I’ve finally finnished the last of the 4 main Mamoru Hosoda films that are out as of the writing of this review (please more) and unfortunately I believe that Summer Wars is his weakest work. With that being said however, I still think it is a strong will with some strong elements and a satisfying conclusion that should leave you entertained at the very least. The story basically follows the battle between a recently created A.I. and Kenji Koiso, and his newfound friends/family. The A.I. has an incredible thirst for knowledge, and so it begins to absorb user accounts to this mega-cyber-structure known as Oz; this structure just so happens to be used for just about every single computer authorization system throughout the world, and your account in Oz is basically your identity; it’s like your Social Security Number on crack. For some reason the A.I. also decides that it must act against humanity, and it seeks to cause a nuclear disaster by hurtling a satellite out of orbit and into a nuclear power plant using one of its stolen account’s authorizations. In full, my biggest complaint about the film would be the lunacy of it all; all large major world entities using the same security system, and A.I. built solely for the purpose of hacking, reconfiguring itself to suddenly have it out for humanity, and also the sheer simplicity of the cyber-structure’s security system. The premise is ridiculous, but that doesn’t keep the film from at least being entertaining, although I do feel it had some elements that, if explored, would have made the film better than it was, but that’s not what the film is. Now, onto the parts of the film that make it actually pretty good and decent. First off, the romance that the film throws in there is actually pretty well done, and ends on a very satisfying note, and with enough complications—and interesting ones at that—that it was very enjoyable to watch unfold. The progression of the conflict, while sometimes painful, was still fun to watch develop. The soundtrack was great to listen to, and the animation for the film was absolutely outstanding; especially the way in which CG was utilized, which made the film look even better, and I’m usually someone that hates CG. This film was enjoyable during its run, but I wouldn’t say was was anything spectacular, something enjoyable to watch for a few hours, but nothing that’ll really make you think or feel, and because of this, I give this film a:
7 out of 10.
Laethas's Anime Blog 