OK, I have now see Belle in the theater - the English dub. Overall I am somewhat disappointed.
The visuals are indeed stunning, as is the music. But the story line is weak. I mean, it would have been a good story line for a 30 to 60 minute shorter film, but for a 2 hour film it was weak. There was too much pointless exposition about the nature of the virtual world - the "U". And hardly any of the facts presented in that exposition are crucial to the plot. I suppose it was just necessary for the audience to understand what the "U" is and how it works. But that's just the risk of introducing a setting that is unfamiliar to the audience. That is why Ghibli's Spirited Away was so much more relatable to the Japanese audience. They were already familiar with the idea of a Bath House and Shinto spirit legends.
A lot of the action seems to have no compelling motivation. There were times when I felt like falling asleep. However the last half hour was very good! It is too bad we had to sit through a boring 1.5 hours just to get that payoff. Interestingly, that last half hour was almost entirely in the real world - not the virtual world of "U", making it so much more relatable. I won't give it all away, but that last half hour does finally resolve the issue that Suzu (Belle) had with her late mother - the one who sacrificed her life to try to save some stranger's child - the act that traumatized Suzu long ago and has prevented her from singing in the real world. If they had just reworked the first 1.5 hours and cut out much of the floating around in virtual space where nothing has consequences, it might have been Momoru Hosoda's best film. (Also, having seen it in the theater, I don't think it is necessary. The visuals and music would be just as good when viewed at home.)
