18 reviews
It is a pretty solid mash of romance and drama with sci-fi. I usually fall asleep in romance movie or find those movies a bit hard to watch with all the lovely-dovely stuff like the Twilight movies. But in this case, I was entertained because this movie actually moves on a brisk pace and kept me in suspense.
The story: Riisa Naka acts as a goofy but cute girl, Akari whose mother had an accident. She is being told to travel to the year 1972 to convey a message to someone her mother likes. Well, the travelling antidote helps her to travel through time. This movie is not supposed to be realistic so suspend your belief because later when the slight twist is revealed as the mystery person whom Akari's mother wants her to tell him a message finally appears, it will become a little far-fetched. Anyway, during the time finding the mystery guy, Akari slowly falls in love with a director, Ryota who helps her and lets her stay in his house. The story is predictable, but the movie moves in such a brisk pace with suspense that I would not mind but to go along with Akari's adventure. Riisa Naka does a pretty good job in acting like goofy but cute girl with some priceless moments. And she has a likable face too. I can't wait to see her in Zebra man 2.
Overall: It is a pretty entertaining Japanese movie. No idea where all the negative critic reviews in Singapore come from but this movie may entertain if you are willing to suspend belief and go along with the adventure. It may be bashed up by blockbusters in Christmas but it should be worth a watch on DVD.
The story: Riisa Naka acts as a goofy but cute girl, Akari whose mother had an accident. She is being told to travel to the year 1972 to convey a message to someone her mother likes. Well, the travelling antidote helps her to travel through time. This movie is not supposed to be realistic so suspend your belief because later when the slight twist is revealed as the mystery person whom Akari's mother wants her to tell him a message finally appears, it will become a little far-fetched. Anyway, during the time finding the mystery guy, Akari slowly falls in love with a director, Ryota who helps her and lets her stay in his house. The story is predictable, but the movie moves in such a brisk pace with suspense that I would not mind but to go along with Akari's adventure. Riisa Naka does a pretty good job in acting like goofy but cute girl with some priceless moments. And she has a likable face too. I can't wait to see her in Zebra man 2.
Overall: It is a pretty entertaining Japanese movie. No idea where all the negative critic reviews in Singapore come from but this movie may entertain if you are willing to suspend belief and go along with the adventure. It may be bashed up by blockbusters in Christmas but it should be worth a watch on DVD.
This sequel to the terrible 1983 movie The Little Girl Who Conquered Time has many of the flaws of its predecessor. They both look like inexpensive TV movies (although TV movies look better than they did in 1983), and they both have saccharine scores. But while the 1983 movie moved at a crawl and was headache-inducing in its stupidity, this movie has a lively pace and more interesting characters,and is considerably less absurd.
Unlike the 1983 movie or the excellent 2006 animated film that was also a sequel to the original story, Time Traveller does not involve a teenager hopping around through time. Instead, it involves a teenager making one hop, to 1974. The movie has some familiar 70s fashions, but a lot of the 70s details went over my head, I suspect, because I have no idea what Japan looked like back then.
What makes the movie stand out in spite of its poor production values is how the characters' emotional lives were brought out so sharply and affectingly. The movie has likable characters and they have relatable problems.
By most of my criteria for film making, Time Traveller is at best mediocre. But it's one of those B movies that somehow work, creating a better experience than should have been possible. I'm not saying it's a must see, but it is a very likable little film.
Unlike the 1983 movie or the excellent 2006 animated film that was also a sequel to the original story, Time Traveller does not involve a teenager hopping around through time. Instead, it involves a teenager making one hop, to 1974. The movie has some familiar 70s fashions, but a lot of the 70s details went over my head, I suspect, because I have no idea what Japan looked like back then.
What makes the movie stand out in spite of its poor production values is how the characters' emotional lives were brought out so sharply and affectingly. The movie has likable characters and they have relatable problems.
By most of my criteria for film making, Time Traveller is at best mediocre. But it's one of those B movies that somehow work, creating a better experience than should have been possible. I'm not saying it's a must see, but it is a very likable little film.
I thought the pacing of this movie was a bit slow, but it was still pretty entertaining. It was almost like 3 movies mashed into one, being that there are three main focuses. The young woman who stars as the main character desires to find a mysterious man from her mother's past, find her father, and pursue a romantic interest simultaneously. The thing is, it manages to focus on all of these plot lines succinctly and fully rounds out the characters. The only the thing I would note is the relatively low production quality and often cheesy special effects. I would say it's more of a great work of storytelling rather than a great work of cinematography.
