The Red Turtle Review 

In stormy seas, a shipwrecked man is cast onto a remote tropical island. He finds himself alone and occasionally experiencing delusions, so he sets about building a raft to leave the island. But something – or perhaps someone – doesn\'t want him to leave, as his rafting efforts keep getting thwarted by what he eventually discovers is a red turtle. There\'s an awful lot more to this turtle than initially meets the eye, and he may well have found a companion for a lifetime.

The Red Turtle a true anime movie may be dubious, since it\'s a co-production between

, directed by Dutch-British animator Michael Dudok de Wit, who won the 2000 Academy Award for best animated short. On top of that, the bulk of the staff isn\'t Japanese. However, it does have Ghibli luminaries

listed in the credits as a producer and artistic producer respectively, so Ghibli\'s prominent involvement is enough to warrant attention from the anime fan base.

Nevertheless, you shouldn\'t go into this film expecting it to look like a traditional Ghibli project – or even many anime at all, for that matter. The fairly simple character designs, which feature only black dots for eyes, show a more decidedly Western design influence. Background and setting designs aren\'t lavish either, but whether bamboo forests or a pool in a crevice, they are still rich enough in detail that they seem reminiscent of real locations. The color scheme is uniformly drab, but that\'s fitting, as vivid coloring would have been deeply out of place in this story. The real treat is the smooth animation effort, which results in some truly remarkable scenes in both slower and grander moments; one scene involving a tsunami is a stand-out, but the movie speaks volumes with simpler things like body language.

The film\'s ability to communicate through action and body language is particularly important, as this is a movie essentially without dialogue. The main character does shout a few times – either “hey!” or a cry of frustration – but he otherwise communicates entirely through movement. Of the two other characters who eventually appear, one never utters a sound and the other only does some shouting and laughing. However, nothing ever feels like it\'s missing for the lack of dialogue. These characters don\'t need names, and nothing really needs to be said in most cases. Call this an exercise in minimalism if you like, or perhaps an object lesson in how needlessly verbose human communication can sometimes be. Complementing this is a fully orchestrated musical score, which delivers a consistent light touch except for a couple of more tense scenes.

The story is much more basic. Taken at face value, it could be looked at as a variation on Robinson Crusoe, but it doesn\'t spend much time at all on the minutiae of how the protagonist learns to survive on the island. It just assumes that food is readily available enough and the protagonist has at least rudimentary knowledge on how to take advantage of his surroundings. There\'s a vague implication that he eventually figures out how to make his own clothes from the carcass of a seal, but given that his clothes look exactly like the ones he started out with years later, the story is clearly ignoring most petty concrete details. The focus is much more on the broader picture of how he comes to accept life on the island and how time flows both for him and the turtle over the long haul. It is poignant and, at times, heartbreaking, despite few scenes depicting intense danger. It\'s also as complete as such a story can be, with the actions of the island\'s crabs seeming to suggest that things will run their natural course.

At this time, the movie is only available for purchase or rental via

. Its purchase does come with substantial extras, including a full commentary track with the director, 74 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage, and a 21-minute Q&A session from the AFI Fest. It can be downloaded in 720p, streamed in 1080p, and has Portuguese, Spanish, and English subtitles available. Its only spoken language is technically English, but since there\'s essentially no dialogue, dubbing isn\'t really a factor here.

for the Academy Award nomination. I can definitely see why it was selected, as it is a very well-crafted movie likely to appeal more to the Oscars crowd, and it has already been nominated for or won a number of critics\' awards. But whether it\'s a better movie will definitely come down to personal taste. While The Red Turtle definitely has its own appeal and both are quality productions,

was more compelling and emotional for me; I would be more likely to watch it again than The Red Turtle.

+ Exquisite use of action and body language largely negates the need for dialogue, great animation

− Ignores some practical issues too much, choices for some dream sequences are incongruous

It\'s every nerd parent\'s conundrum - how and when do I introduce my kids to my hobby, and more importantly, WHAT do I show them? Justin has a few ideas. ― Jason asks: I\'m a new father. While I will be limiting screen time for my child, at some point I will be inclined to let her watch cartoons. A joy for me, as a child, was seeing adapted anime series that were brought to America. Rediscovering show...

