Pros: Stunning animation, eerie atmosphere, heavy topics. A very detail and background oriented movie. Take your time to really think about this one.
(Transcendentalism, life and death, religion, spirituality.) A mix of Dead Like Me, The Phantom Tollbooth, a bit of Spirited Away.
Cons: Literally everything else about this movie. The concept went absolutely sideways. I don't think this movie knew what it wanted to be from the start, and there was a lot of heavy Christianity imagery despite not being clear if it was an anti religion movie or pro.
It's important to remember that Japan's version of Christianity is different from the U.S's, so things may be portrayed differently. That being said, a more tactful example of this is from the entirety of Evangelion. Prepare for a lot of shock value for no reason other than "Look, it's Christianity!" and a lot of preaching about how God's will/wants is the only way to be happy. Not enough character conviction. Ambiguity instead of the shock value would have been more interesting.
SPOILER TERRITORY BELOW
I thought it was distasteful to have character figures from the Titanic of all things, especially given the context that the adult willingly chose to kill off the children with him as a way to appease God and somehow, that was the true key to "happiness". Absolutely tone deaf. Knocked some points off for that.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
10/09/22
Full Review
Cool C
Liked the movie, but was shocked by final plot twist. Parents, don't be fooled. This is NOT a cartoon for young kids.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
11/05/17
Full Review
Audience Member
I will start this review with a little warning for those who have never seen this movie or couldn't get past the first twenty minutes; this movie starts out very slowly. It never feels padded, and it sets up things that will be important later, but it features very little going on. And given this you can see one of the main problems with this movie; its inconsistent and often choppy animation. While the character designs are solid if not uninspired, many of the background look like a singular picture that they panned over and have little if nothing happening in them, and some of the motion feels a little stilted. For many, these quirks may be off-putting. But I promise you, if you can get to the part where our main character boards the titular train, you will not regret it.
The visuals past this point are surreal, and some of the dialogue seemingly nonsensical, as if it is questioning some for your core beliefs in a subtle way. And wouldn't you know it, this movie has very Christian themes throughout. Being atheist, I am not against these kinds of themes if they are done correctly. And other than being a bit preachy, I think it does. And a lot of this rests on the situation that our main character is in. Not quite sure what is going on, he begins the trip with anticipation and excitement, and the tone is consistent with this, but the further you go along the more obvious and dark this so called "adventure" becomes, and this movie will hit you emotionally on at least a few occasions. Although this reveal is basically cemented early in this part of the movie (which I think was a mistake), it still has impact, and the relationship between the main character and his childhood friend help to ground it. The end is satisfying if not prodding religiously, but it doesn't come out of nowhere which helps immensely. All in all, the story is as thorough as it needs to be and satisfying at the end, despite of the pacing at the beginning.
The biggest problem with this movie honestly is the budget. For the kind of detail they were going for, ranging from the surreal and religiously symbolic to the somewhat technical, in the spirit of Hayao Miyazaki, the animation is at most times too choppy or not expressive enogh to really convey the points it's trying to make. If this had a budget about 50% higher we would probably be talking about this movie more frequently. The second biggest problem is the English Dub, which features the original voice of Ash Ketchum from Pokemon as the lead, who is decent in the roll but takes you out of the experience if you know how the voice is. The rest of the cast is mediocre and there are no standouts to mention. So if you are interested in this movie, I highly suggest the subbed version.
All in all, this movie is somewhat of a beautiful mess. A little dark at times, which is hard to find in a movie directed towards young audiences, but enough emotional payoff and distinctive visuals to make the movie work in the end. The technical's bring this movie down as well as a serviceable-at-best English Dub. Maybe not a must watch, but a much more cerebral movie than you're used to.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/02/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Bizzarre and fantastic, Night on the Galactic Railroad takes us and the main character through a journey filled with meditative moments and some signficantly tragic and deep themes lying underneath. Visually, it is a very pretty and dark film, and the pace helps to set the calm tone to the movie, and the soundtrack, just like the story, help create an awe.inspiring film with plenty of eye catching and sad moments that one ussually doesnt experience through an animated film.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/13/23
Full Review
Audience Member
This animated Japanese film could be disturbing for some people. It is far away from a typical Disney's film. A fantasy story where we are touched by issues like life, death, afterlife, goodness and evil, myths, God. Interesting as the Universe, the Milky Way, and the stars are referred along the story.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/07/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Summary: Night on the Galactic Railroad is a very dull ride, but it is still extraordinarily dark and has a lot of heart. 60/100 [C+]
On the night of a cat village Festival of the Stars, a kitten and his friend go on an celestial journey on a magical space locomotive. On that trip, they have various stops where they meet strange sights, even more unusual fellow passengers and learn some lessons of life on their trip to the terminus of the Galactic Railroad. First of all I want to say that it was not as depressing as I thought it would be. It was a good movie, but it did not live up to my high expectations. I am not a fan of anime, but I liked this film, it was dark and deeply uncomfortable. The film is slow, very slow. Also, the character development was pretty confusing because I did not felt a connection between Giovanni and Campanella they were supposed to be friends. But I did felt sorry for Giovanni, the whole story about his father and his sick mother was touching.
The second act was less dull to me, but still slow. There was a scene where Giovanni is quite surprised as he sees the train for the very first time and it was loudly effective. The second act continues having some boring issues and confusing moments. The third act was profound, unexpected and extraordinarily dark. Some people say that the film itself is disturbing and children should not watch it, but for me it was not disturbing at all, it was poignant. Moving on, the voice actors did a great job. The animation was stunning and looked fascinating. My only issue with this film was its boredom and inactivity. Anyway, I am glad that I watched it. While at times it lacked direction, and it was slow-paced, this little animated feature delivers a payoff and a reflective message. [C+]
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/02/23
Full Review
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