Napping Princess (2017)
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Napping Princess Movie Review
Napping Princess is a 2017 fantasy adventure anime film directed by Kenji Kamiyama. It is a very strong, cool anime.
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“She’s as stubborn as her father“
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Yes, this anime is very cool. By that I mean that it is refreshingly modern in its storyline. It features modern technology such as VR as well as a very important tablet which is used throughout the film. Most importantly, it explores the car industry and new self-driving car potential. It is very sophisticated, timely and fascinating in that regard. The film features a lot of high-tech gadgetry, but it is incorporated into the story and is important for the plot and not just there to impress the youth.
The film follows this girl who has to retrieve a tablet to her father but along the way she is followed and has to escape. I just loved that chase thriller aspect as the film is very suspenseful and continually entertaining in that regard.
However, the problem is that she enters a fantasy land when she falls asleep where she has powers and can change the outcome of a real-life situation. Now obviously the twist at the end relating the fantasy storyline is very interesting and I actually did dig it and it made the film very moving emotionally, but the fantasy elements are still lacking. They are never as interesting as their real world counterparts are and particularly the mecha elements felt quite uninspired.
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I liked the villains quite a bit and of course the mother is a powerful, badass female character here. The father is excellent and very important. Morio is solid, not as interesting as the rest, but I did like his interactions with Kokone who is such a likable protagonist. She is very energetic, strong and capable while also being very sweet and charming. I loved that mix. As for the toy bear, he is very cute, but unnecessary and I wanted more of him.
Napping Princess is very well directed by Kenji Kamiyama and it is so well acted across the board with each voice actor giving a strong performance. As for the animation, it is as fantastic as you’d come to expect from Japan. Those sky diving sequences are absolutely gorgeous and the various tech and gadgets are so well animated and highly detailed. The film looks cool and modern and thus I related to it quite a bit, particularly the tablet as I have one as well. The color palette is also very beautiful in the film.
The world building is impressive and the story is very well told and the film is well crafted on all fronts with particularly strong dialogue and some great themes. I loved the family drama as it was quite moving, but the technology part is very relevant and something you don’t see a lot in American film, not just animation. That made this film timely and important.
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The score is also good and of the scenes, I liked all of those scenes where they are on the run. I loved those action/chase and suspense scenes and that is where the film shined the most. But the third act is not the greatest and especially the opening is not a great hook as it featured too much exposition just thrown at the audience. Napping Princess was way too ambitious and rich in story for a feature film in my opinion and television was a better place for it.
The fantasy segments have a strong twist, but uninspired mecha elements and thus aren’t as strong as their real world counterparts in Napping Princess – an anime which is very cool, timely and relevant in its high-tech gadgetry such as tablets, VR and particularly its exploration of the car industry and the potential of self-driving cars. The protagonist is dynamic and very likable, the chase thriller elements are excellent and although the film has too much exposition and story and was thus better suited for a series, it is still a very entertaining, moving and very well crafted film definitely worth a watch.
