I am a lifelong Sylvanian Families fan so have basically been waiting most of my life for a movie like this. But it is AWFUL. I cannot say how disappointed I am. Just because we are fans of a franchise that is cute and sweet, doesn't mean have zero intelligence. And yes, it's a kids movie, but that doesn't mean there's no standards. I know kids' content isn't always be exciting to adults, but come on, it generally has even slightly coherent storylines and voice actors who bring at least a little bit of power to the story. This movie doesn't have any of that. It's a load of uneventful incoherent nonsense lazily trying to be disguised as "innocence" and "idyll" to make money.
The Japanese creators fell into the trap of going WAY too overboard with the "kawaii" theme. People who don't properly appreciate kawaii think it's a perfect world where absolutely nothing happens and the characters exist solely for consumers to gush over how "cute" they are, and they'll be so busy doing this that they won't notice in the slightest if the characters have zero development or their interactions with each other don't make any sense at all. This is clearly what the creators of this movie think "kawaii" is.
But they failed to realise that NICENESS and NONSENSE are not the same thing. I love so many nice/kawaii worlds that other adults would turn their noses up at in a heartbeat, e.g. Molang, Gabby's Dollhouse, Puffin Rock because they are so nice and pleasant, but also because the characters are so well-written and the stories have (gentle) excitement and adventures that are well within the bounds of possibility of each of their imaginary universes.
The movie's storyline revolved around the theme of kindness, but it was a strange sort of kindness. In this Sylvanian universe, there was no character because the adults were too wrapped-up in old-fashioned gender-defined jobs all day and the children were either supposed to help them or keep out of the way and do their own thing. The main plotline is that Freya is stressed about finding a birthday gift for her mum, but it's way too annoying because apparently she can't just go out and buy something or make something simple: it has to be something really "special" and whenever she succeeds in making anything like that, she immediately gifts it to somebody else. There were moments of peril that didn't make any sense whatsoever, like when Freya and Ralph got blown away by the wind holding a picnic blanket and Freya fell from a significant height, or when Freya made a loud instrument that smashed all the windows and mirrors in town.
The voice acting was the WORST I have ever encountered - so flat, zero emotion, zero excitement, zero personality. I genuinely believe random people picked off the street would have performed the characters better. The characters' interactions were scripted so weirdly too. And without giving away too much of the ending, Freya's mum and dad had a special spot they liked to go to in the past, but when some trees had grew back nobody in the entire community could figure out where it was anymore?!? All the characters were seemingly deliberately given very low intellects and at times it was like they had amnesia. The creators probably think characters with low intelligence is part of kawaii too! And there was a mysterious sailor character who was really weird and said cryptic things to make the kids think and they all thought he was amazing. The closing scene was him and Freya having a conversation alone on a hill while dramatically gazing out towards Sylvania - not great dynamics for a child and adult character. And his voice was the flattest and least enthusiastic of all which really didn't help!
Plus the characters first names are weirdly chosen and likely to be unfamiliar to kids, e.g. Yardley, Frasier, Creme, etc. And unless you've been following the brand for years you're unlikely to be able to follow ho the characters are. Like towards the end they randomly brought in Freya's older sister and her boyfriend without explaining who they were - I knew who they were but only because I've spent years obsessively gazing at Sylvanian catalogues! I thought this was supposed to be a movie even the youngest of young children could follow and enjoy?
Sylvanian Families is a brand that should appreciate by now that it has dedicated fans from all age groups and cultures, and should have known how to tap into this advantage to write a movie that would appeal to young and old. Instead they've managed to produce something that misses the brief for absolutely everybody in their pursuit of perfect old-timey village idyll. Too incoherent for children AND too boring for adults. Not enough emotional value for Sylvanian fanatics AND yet too niche for newcomers. Story far too weak for drama lovers AND setting far too weak for light-heartedness seekers.
