Welcome to the Space Show, big scale, grand visions, too long

Welcome to the Space Show is a Japanese anime science fiction film that is appropriate for all ages.   It’s anime, set against a science fiction story that has massive visions and almost gets there, almost.  Welcome to the Space Show has some of the most gorgeous animation that I’ve ever seen.  For a solid hour every scene has something fascinating, new and wondrous on it.   Even outside of that hour the film is visually stunning, but there are a couple elements that keep me from really recommending it.

 

Welcome to the Space Show concentrates on five elementary school kids who are on summer vacation.  On a walk through a field they find a dog whose is injured.  They were on that walk to find a lost rabbit-remember this plot point because it factors in all the way through the movie.

Once the dog, Pochi, is feeling better, he reveals himself to be a talking alien from another world.   The group takes off on a tour to the dark side of the moon  where an intergalactic party is happening.  This is where the magic of Welcome to the Space Show starts.

The colors, different styles of animation and all out creative craziness are on full display for the next hour.  Have you seen Wreck It Ralph?  I loved how effectively they contrasted the different video game styles in that movie.  The depth, attention to detail  and love that go into some of the shots are magical.

Welcome to the Space Show – Now Playing! from GKIDS on Vimeo.

The film is so Jaw droppingly beautiful at points you’ll forget about the plot.  The plot moves at a very quick pace, almost too quick, when they go up to space.  The dark side of the moon, flights to Earth cancelled, Pochi is really a professor, a group of baddies who are after a secret source of power-thankfully said power source is wasabi and one of the kids has some in their bag.  I’ll skip over some of the other plot turns because therein lies the problem with Space Show.

It’s too long.  At 136 minutes it’s about 25 minutes too long.  There is also the very odd recurring story of the lost rabbit and how it’s dividing the friendship of two girls.  That plot point would be worth accepting, especially since this is a family film; however, you’ll be hard pressed to find a family with young children who will sit through a movie this long.  All of this is ironic because Pochi, the dog has great facial emotions.  Ironic because anime typically has characters with weak or inexpressive facial movements.

Adults, especially those that like anime will like Welcome to the Space Show, but will still be aware of the plot weaknesses and long running time.   It’s worth checking out if nothing else for the amazing visuals, just fast forward through bits of it.  The film comes to Blu-ray on November 11.  We received a copy for review, all thoughts are our own.