Gekijô-ban Dôbutsu no Mori

I laughed, I cried, and I did everything in between. This movie was a sheer pleasure to watch. The musical score brought me back to simpler times of childhood and every character stayed true to form. Each with their own stories that I wish we could dig deeper into, but it is left up to the viewer. Was the plot all over the place? Yes. But thats what the game was all about and what I love about this Animal Crossing franchise. It is what you want it to be and this movie truly delivered just that. There was so much depth and I watched it at the perfect time, not only because of the New Horizons release, but as I too am searching for my "cherry pie".

Honestly I remember watching this on YouTube, back in the days when copyright issues were not a big deal then! I was thoroughly excited that a Ninetendo DS game that I have played for so long, transformed into an anime movie that is so well hidden in which I am disappointed that it didn't get fully recognised.

I thought this video game inspired movie was so colourful, had great music, good storyline and best of all, it had a good main character. It's gonna be interesting to see what the 2020 movie will bring. It's a shame this anime was hidden in the corner and completely forgotten.

Honestly to the folks who have grown up with the Animal Crossing series, definitely give this anime a shot like it felt nostalgic to my eyes!!!!

I loved this movie. Sure, it isn't exactly Spirited Away, it feels more like a TV movie, but if you're looking for a pleasant and adorable children's film, this is a lovely option. The backgrounds in the film are simple yet gorgeous, it's actually very refreshing to look at. The CG special effects blend nicely on top of the traditional animation. The animal characters are very simple & cute, and yet somehow they are quite unique and memorable. Actually that describes the whole movie. It has a feeling of childlike wonder, and it's funny too! At first, I thought I was going to be annoyed by the super-cute main girl, Ai. Judging her appearance I expected the typical squeaky airhead, but her self-reliant personality was pleasant and relatable! She is a good example for kids, or anyone.

This movie plays out more like a series of slice of life moments. I would say the plot is more about Ai's process of becoming part this new community. By working diligently, helping others, and making friends, over time she starts to feel more at home. The little fossil-finding adventures they have and the mystery of the message in the bottle might be misinterpreted as the main plot, but I'd call it the sub-plot. The real heart of this movie is the friendship that grows between Ai & Sally, it's touching and relatable.

If you like pleasant, slice of life movies, I definitely recommend watching this. It's only available in Japanese. I saw a fan-subbed version, but I hear there is a pretty decent fan-dub in the works.

While this movie is beautifully animated, coming from the games you can't give it a well plot that is exciting or at least interesting, the movie tries to go for emotional or happy moments in montages, but that doesn't really help, or have any development for the story or the characters. I would really want for the Nintendo world to have more "anime" style movies, that have a well developed plot. I feel that it will do really good for their brand, and a company as a whole, but I feel that Animal Crossing was a step in the wrong direction. They can do it, but it'll take some work.

This is an awful movie by every metric, but I am obliged to rate it at ten stars for the sake of consistency. Consistency is the critic's greatest strength after all.

Compared to Earwig, Animal Crossing: The Movie has a better understanding of children, at least a rudimentary understanding of basic filmmaking techniques, a plot with more integrity and completeness, relatively more humor, more established stakes and goals, sports a better script, understands the appropriate use and strengths of 3D CG in animation as well as a somehow more believable world which is built from animal-people and a super deformed kid.

Of course, the film still has some solid innovations that bring it to comparable levels to Earwig, like having many "flashback" sequences with scenes that have never happened in the movie. At the end of the day though, if you have enough free time to watch Earwig and the Witch, do yourself a favor and watch Animal Crossing the Movie instead.