Akane
and her friends pass through a basement portal to enter this fantastical realm,
but it is definitely cut from the same cloth as other classic YA fantasies
featuring looking-glasses and wardrobes. Maybe it feels a little familiar, but
everything looks amazing in Keiichi Hara’s anime feature, The Wonderland (a.k.a. Birthday
Wonderland), which had its North American premiere at the 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival.
Akane
is a junior high student who has not been acting particularly social or
ambitious lately. To perk her up, her mother sends Akane to pick up her own birthday
present from Chii, an eccentric friend of the family, who runs a mysterious
curio shop. However, even Chii did not know there was portal to another fantasy
world in her basement, until Hippocrates the alchemist pops out of it.
Convinced
Akane is the reincarnation of The Goddess of the Green Wind, Hippocrates drags
her to his world, so she can perform the ritual of renewal the absent prince
appears determined to blow off. Without the ceremony, the lands will dry out
and the color will be drained from the world. That might be okay with Zan Gu,
the steampunky Dr. Doom-esque villain, who has been plundering metal from the
countryside to smelt down for his nefarious plans. Of course, Chii tags along,
because she is adventurous and always on the look-out for unique new merch for
her store.
Hara’s
previous film was the outstanding Miss Hokusai, but while Wonderland
matches the visual lushness of that film, it does not connect as deeply on an
emotional level. Hara and screenwriter Miho Maruo adapted Sachiko Kashiwaba’s
beloved children’s novel, but the story itself proceeds like a mix-and-match of
tried-and-true fantasy elements.
Still,
Wonderland is worth seeing—and we do
mean seeing—because of Hara’s grand spectacles and his neat little details. The
sheep who look like gigantic cotton balls are sure to be favorites of younger
viewers (ours too). The distinctive character designs created by Russian expat
artist Ilya Kuvshinov definitely differentiate Wonderland from other anime, but their personalities are not as
strongly delineated.