I saw this film as part of the "Imagine" film festival 2011 in Amsterdam. It was announced as a (start quote) moving live-action comedy about time travel and impossible loves (end quote). All of those qualifications being true, the overwhelming number of paradoxes, inconsistencies and impossibilities come in the way of fully enjoying the story. Maybe I was prejudiced, having seen the much better film "The Door" (Anno Saul, 2009) that same afternoon, also having time travel as its main ingredient.
The human drama elements compensate a lot of these problems. Those will carry the story for the full two hours that this film takes of your time. It is precisely where the words "moving" and "loves" in the announcement stand for. It will entertain a broad audience.
The net result was that I never got bored. But I had mixed feelings nevertheless, while imagining how a script like this could be turned into something more acceptable in the technical sense. I have no solution handy, however, and maybe we should leave this as an exercise for the reader.
When leaving the theater, I gave a "satisfactory" score for the public prize competition. The SF lover in me was annoyed by the many impossibilities in the story, but the overall result was nevertheless entertaining with several hilarious as well as some moving moments. I'm sure it will attract the average viewer. You can take your complete family with you to enjoy this film, but you should leave your geek nephew at home since he will spoil the afternoon while pointing out at least 30 time travel paradoxes.
The human drama elements compensate a lot of these problems. Those will carry the story for the full two hours that this film takes of your time. It is precisely where the words "moving" and "loves" in the announcement stand for. It will entertain a broad audience.
The net result was that I never got bored. But I had mixed feelings nevertheless, while imagining how a script like this could be turned into something more acceptable in the technical sense. I have no solution handy, however, and maybe we should leave this as an exercise for the reader.
When leaving the theater, I gave a "satisfactory" score for the public prize competition. The SF lover in me was annoyed by the many impossibilities in the story, but the overall result was nevertheless entertaining with several hilarious as well as some moving moments. I'm sure it will attract the average viewer. You can take your complete family with you to enjoy this film, but you should leave your geek nephew at home since he will spoil the afternoon while pointing out at least 30 time travel paradoxes.
- net_orders
- Nov 15, 2016
- Permalink
This is the fourth version of Toki o kakeru shojo (Girl who leaped through time) that was made for the big screen, and is truest to being the continuous story to the movie by the same title made in 1983 starring Tomoyo Harada as Kazuko Yoshiyama.
Akari Yoshiyama (Riisa Naka) is the daughter of Kazuko Yoshiyama (Narumi Yasuda). Kazuko is the original girl who've leaped through time 38 years ago in 1972. Although Kazuko's memory was erased about the incident, she still subliminally remembers about Kazuo Fukamachi (Kanji Ishimatsu). One day Kazuko falls victim to an automobile accident, and becomes comatose. Akari decides to leap back to the 1970s to find Fukamachi to help her mother.
Although the story follows the original movie well, the production is rather coarse and details and the visuals of each scenes are crude, lowering the visual experience of the entire movie. Maybe it's because this is the debut feature length movie for director Masaaki Taniguchi. Compared to the original that was directed by the great Nobuhiko Oobayashi, the production falls short in almost all details. I wish the casting was better as well ( except for Riisa Naka). The actors just don't catch the mood of the movie - it's supposed to be a bitter sweet romantic movie, but I just couldn't get any romantic feelings from the actors.
I give this version 4.5/10, and hope that someone will remake this version with quality that matches the original 1983 version.
Akari Yoshiyama (Riisa Naka) is the daughter of Kazuko Yoshiyama (Narumi Yasuda). Kazuko is the original girl who've leaped through time 38 years ago in 1972. Although Kazuko's memory was erased about the incident, she still subliminally remembers about Kazuo Fukamachi (Kanji Ishimatsu). One day Kazuko falls victim to an automobile accident, and becomes comatose. Akari decides to leap back to the 1970s to find Fukamachi to help her mother.
Although the story follows the original movie well, the production is rather coarse and details and the visuals of each scenes are crude, lowering the visual experience of the entire movie. Maybe it's because this is the debut feature length movie for director Masaaki Taniguchi. Compared to the original that was directed by the great Nobuhiko Oobayashi, the production falls short in almost all details. I wish the casting was better as well ( except for Riisa Naka). The actors just don't catch the mood of the movie - it's supposed to be a bitter sweet romantic movie, but I just couldn't get any romantic feelings from the actors.
I give this version 4.5/10, and hope that someone will remake this version with quality that matches the original 1983 version.
- DICK STEEL
- Mar 27, 2010
- Permalink
Owning the book and having heard nothing but good things about this 2010 version, I just had to sink my fangs into the movie, so I bought it from Amazon.
