Entotsu Machi no Poupelle

Man, I really wanted to like this movie, and there are things that I do like about it. Unfortunately, Poupelle of Chimney Town really isn't one of the better kids movies that came out in the 2020s. The premise at first seems pretty cool: In a town completely encased in smoke, where nobody knows what the outside world looks like, not even the stars, a young boy named Lubicchi spends his days cleaning chimneys despite his fear of heights. One day, a glowing heart gets dropped into a garbage pile, turning into a man made entirely of garbage, whom Lubicchi saves from getting incinerated. Aftera rough start, Lubicchi and the garbage man become friends, with Lubicchi giving him the name Poupelle. Their friendship winds up both drawing suspicion from the community and sparking a big adventure where the two of them discover just what's beyond the thick smoke of Chimney Town. The premise reminded me of this manga I'm reading right now called Beyond The Clouds: The Girl Who Fell From The Sky, though Poupelle doesn't have any people with wings in it. Yeah...Poupelle of Chimney Town is pretty much a huge laundry list of cliches right off the bat. Human kid with no friends who wants to see something others don't want to? Check. Mysterious friend who winds up helping him do just that? Check. Sick mom? Check. One-note bullies who pick on him? Check. Mysterious villains who don't want the town to know about life outside their town? Check. Missing parent who influences them and winds up being the key to everything? Check. Follow your dreams and don't conform to the opporessors moral? Checkity check cheeeeeck. I wouldn't have minded all these cliches if the movie actually bothered to execute them well. I mean, my favorite romance anime of all time is Ride Your Wave, and that checks off a lot of clickes, but also managed to stand out on its own by way of the animation and exploring the death of a loved one through a fun, crazy idea it had. Instead, Poupelle of Chimney Town doesn't seem interested in doing anything new with its premise or characters, playing them so straight that everything is about as bland and charmless as white rice. Speaking of the characters, all of them, from Lubicchi even to the side characters, have absolutely zero charm or depth to them, as they're all so cliche and one-note that you can easily recognize them from so many other media that have portrayed their archetypes better. Most of the side characters don't even so much as get any names, including some of the one-note bullies who pick on Lubicchi! Most of the side characters feel lifeless and shallow, with their only purpose being to advance the plot and nothing else. The talkative miner is just there to be an exposition dump who tells Lubicchi the secrets behind Chimney Town and the government, and the villains themselves are stereotypical villains ripped out of other things, yet somehow they don't do much of anything themselves! Lubicchi himself is okay, but he's really bland and forgettable, no different from other characters in other movies who act the same way he does. Even Poupelle himself is just a walking cliche, and you can predict his role in the story literally as soon as he and Lubicchi meet. I'm also pretty mixed on the animation. For one, the movie is mostly CGI, with some 2D animation sprinkled in there on occasion. Honestly, I wasn't a fan of the CGI animation, as it just felt really clunky and uncanny at times, mainly for the human characters. It works better with Poupelle and a lot of the Halloween costumes in the beginning, but that's about it. On the other hand, the backgrounds and the setting fare much better. The steampunk skyscrapers and building designs all have great designs, and the backstory behind the setting really makes it feel like a world that's completely isolated from everything. I'm further conflicted on the soundtrack, as the actual songs are great, especially that epic Halloween-themed musical number that the movie opens on, but the background music itself is kind of obnoxious and could have benefited from holding back a bit. It also commits the cardinal sin of setting upbeat music to what are supposed to be sad moments, which really kills the atmosphere. Also, Poupelle of Chimney Town's pacing is surprisingly fact. The movie begins with Lubicchi trying to save Poupelle, and the two of them getting wrapped up in action packed, heart-racing situations that amount to a grand total of 20 or so minutes before they even get a chance to introduce themselves. Granted, the movie starts to calm down a bit after that, and with the pacing being what it is, it doesn't leave a moment to get bored, but often times it felt like Poupelle of Chimney Town was little more than shiny keys that a parent is waving in front of their kids' faces to keep them entertained. As much as I hate admitting it, in the end, Poupelle of Chimney Town is just another kids movie that just rehashes the same cliches that others like it have done without doing anything new with them. It has a few good ideas, but barely utilizes them. The reason I like other kids anime movies such as Child of Kamiari Month and Okko's Inn is that while they also rely on a few stock cliches, they also knew to try and do new things with them, even if they don't always succeed. Kamiari Month stood out in its emphasis on Shintoism and Japanese folklore, and Okko's Inn went out of its way to rectify a lot of flaws that the original TV series had while tackling the original story it was based on in a different way. They still managed to be fun movies, even if they aren't trying to bring the house down, and I, a 28-year-old adult, still managed to enjoy them. I couldn't enjoy Poupelle of Chimney Town because it's just a boring, soulless cliche fest. If you want to show this to your kids, for babysitting fodder or as a way to introduce them to anime, go for it. You do you. But I'd recommend skipping this one, as other movies with a similar premise have done its ideas and characters better.