Patema Inverted is a film about a split world where gravity points in different directions. This affects people, objects, and even natural stone. Wherever an object was created decides which direction the object falls. Of course, without some kind of protection, objects and people can fall into the sky.
That's the concept. As a concept, it's incredibly interesting. The gripping moments, awesome actions scenes, and interesting animation sequences have limitless potential. This movie fills that potential and does a fantastic job of executing the concept in a way that keeps things interesting.
Unfortunately, that's one of the only things the movie did exceedingly well. The pacing of the movie was strange. It started rather slowly until some revelations by the characters drew us into the action. The film takes a large amount of time to introduce us to Patema, one of our protagonists. While this is a good thing, Patema isn't an incredibly interesting character. She's the Chief's daughter, sure, but that only comes into play for a few lines of dialogue. She has some really emotional scenes that just don't feel as emotional as they should because the character depth isn't quite up to snuff.
In addition, Age, the other protagonist, doesn't get the same treatment Patema does, at least not right away. Until later in the movie, the only things we really know about Age is that he isn't happy with the authoritarian nature of his school/government.
The antagonist of the movie and the rest of the supporting cast are all extremely one-sided: dumb, in love, mindless goons, etc.
While the pacing is inconsistent and the movie starts off slow, once it hits its pace, it really takes off. The two protagonists really help develop each other, although the short amount of time it takes for each one to be willing to sacrifice their lives for the other is much too short.
Altogether, the plot is a means to an end. It is designed to force the characters together so their one-sided-ness isn't nearly as glaring as well as to give us a reason to see the world. The twist at the end wasn't terribly surprising, but it was executed well.
All in all, the movie was good, not great. The concept was fantastic, but the rest of the movie just held the concept back. It's certainly worth a watch (probably two), but it isn't something I'll make a point to watch at least once a year.
The concept of using inverted gravity is used pretty well in the movie. I liked the fear of being inverted as well.
This was kind of a cute movie. Very interesting concept and the ending was—at least for me—not predictable. The very end I did not necessarily fully understand.
The movie is like a bold attempt on the inverted gravity concept, and to be honest, it wasn't half as epic as i have imagined it to be but thanks to the smaller scale of the world Patema inverted took place, in terms of execution it's a more sense making and relatable story. The movie ends with some of the questions and logics unanswered, but the emotional aspects and stunning sceneries are enough to take viewers' focus off the rougher parts of the film.
I would recommend the film, but it's not a must see. if you want a more satisfying experience with the concept you saw in Upside Down, or if you have watched a lot of anime love story and still wants more, I'm sure it will be right for you.
Shout by sp1tiVIP OG 13BlockedParent2014-05-16T13:56:12Z
The movie works mainly thanks to it's concept: A world with split gravity. Despite my expectations that this would become old quite fast they actually made a good use of it throughout the movie. The problem is that it's just not something exceptional (Yasuhiro Yoshiura's previous work "Time of Eve" is that). The plot should have been more about the world than Patema and Age or just less cliché. It was also hard to buy into the totalitarian regime and the villain was unrefined and frankly dumb. I make it sound a lot worse once again but it isn't a bad movie by any means.
For those who are wondering: this and the movie Upside Down (with Kirsten Dunst) have no connection to each other. It's a mere coincidence (and a four-part webseries which covers the beginning of this movie was released before the trailers for the latter).
Also, the "over-funded" Kickstarter for the UK + a few EU countries release is still going for another 16 days - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alltheanime/patema-inverted-ultimate-edition.