A Play on Nerds Review
http://www.aplayonnerds.com/nerd-writings//patema-inverted-anime-revie w-by-verse
"Cotton Candy.
That’s right, we’re going to start off this review talking about cotton candy. Sweet and fluffy clouds of deliciousness, cotton candy is a perfect treat for those days at the carnival. But if you ever try to satisfy your hunger with it, you’ll find that you just can’t. Matter of fact, eat too much and you’ll probably end up sick. Why? Because there’s no substance. Just a fleeting taste of sugar…and then nothing. Unfortunately, Patema Inverted is much like cotton candy; scattered with brief instances of sweet innovation, but ultimately lacking in texture.
Patema Inverted tells the story of two worlds separated not only by opposing laws of gravity, but by laws of politics restricting passage between the zones. Patema, a curious young girl who lives underground, finds herself accidentally “falling” down into the world above (or below?). Soon after, she meets Age, who after rescuing her from falling into the sky, works with her to find out how the two worlds became separated, by gravity and law.
The film’s biggest strength is definitely in its setting and how it uses gravity to show off some incredible and creative shots. You can tell that director Yasuhiro Yoshiura had a lot of fun messing with our perspective of the universe, playfully flipping camera angles upside down and right side up so we understand just what our protagonists see. When Patema is afraid of falling into the sky, Yoshiura flips us upside down so we truly feel the fear as she does.
As interesting as this outlook is, however, it’s simply underutilized. For such a unique and interesting idea, the misuse of it just made me want more, and disappointed me that there wasn't. Not a frame of inverted action that you’d almost expect out of a concept like this (a la the hallway fight in Inception), and only a few occasions of inventive and decent laughs.
Patema Inverted is further mired by its pacing and slow plot progression. Even when things did start to move, the overabundance of exposition and narrative hindered any steps that the story started to take forward. Coupling that with the cliché anime trappings of melodrama and over exaggerated reactions to the simplest things, I found my patience wavering.
It’s so regrettable that a film with such an interesting premise found itself in such shallow waters. While there are a few moments of beauty and near-genius, they're just too far and far between to satisfy as a whole experience. Just like cotton candy."