Patema Inverted (2013)

A friend of mine recommended the film to me, so I had quite high hopes. Especially the concept of it seemed very promising. Sadly, this basic idea about reversed gravity was about the interesting thing about the movie, except the animation and music, which were quite beautiful at times. However, depth and congruity of plot were very disapointing. The villain is too plain, Patema's and Age's "love" rushed and over the top, Porta's too predictable - not a single character is really interesting. Congruity is violated several times, e.g. when they semi-discover the secret behind the stars; they don't even seem to care and head right back, without a plan, unarmed into the hands of the army of the villain..I mean, comon. The theory behind the setup is also merely scratched upon, barely explained, hardly congruent - wasted potential. All in all, I really don't understand the overall score of 7.4 out of 10, the top 1000 voter's rating (6.0) seems more realistic. Since I was actually pretty annoyed by the films flaws and wasted potential, I will swim against the stream giving 4/10.

This is a real "head-turner", but not sideways! You'll be guessing half the time where the people in the scenes are and when you know where they are, you feel bad for the people in the scenes who are not where they are supposed to be. It's a great film that makes you think about alternate worlds, what a different environment might do to the people who live there, and what authoritarian regimes can do when they manipulate your perception. I enjoyed every puzzling minute of this and -- although I was unhappy with the open ending -- understand that the puzzle must go on for the movie to make sense. The normal person inside of me does wish there were a follow-up so that I find out how all works out for Patema and Aigee. The creative person inside of me, however, likes being left with this new feeling of dizziness!

In the midst of rehashed Hollywood story lines that we have seen a million times nowadays, it's nice to see something as original as "Patema Inverted" as far as the premise and scenarios go. It is a very interesting and mind-bending take on different groups of people who are affected by gravity in a different way. It also features nice chemistry between the two leads, breath-taking and detailed animation, one of the nicest end credits songs I have ever heard and a great twist ending that I did not see coming, along with the other twist that happens earlier in the film. If you are looking for something totally new and fresh, definitely check out "Patema Inverted."

So the story starts with a community of people who live underground and for whom, rather fantastically, gravity is reversed, so they fall upwards - hence the need to live beneath the ground or they'll fall into the sky.A mishap means Patema finds her way to the topworld where she meets Age (a - je). The initial meeting is hilarious as Patema needs help not flying off into the sky which for her is an eternal drop.What follows is a story about communities divided, a totalitarian regime, and some of the most deliciously mind twisting plays on spacial reality I've ever seen. The steampunk designs will please fans although the facial animation does leave a bit to be desired. The comedy is laugh-out-loud funny and the drama genuinely thrilling.I feel something is missing from the film I can't put my finger on but it's a terrific animated film that should please anyone.