Gabriella Ekens explores a world of old-school monster girls in this overlooked harem comedy. Plus, all this week\'s new releases and a Vocaloid-tastic Shelf Obsessed! ― For some reason, I\'ve been on a mid-2000s anime comedy kick recently. It started off with a few episodes of School Rumble, and has progressed into Cromartie High School now that I\'ve unearthed my old DVD set of that series. Not every...

Theron Martin takes a look at this unique creation from Studio Ghibli and French animation studio Wild Bunch that snatched the Oscar nomination from Your Name. How does it compare as an experience? ― Calling the 2016 Academy Award nominee The Red Turtle a true anime movie may be dubious, since it\'s a co-production between Studio Ghibli and the French studio Wild Bunch, directed by Dutch-British anima...

The spotlight pulls away from Bell and Hestia just enough to spotlight other characters\' feelings on god/mortal love in this relaxing volume of DanMachi. Theron Martin has the details. ― At 394 pages, the eighth novel of the main DanMachi storyline is the longest novel of the series released in English to date. Rather than using a continuous narrative, it operates within the loose framework of the at...

The List - 6 "Bad" Endings that Were Actually Fitting

Your favorite characters die, the world ends, the bad guy wins - but you wouldn\'t have it any other way. Here are 6 times the "bad ending" was the best ending. ― Ask and you shall receive! As you might be able to tell from this week\'s column title, this was the most requested List topic from last week\'s poll and it was a bit of a doozy. There are two main paths for a bad end to follow to make it int...

Major plot points are revealed in the densest novel yet of this increasingly good fantasy series. ― With this seventh volume of Aneko Yusagi\'s increasingly good fantasy light novel series, we at last begin to not only establish a larger plot beyond “summoned heroes save the world,” but also begin to learn some of the secrets behind what\'s been happening with the Waves, the heroes, and all of the ench...

The Spring 2017 Anime Preview Guide: Simuldub Edition

The Spring 2017 Anime Preview Guide Simuldub Edition has begun!

Available Now: Tsukigakirei - Alice & Zokoru - The Royal Tutor - Suka Suka - Seven Mortal Sins - KADO: The Right Answer - Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor - Love Tyrant - Attack on Titan Season 2 - My Hero Academia season 2 ― Welcome to Anime News Network\'s Spring 2017 Preview Guide! Here\'s how it goes: our team of critics wr...

Zac, Jacob and special guest Lynzee take your questions on convention culture, long-running anime, giant DVD collections, franchise fatigue and much more! ― ANNCast Episode 295 - The Sacred Scrolls of Wall Zac, Jacob and special guest Lynzee take your questions on convention culture, long-running anime, giant DVD collections, franchise fatigue and much more! You can listen to the show on our player ...

There isn\'t that much yaoi anime out there, but what there is rarely ever gets dubbed into English - why is that? Justin gets into it. ― DL Warner asks: I see this lament on every Page or Blog dedicated to BL every time there is a new BL Anime simulcast. Why isn\'t BL ever dubbed? Is it because there is more of a stigma in the West for Voice Actors to do Gay roles? Or is it more of a money issue? BL ...

Living Swords and Pretty Boys: What Is Touken Ranbu?

It\'s a hugely popular mobile game, a manga,and not one but TWO anime series - but what exactly IS Touken Ranbu? We interviewed the men behind the phenomenon to find out. ― Tōken Ranbu

caught my attention in the last few days of 2014 as an obvious response to the popularity of DMM\'s other title,

. The trend of turning inanimate objects into attractive characters was just hittin...

Goblin Slayer and his party head out to the Water City to deal with a very unusual infestation in this second volume of the unique fantasy light novel series. ― It\'s official – the rogue adventurer known as Goblin Slayer has acquired a party. While this is fairly normal within the realm of standard fantasy, particularly when it takes on the flavor of a role-playing game, tabletop or otherwise, the fi...