DVD Corner

Summer Wars DVD Review

“Summer Wars” is a bit overlong and over-the-top, but the film is unique and visually compelling.

At the start of the feature length anime film “Summer Wars,” viewers are introduced to the online system known as Oz. In Oz, users take on an avatar as they conduct business and play everything from games to online sports. Basically, Oz has become another form of the internet for virtually everyone in the world.

The story then switches to a young dorky math wiz with no self confidence named Kenji who is invited to join a young girl named Natsuki for a family reunion of sorts out in the country for her great grandmother’s birthday. Upon arrival, Kenji learns that he was invited under false pretenses and that Natsuki wants him to pretend that they are engaged. To make matters even more complicated for Kenji, he winds up solving a mysterious code he was sent that actually causes the online system of Oz to be hacked into by a super intelligent A.I. With Oz hacked, everything is thrown into chaos as everything from traffic lights to train schedules is controlled via Oz. Now, Kenji finds himself in even bigger trouble with the law and Natsuki’s family. Can everything be resolved?

I realize I could have gone into more depth about the A.I. and the consequences of Oz being hacked, but I didn’t want to reveal any spoilers. Part of the fun of watching “Summer Wars” is seeing how it all plays out. The other primary reason that makes ‘Summer’ fun to watch? The animation. While the animation in the real world is pretty ordinary, the visuals inside Oz are stunning to say the least. Everything from the avatars and environments to the action and colors made me want to press pause and watch those sequences frame by frame because they were that impressively vivid, detailed, and rich. There are so many visuals here that I have never seen before.

As far as the story goes, I was a bit mixed on it overall. While the Oz element was gorgeous and intriguing, I found the family/character drama storyline to be a bit underwhelming. I didn’t much care for any of the characters as they all overreacted or were mostly pretty one note (since there was so many of them). Only Kenji, Natsuki, the grandmother, and the mysterious uncle Wabisuke had developed characters, but I didn’t really connect to any of them. It didn’t help that the family’s connections and actions were so over-the-top and unbelievable at times that it takes you out of the story. Still, I recognize that the ensemble cast of characters was the heart of the story and their storyline works in the context of the actual plot. I just wish they were stronger characters.

Summary: “Summer Wars” is worth checking out just for the 3D animation in Oz alone.

Video/Audio:

The widescreen picture quality is top notch. The animation outside of Oz is pretty traditional looking, but the animation side of Oz is eye popping. I am curious to see what this film looks like on Blu-ray.

This disc contains both English and Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 audio tracks. The English dub is so-so as the voice acting is hit-and-miss. Personally, I recommend the Japanese track as the voice acting is superior all around.

Extras:
* 4 double sided art cards.
* Trailers for “Eden Of The East: The King Of Eden,” “Black Butler,” “Kenichi,” “Dragon Ball Z Kai,” ‘Rideback,” “Hero Tales,” “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood,” “Spice And Wolf,” ‘Soul Eater,” and “Evangelion 2.22”.
* 5 TV spots, 1 teaser TV spot, original trailer, and 2 teaser trailers for “Summer Wars”
* Interviews with director Mamoru Hosoda and voice actors/actresses Sumiko Fuji, Ayumu Saito, Mitsuki Tanimura, Nanami Sakuraba, and Ryunosuke Kamiki. The voice actors/actresses talk about the characters they voice, auditions, the film, doing voiceover work, etc. The director chats from the Locarno film festival about audience reaction, his other films, film fests, etc.

March 6, 2011 - Posted by nicklyons1 | DVD review | Summer Wars DVD Review