Posted on Tuesday, May 01, 2007 9:54 PM
For as long as time travel has been in the mind of man, the desire to travel through time, and in doing so prevent or correct any mistakes you made, has been there as well, but will most likely never come true. It is the product of fantasy in books, comics and films, but instead of just giving ourselves over to the dream of time travel and enjoying it, we’d all rather go looking for the inevitable contradictions contained in those fantasies. That's rather odd, don't you think?
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time however, is able to shut up even the biggest sceptic. As soon as you see the 17-year-old Makoto, you can’t help falling in love with her. She's clumsy, but it doesn’t bother her and all the little accidents she has are quite funny.
But things seem to turn sour when Makoto's brakes give way while cycling downwards on a steep hill and she finds herself flying in front of a rapidly approaching train. Fortunately, there appears to be a time rift right at that moment, as she is thrown back a couple of seconds into the past, just long enough to avoid the disaster.
When Makoto discovers that she's able to do Time Leaps, she uses her new-found ability to its fullest, only to work herself deeper and deeper into trouble.
The Girl who Leapt Through Time is a Japanese animation, directed by Mamoru Hosoda, who almost would have directed Howl's Moving Castle.
Fortunately, Miyazaki did that in a splendid way, so we can enjoy this film as well, as it really is one to enjoy and will be making it to my collection, rather sooner than later.
Cheers, K.