Review: 'Belle' is a dazzling visual tale, a new spin on a classic story, taking viewers into the heart of cyberspace

Narratively audacious and visually wondrous, writer-director Mamoro Hosoda’s animated tale “Belle” is also a hard movie to pin down — because it’s part cyber-thriller, part high-school romance, part musical, part fantasy and part serious drama.

Hosoda (“Mirai”) starts by introducing us to U, the biggest app in the world — a portal to a cyber realm where a person’s biometric data translates to an avatar who reflects the best parts of one’s personality. Among U’s 5 billion registered users, by far the most popular and most mysterious is Belle, a charismatic singer whose ethereal appearance is somewhere between Taylor Swift and Anya Taylor-Joy.

Belle’s secret is that, in the real world, she’s completely different. She’s Suzu, a high school student in a rural Japanese village, who is shy, sullen and afraid to express herself — everything Belle is not. Suzu can’t even bring herself to tell Shinobu, the boy she’s had a crush on since they were 6, how she feels.

Within U, Belle is about to give a big concert, in a massive forum with dolphins and other visual marvels. The show is interrupted by a mystery figure being chased by U’s police force, called the Justices. The mystery figure zooms close to Belle during the chase, and she becomes intrigued by him and wonders why the Justices — led by the arrogant Justin — are after him.

Belle hears the nicknames this creature is called: “The Dragon,” “Monster” and, yes, “The Beast.” Yup, that’s where Hosoda is taking us — into a beautifully staged variation on “Beauty and the Beast.” But when that shoe is dropped, it doesn’t prepare you for what the second shoe will reveal when Suzu tries, in the real world, to find out who Beast is and why Justin is giving heavy Gaston vibes.

Hosoda holds together these parallel story threads — Suzu’s high-school angst and her unresolved feelings over her mother’s death years ago, and Belle’s pursuit of Beast in his castle — through music. Suzu is a gifted musician, and with the help of her tech-savvy pal Hiro, they turn Belle into a high-quality pop-music factory. (Seriously, if you’re into pop, you’ll want a soundtrack, in Japanese or dubbed.)

Hosoda matches the story and the music with some of the most dazzling animation you’re likely to see anywhere. Take, for example, Belle’s entrance: standing on the snout of a giant airborne whale, who’s equipped with hundreds of stereo speakers to amplify Belle’s songs to all corners.

And the world of U is a fully realized cyber world, while also a parody of out-of-control social media. 

Taken as a whole, “Belle” is one of the most eye-popping movies you’ll see in a while, and one of the most earnestly emotional ones. It’s a beauty, for sure.

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‘Belle’

★★★1/2

Opens Friday, January 14, at Broadway Centre Cinemas (Salt Lake City) and several Megaplex locations. Rated PG for thematic content, violence, language and brief suggestive material. Running time: 121 minutes; in Japanese with subtitles or dubbed into English.