybug / Marinette and Cat Noir / Adrien are the ones that carried the film whole through. Through sequences and their actions, Marinette is shown to be a shy and clumsy girl who continues to doubt herself due to her fears. And as the film progressed, it's very easy to connect with her. As for Adrien, he is charming and relatable because he too also has personal problems but related to his father. Knowing that they are the core of the movie, it is no doubt that they are filled with personalities and you can't help but feel their pairing - and they are made for one another. So long as they believe and work together, nothing can really stand in there way and that's what makes them worth rooting for - from teamwork, friendship and eventually love.

When it comes to the genre aspect of the film, the musical, for the most part, was surprisingly good. Granted, considering the original series was not, some may find it corny at times. But this reviewer found it to be really great to listen to. Out of the eight songs played in the film, seven if not including the show's theme song, three stood out as the best. Two were solos, one by Marinette and the other by Adrien and the third one when they sang it as a duo - which was very romantic. There is this one song though, that is so popular, it was so surprising that it was used in the film.

Animation-wise, unlike the series that has not-so-fluid animation, considering that it is a feature-length film, it is more smooth to look at alongside the voice acting that was really great as expected.

As for the story, it was able to flesh out the characters and didn't really need a lot of exposition to do so. Even though the film feels very rushed in order to get from point A to B, it's really hard not to enjoy the ride. Just to add, there were certain sequences, particularly in the second act, that felt very similar to other films such as Smurfs 2, Ghostbusters (2016) and Hercules - if you see it then you will understand. It's also nice to mention the Sailor Moon vibes such as the transformation as well as the typical villains. The final act, while it could have been a lot better and impactful, felt satisfying by the end. It could have stopped there but seems like there are plans for another film.

Overall, it's hard for this reviewer to dislike the film. It was fun, charming and an innocent film. Despite its cheesiness, the core of the film, Marinette and Adrien, just made the movie work because of their friendship and romance. As someone who is just a casual fan or have little to no idea about the lore at all, it was a really good time watching Miraculous: Ladybug and Cat Noir, The Movie.

Taking off a couple stars for Marinette's singing voice 😭😭 Why did Christina Vee not sing??? Other than that, the movie was spectacular. I was sad it didn't play into the plot line of the actual show and kind of ends on a note that suggests there will be no further movies, but otherwise, I loved it. I laughed a lot, thought the banter between characters was amazing, and can appreciate how graphically stunning it is. Bravo to everyone who worked on this. Each character was beautifully animated and captured their original animation while also greatly enhancing it at the same time. The ending was so sweet.

Myself and my kids were so so excited for this! The characters are true to the series and the villains style too. If you're a true fan of MLB then you'll enjoy. I did feel it wasn't as funny/cheesy as the series which is why I love the series so much and it does spend a lot of time on character development and the love story part. The singing was unexpected abs quite frankly annoying! Hardly any happy songs. My daughters liked the singing but I think I would've rated higher if the singing wasn't there.

On the whole an ok start to a movie franchise but hopefully more chemistry and humour in the second one.

So I'll say first off, as the brother of two younger sisters who are (along with me) huge miraculous fans, we all thouroughly enjoyed this movie. It's a heavily abridged version of the show's story, but on its own it's a great movie (with absolutely INCREDIBLE animation) and it in many ways delivers on the promises that the show has failed to deliver over the last couple years.

All that being said, I do recommend watching this movie twice: once in your own language and once in french, because this IS a musical, and the songs sound INFINITELY better in their native language.

TLDR: Good Movie!