Mune: Guardian of the Moon

Mune was a visually stunning adventure of epic scale. Set in a whimsical world, the sun and moon are controlled by their respective guardians. As the time comes for new guardians to be selected, the boasting and brawny Sohone is selected as the new guardian of the sun. In an odd twist of fate, the reluctant Mune is selected as new guardian of the moon. This film features a very beautiful world, filled with all kind of creatures and fauna. Both the day-dwelling and night- dwelling creatures are very distinct, building a very rich, interesting world. The story is very easy to follow and features a huge cast of distinct, interesting characters. We see practically every corner of this vast world, from the bright, stony land of the day-dwellers to the luscious forests the night-dwelling creatures live in. It's very clear that a colossal amount of creativity was put into this film, and it offers a fantastic visual experience. What definitely surprised me most about this film is that it features several scenes rendered in 2D animation. It is a style you see very little of in mainstream animated films, and was a nice change indeed. This is a great movie for animation buffs like me, and those who love whimsical adventures as much as their children.

There's something nice about being able to pull up Netflix and stumble upon little films that I would have otherwise never heard of. This one in particular had caught my eye a while back, so I finally got around to watching it, and for the most part, I enjoyed what I saw. From the thumbnail and synopsis, I expected that the movie would have some nice visuals and a bland story; to my pleasant surprise, it did have both of those but also had a heaping ton of imagination and creativity.

Mune's strongest point has got to be the world it takes place in: this place is completely alien to our own and yet is entirely believable. The film features such a thorough world and mythology that I assumed it was based on an existing TV or book series, but it is in fact a completely original story. I won't go into detail on what all it is about, as discovering each little feature along the way is a wonderful experience.

The movie is originally in French, but Netflix's English dub is seamless, and this in no way feels like a foreign film. I'd also like to point out that the score was written by Bruno Coulais, who also scored Coraline and Song of the Sea.

Aside from the strengths I pointed out, though, Mune is fairly generic. The story beats and characters are what you'd expect for this sort of movie. Although I did enjoy Nicole Provost's spirited performance as Glim, the voice cast is for the most part nothing special. There's a mischievous guy who's unsure of himself, an arrogant dude who learns to help people, etc., and each character sounds the part without adding anything special.

With that said, I would like more movies in a future franchise to see how they expand on and dive into all that they've set up. If there aren't any sequels, though, I'll still be able to remember Mune as a happy little accident I had while browsing Netflix.

Animation - All around the animation in this movie is just beautiful. All the different visuals and ideas in this movie are just wonderful. This is worth watching just for the appearance alone.

Story - This is a movie that is full of brilliant concepts, but they don't all tie into each other very well. The pacing is all over the place. Maybe if the movie was longer or had a better script it could've worked better. The only version I could find was with the English dub, and not the original though. Maybe some of it is more interesting in the original and maybe the story flows smoother, but based on the length of scenes I doubt it. The story isn't terrible, just a bit disjointed and generic at times.

Characters - This movie is a bit light on the character development. It probably could've spent more time on developing any of the characters. Honestly one of the biggest problems with this movie is that it is way too short.

Glim - (this bit might contain spoilers) Glim is a character whose concept is more interesting than her personality. She is a person made of candle wax that melts when too hot and freezes when too cold. Its kind of a cool idea. The problem is, she is completely unnecessary. Glim combines two of the tropes I hate the most - completely bland an unnecessary love interest, and the fake-out death. She could've been removed from the story completely (along with those "comic relief" demon things) and nothing would've been changed. The only reason I can see for why she is in the movie is so that there is a female character. If the movie really needed a female character though then why not make one of the guardians a girl?

7.75 of 10. Stylistically and in terms of the quality of animation and imagery, one of the best recent cartoon films. The story is pure fantasy and works as sort of new a fairy tale clearly for children but with various themes that make it enjoyable for everyone in a family and certainly safe enough for kids to enjoy alone.

The deeper messages of the story involve the complexity of the universe and the benefits of working positively with one another as opposed to alone with minions doing your bidding under the threat of your power. The other ongoing message is a softened version of curiosity killing the cat. Curiosity here is both good and can get you into serious trouble, as can over confidence, arrogance, and too much power.

The story and cartoon is all woven together, as is the cartoon within the cartoon. It also makes beautiful use of new voice actors as opposed to relying on stars. It deserves to catch on as an underground classic that the critics and production corporations failed to identify and properly distribute.

It is so refreshing to find an original story beautifully and simply told without being overblown. It avoids many of the Disney clichés with regards to evil villains who are simply "boo" fodder, sidekicks who are there only to provide comedy relief etc. Instead we have characters who are flawed rather than being simply good or bad. It is almost Zeussian in its weirdness, but the fantasy all adds to its gentle charm.