When "Suzume" released in 2022 (and globally in 2023), Makoto Shinkai was one of Japan's most popular contemporary anime directors, a fantastic rise from his independent start almost exactly two decades prior. After the success of his recent movies "Your Name" and "Weathering With You," everyone was eagerly looking forward to his next to round out this modern thematic trilogy. Perhaps not surprisingly, it's box office is on track to almost match, and perhaps beat, his previous record holder of "Your Name."Of course I admire Shinkai and his work, but I wasn't super excited in "Suzume." For one thing, simply naming the title after the lead character is a dull choice compared to the titles for his other movies. Instead of excitement, I was curious. I knew very little going into the movie, and the film's marketing seemed to raise more questions than answers about the synopsis. I knew it involved a girl, a doorway, and some theme regarding "saying goodbye" according to early interviews. It sounded vaguely like a redo of "Children Who Chase Lost Voices From Deep Below," his ambitious but flawed 2011 attempt at fantasy, after previously sticking with science-fiction and romance. Sure enough, "Suzume" has most in common with "Lost Voices" and "Weathering With You," but with the upbeat audience-pleasing tone of "Your Name." Perhaps most importantly, it's heavily inspired by recent earthquakes and natural disasters that took place in Japan in the last decade. Not knowing much about the movie helped a little in that I had no idea where the movie would be going next, which helped keep my attention. One of the reasons "Suzume's" marketing had trouble conveying the story might be because of how complex or strange that story is. Suzume is the lead, a high-school student under the care of her aunt, as her mother died when she was a child. She still recalls dreams of getting lost while searching for her missing mom. On her way to school, Suzume comes across a stranger that looks like someone from her dream, and then comes across a door standing in the middle of a flooded ruined area. This magical door happens to be a gateway to another realm, and Suzume accidently opens it, allowing a great invisible force to escape. The force's massive size and weight is the cause of great earthquakes in Japan, and the stranger, Sota, is tasked to shut the doors to prevent calamity. Feeling responsible, Suzume joins him on a road trip to shut multiple doors. Actually, that's simplifying things a bit. The key (called a "keystone") Suzume accidently unlocks comes alive as a mischievous white cat, who immediately runs away, and they cannot KEEP all the doors shut until they capture the cat to fulfill its duty again. The cat seems to have no intention of going back, and quickly turns Sota into a small living chair, like a "Beauty and the Beast" background character. So Suzume and the walking, talking chair travel across Japan to track the cat, with both the cat and walking chair gaining attention on social media (allowing them to follow the next city the cat goes to). Every day or so, the pair see the invisible demon giant rising out of a spot where a new door is located - the fear in Suzume's eyes is powerful, as she alone realizes how soon and how devastating an earthquake could hit, and how many deaths could occur. So they run to find the door, lock it (temporarily), rest for the night, and follow the cat's trail the next morning. Basically, this is a road-trip movie.The story's framework allows for some fun and excitement, but was a little banal for Shinkai. It felt like a series of fetch-quests, delaying story progression (such as confirming if the cat is an ally or deliberately seeking humanity's destruction, or hints of a dark fate for one of the heroes) in favour of Suzume bounding with strangers that help her along the road. At two hours long, this is the longest film from Shinkai to date, and probably could have been cut down a bit. 
But the strangest part for me was where the movie ultimately led, and how it ended. The theme of "saying goodbye" was subtly present from the beginning, but becomes much more present only in the last quarter of the story. At first, it seems like a character trying to overcome and move on (against their will if necessary) the tragic outcome. This is consistent with the theme of "Lost Voices." Or perhaps the heroes would defy tragedy, no matter the cost, like "Weathering with You." With earthquakes and real-world disasters in Japan at focus, this could have been a poigniant resolution. But no... at risk of spoiling the movie, "Suzume" is granted a happy ending with seemingly no bad effects, diminishing the strength of the themes. Or rather, the individuals who do suffer for the happy ending are ignored and forgotten about quickly, making unanswered questions about them all the more glaring. For a movie that was otherwise so confident in its directing style, perhaps moreso than any prior works, the last act feels like a rare misstep for Shinkai. Where "Suzume" does succeed is in those moment-to-moment scenes of laughter and comfort with characters, friends and strangers, each from different walks of life, each helping each other in kindness. Most of whom are strong women. While not essential to the plot, these moments are important to the experience of the movie and Suzume's growth. This is a teenage girl's coming-of-age story rather than a pure romance or fantasy. In that way, titling the movie after the girl was probably more appropriate than I thought. The production quality of Shinkai's movies are always a standout, and "Suzume" delivers on that front, if only out of habbit. Backgrounds are detailed. There's more use of 3D camera work and animation, but never in a jarring way (on the contrary, it allows for some exciting action shots). But compared to the shiny candy-coated sunsets of prior movies, "Suzume"'s color and set design feels more tame and grounded. Even the character designs feel bland and less inspired. For the first time, it feels like the visuals were an afterthought to the story, instead of the other way around. You're still getting some of the most skilled digital 2D animation Japan can output, but it makes me appreciate Shinkai's previous movies all the more. The band Radwimps is credited with music again, although they only provide one vocal track, in the end credits - the recurring vocal theme called "Suzume" is sung by a female artist, with a pleasant and ominous Irish-hymn melody. Unlike the more recent movies, there aren't really any vocal songs during the film, so the score is a little bit more traditional. The English dub provided by Crunchyroll is solid, especially in a few more emotional moments. The licensing to Crunchyroll (previously Funimation) is interesting, as Shinkai's catalog has now bounced across nearly every anime distributor, most recently GKIDS - the lack of award nomintations from GKIDS as they persued more anime licenses probably affected their reputation, encouraging "Suzume" to go to the highest bidder with Crunchyroll and Sony. "Suzume" is still a very complex and competent movie that will probably please the average moviegoer looking for the next anime blockbuster. It's interesting, well-directed, and the background knowledge of Japan's history with earthquakes will elevate its meaning further. But it's also lacking some of the boldness and originality that Makoto Shinkai previously had. "Suzume" feels like a step towards making a movie for the sake of it, like it came off an assembly line. Hopefully, he finds more doors to open for inspiration.