And now having seen it, I am somewhat dumbfounded. The movie is long, very, very long and it takes forever to get almost nowhere, and that was a drag. It was a battle to sit through this movie, and I think I dozed off once actually. That being said, then don't get me wrong, the movie is not bad, far from it. The story told in "Time Traveller: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" was really good, captivating and interesting. The story really swept me up and I got immersed into it right away, it was just a shame that the movie took so long to get almost nowhere.
The cast in "Time Traveller: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" were good enough, people did good jobs with their given roles, though this is far from the best performances I have seen in Japanese movies.
I sincerely doubt that I will be putting this DVD on a second time, because it was too much of a struggle to get through.
And now having seen it, I am somewhat dumbfounded. The movie is long, very, very long and it takes forever to get almost nowhere, and that was a drag. It was a battle to sit through this movie, and I think I dozed off once actually. That being said, then don't get me wrong, the movie is not bad, far from it. The story told in "Time Traveller: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" was really good, captivating and interesting. The story really swept me up and I got immersed into it right away, it was just a shame that the movie took so long to get almost nowhere.
The cast in "Time Traveller: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" were good enough, people did good jobs with their given roles, though this is far from the best performances I have seen in Japanese movies.
I sincerely doubt that I will be putting this DVD on a second time, because it was too much of a struggle to get through.
- paul_haakonsen
- Feb 23, 2012
- Permalink
Watched this movie on Netflix streaming a couple of weeks back! fantastic movie!!
The plot is fairly straight-forward - scientist mother invents a liquid that enables time-travel. She has an accident and is in near coma. but she asks the daughter for a favor and the daughter has to go back in time to fix it. Except that the daughter goes back in time to the wrong year.
How the daughter still manages to fix things for her mom is the rest of the story.
I can't really find fault with anything in the movie - except for maybe the overall concept of time travel. It was shot really well and when I connected the dots, it was like "whoa" - that's awesome!
The plot is fairly straight-forward - scientist mother invents a liquid that enables time-travel. She has an accident and is in near coma. but she asks the daughter for a favor and the daughter has to go back in time to fix it. Except that the daughter goes back in time to the wrong year.
How the daughter still manages to fix things for her mom is the rest of the story.
I can't really find fault with anything in the movie - except for maybe the overall concept of time travel. It was shot really well and when I connected the dots, it was like "whoa" - that's awesome!
- vsrinidhi-rao
- Apr 5, 2013
- Permalink
I know one of the other reviews commented that it moved at a brisk pace but I have to disagree; there are just too many scenes that are dragged out. It's a two hour movie that could have been cut by a half an hour. Plot was nothing to write home about; nothing really happens that wouldn't have happened in a standard romance. There definitely wasn't any mind boggling concepts of time travel. Many missed opportunities that the time travel concept lends itself to. I did like the female lead, she definitely carried the movie; the male lead character was very shy, very common in real life but rather boring in a movie. This movie reminds me of a Saturday afternoon special movie.
If you pass on this movie your life would be no worse off.
If you pass on this movie your life would be no worse off.
- turbodieseloaner
- Jan 27, 2013
- Permalink
The live action version of "Toki wo kakeru shoujo" is lots of fun, and it can stand on its own, even if you haven't watched the anime version.
The story is simple enough. Akari's mother is doing some secret research. When she has an accident, she tells Akari that it is a time traveling formula, and asks her to go back in time and find a boy she knew from high school. Akari goes to her mother's workplace and drinks the formula, even if she doesn't really believe it will work. But then she finds herself in the past. But things are not as they should be...
"Toki wo kakeru shoujo" is a charming movie, that has a not overly complicated plot, but very interesting characters, with whom it is easy to fall in love with and care for. The acting is quite good, and brings the story close to the viewer. You will care for Akari and the people she meets in her time traveling adventures. It is actually difficult to make a story fascinating, but everyone involved in this movie makes it feel easy. It is a little bit slow in some moments, specially close to the end, but that is not much of a problem when you don't want to see those characters leave you.
Totally worth watching.
The story is simple enough. Akari's mother is doing some secret research. When she has an accident, she tells Akari that it is a time traveling formula, and asks her to go back in time and find a boy she knew from high school. Akari goes to her mother's workplace and drinks the formula, even if she doesn't really believe it will work. But then she finds herself in the past. But things are not as they should be...
"Toki wo kakeru shoujo" is a charming movie, that has a not overly complicated plot, but very interesting characters, with whom it is easy to fall in love with and care for. The acting is quite good, and brings the story close to the viewer. You will care for Akari and the people she meets in her time traveling adventures. It is actually difficult to make a story fascinating, but everyone involved in this movie makes it feel easy. It is a little bit slow in some moments, specially close to the end, but that is not much of a problem when you don't want to see those characters leave you.
Totally worth watching.
