Lu Over the Wall

It’s an energetic, frequently hilarious, always visually riveting ride.

It’s gorgeous, it’s distinctive, it’s quirky, it’s definitely about mermaids, and it might just make you question your sanity.

In terms of craftsmanship, the film has a scrappy, sometimes cheap look to it (characters look flat, like thin-lined Etch-a-Sketch drawings, superimposed over more colorful hand-painted backgrounds), for which it more than compensates via other strengths — namely, a trio of relatable, well-written human protagonists and Lu, who can change form and bend water at will.

Throughout, director Masaaki Yuasa’s imagination runs so wild that it becomes impossible to resist.

Even by anime standards, Lu Over the Wall is best enjoyed by disconnecting your logic circuits and just enjoying the pretty colors and sounds.

A crashing disappointment, even if you haven't seen director Masaaki Yuasa's relatively inspired and completely unpredictable 2004 anti-coming-of-age fantasy "Mind Game."

It seemed overextended and self-conscious.

A mixture of delightfully refreshing and painfully stale, Lu Over the Wall is a film that shows flashes of greatness but never really comes together as a definitively above-average film. Just like its lead character, Kai, Lu Over the Wall spends a lot of its time going through the motions. While much of this movie is uniquely displayed from a visual standpoint, most of what’s being conveyed is an obvious plot-line told through point-blank dialogue & characterizations. Simplicity is sometimes to be expected from cartoons but Lu Over the Wall plays its narrative hand so plainly that it may have its viewers bored before the halfway point. The playful direction and cinematic choices of this movie may help hold the attention of its viewers but, due to Lu Over The Wall‘s meandering pace, I would not be surprised if some will be eager for the ending. There is beautiful, frightening and humorous imagery in this movie and enough overall quality that I would say the film was an enjoyable experience. But there is also enough fat along the way that I won’t be eager to experience it again. In the end, Lu Over the Wall‘s combination of ancient folklore, modern music and striking images gives it a special feel that is, unfortunately, overshadowed by its limited script. Writing: 5/10 Direction: 7/10 Cinematography: 8/10 Acting: 7/10 Editing: 6/10 Sound: 7/10 Score/Soundtrack: 7/10 Production Design: 7/10 Casting: 7/10 Effects: 8/10 Overall Score: 6.9/10 Original Article: ****

The movie was had a really low budget on key moments, dance scenes sometimes only had 2 frames. The story kinda fell apart in the middle and made some weird choices that made 0 sense just to get a dramatic finish. The songs from the mermaid are really cute and i enjoyed them greatly. If this movie got a couple of months more time and bigger budget it would have been amazing. But at this state its just a pretty generic movie that i would only watch once.