Movie Thoughts: Mune: Guardian of the Moon (2014)

• Released: 6 December 2014
• Directed by:A lexandre Heboyan, Benoît Philippon
• Running time: 1 h 25 min
• Rating 4.5/5

Synopsis

In a fantasy realm where the moon and sun are controlled by the Moon and Sun Guardians respectively, a young and clusmy boy named Mune is appointed the next Moon Guardian. He'll not only have to deal with accidentally breaking the moon, but also a villain trying to corrupt the sun forever. 

My Thoughts

I've only seen this movie once before, but it left a huge impact on me, and in a positive way. It's just so damn good. I'm going to keep this brief because I have practically no criticisms for this film.

The biggest draw is (obviously) the world-building and visuals of the film. The realm this takes place in is unlike I've seen before, with the world being divided into two sections, Night and Day, which are decided by the current location of the moon and sun respectively. Each celestial body is connected to a temple, a large moving creature which is steered by the Sun and Moon Guardians. 

The people of this world are also very unique, being tons of different creatures unlike any I've seen before. They do sometimes loosely resemble something we see on Earth (e.g. Mune somewhat resembling a goat) but the execution of each species and individual is just so unique and creative. Sohone is literally a creature that radiates heat. Mune has dream-powers. Glim is made out of candle-wax and melts or freezes if she's not the right temperature. It's just such cool stuff and so out-of-the-box.

The art direction is also great. Not only is each concept unique, the way everything looks is just so stylized and fantastic. And, despite what you may assume, it's not even all 3D! There's some 2D-animated sections in here, and they look stunning. 

As for the story and characters, they're also really strong. I like the journey Mune, Sohone and Glim embark on, seeing them all grow closer together. Mune and Glim (obviously) were going to fall in love, but I can totally buy their relationship. My favorite character is Sohone, though, who goes through some great development with him accepting Mune as the new Guardian and befriending him. Heck, even the side-villain Leeyoon has a pretty neat albeit short arc where he tries to usurp Mune's position as Guardian, but fails so miserably that the Moon just disintegrates. He then soon comes to realize (just like Sohone) that Mune may just be a promising new Guardian, after all.

I honestly just don't really have any criticisms for this movie? Yeah, Mune and Glim aren't the most original protagonists out there, but they're still good and likable characters who develop well throughout the plot. I guess my only tiny nitpick was that I didn't like Phospho all that much, but even he was in the movie for only a short time and does have a pretty impactful death. So, overall, great movie I absolutely recommend.