- tenshi_ippikiookami
- Oct 28, 2016
- Permalink
This came as a disappointment to me. I like time-travel films, as a rule, but TIME TRAVELLER was too kitschy for me to suspend disbelief. The CGI is amateurish, almost as bad as the Ed Woodish movie-within-a-movie depicted in the story line. Riisa Naka is wonderful as the 18-year-old leading character, an adorably buoyant teenager who is also able to register true anguish when the situation demands. Worst of all, for me, was one scene that seemed to be mistakenly edited in from another film entirely. It involves Akira's first meeting of hippie cameraman Hasegawa"Gotetsu" Masamichi (Aoki Munetaka). All of a sudden, this family-friendly movie is discussing a hard-on/boner and using the word sh!t, right in front of sweet Akira. What in the world was the director thinking here? That killed it for me, and I lost all respect for TIME TRAVELLER's endearing sense of innocence. The movie is not disastrous, but neither would I recommend investing more than two slow hours of your lifetime to it.
I had seen a preview of the movie and had it on the wish list. I finally had some time and decided to watch the movie.
At first, I thought I made a mistake as it started with Japanese racing much faster than the sparse English subtitles. There was background sound that did not match the pictorial scenes. For the first ten minutes or so I was sure I made a mistake. Then the movie and the acting and the story started to show through. I completely forgot that I was reading subtitles. I started kibitzing. Many stories are very transparent and you can anticipate the next step. This one was fresh at every turn.
A woman (Narumi Yasuda) who invents a time travel liquid finds herself in a coma from an accident. She gains consciousness just long enough to send her teenage daughter Akari Yoshiyama (Riisa Naka) on a mission from 2010 to 1972 to hold a chemistry student Masamichi Hasegawa (Munetaka Aoki) to his promise. Through some mishaps and a series of coincidences, we get a much more intricate story than just time traveling. The well-done ending even though surprising could not be any other way.
At first, I thought I made a mistake as it started with Japanese racing much faster than the sparse English subtitles. There was background sound that did not match the pictorial scenes. For the first ten minutes or so I was sure I made a mistake. Then the movie and the acting and the story started to show through. I completely forgot that I was reading subtitles. I started kibitzing. Many stories are very transparent and you can anticipate the next step. This one was fresh at every turn.
A woman (Narumi Yasuda) who invents a time travel liquid finds herself in a coma from an accident. She gains consciousness just long enough to send her teenage daughter Akari Yoshiyama (Riisa Naka) on a mission from 2010 to 1972 to hold a chemistry student Masamichi Hasegawa (Munetaka Aoki) to his promise. Through some mishaps and a series of coincidences, we get a much more intricate story than just time traveling. The well-done ending even though surprising could not be any other way.
- Bernie4444
- Apr 27, 2024
- Permalink
When you start on the foundation of a classic, well-known anime and then fail, that's a double-disappoinment for viewers.
This movie is okay, but underwhelming, with an especially lackluster and anti-climactic ending. Acting by the main character is excellent, but the directing somewhat cliche all the way through. This takes the form of yet another (yawn) time travel movie, without anything exceptional to make it stand out. Thus the 5-star "mediocre" rating.
This movie is okay, but underwhelming, with an especially lackluster and anti-climactic ending. Acting by the main character is excellent, but the directing somewhat cliche all the way through. This takes the form of yet another (yawn) time travel movie, without anything exceptional to make it stand out. Thus the 5-star "mediocre" rating.
- mchgothmog
- Oct 12, 2021
- Permalink
I like this live action version much more than the anime version. The story is much better and has a strong nostalgic feeling to it. It is also very touching. The music are very good too.
I watched this mostly to not watch a Hindi movie. I've become obsessed with Hindi movies and I really thought I needed to go watch some other cinema too.
I ended up really liking it.
It started out poorly. I didn't really like the character and the point of it and plot seemed really thin. But I stuck with it and was rewarded with a very satisfying movie.
The movie is well acted. The plot twists - unseen, but then obvious.
It is an odd movie, but it works. It wasn't what I expected, but that's OK. I ended up enjoying it anyway. And it made a nice break from Bollywood and helped to remind me that other countries are also making movies worth watching.
I ended up really liking it.
It started out poorly. I didn't really like the character and the point of it and plot seemed really thin. But I stuck with it and was rewarded with a very satisfying movie.
The movie is well acted. The plot twists - unseen, but then obvious.
It is an odd movie, but it works. It wasn't what I expected, but that's OK. I ended up enjoying it anyway. And it made a nice break from Bollywood and helped to remind me that other countries are also making movies worth watching.
- jen-122-636160
- Oct 1, 2014
- Permalink