Warning: This review contains spoilers.
Everyone dreams of being a princess because it’s a life of luxury—you’re literal royalty, adored by all. You have staff to serve your every need. For Princess Scarlet, her life is wonderful. She also has a loving relationship with her father, King Amulet, who leads with kindness. However, nothing in the world is perfect, and she soon finds her world crashing around her. In director Mamoru Hosoda’s latest film, Scarlet, a young princess grows up in a world of vengeance, violence, and bloodshed, completely unlike the world her father envisioned.
Fueled by jealousy and always feeling like he got the short end of the stick, Claudius, King Amulet’s brother, plots with Scarlet’s mother to assassinate the King and take over the throne. When their plan proves successful, Scarlet unfortunately witnesses her father’s execution. When the King takes his final moments to shout something to Princess Scarlet, she is horrified and unable to hear him over the crowd. Holding his last memory in her heart and mind, she leaves the country to study abroad, returning when she is ready to complete her self-given mission: to kill Claudius and avenge her father.
Unfortunately, her plan goes awry, and she ends up being transported to The Otherworld, a dimension that exists between life and death. Here, she discovers Claudius is also in the same dimension, and is on the quest to reach the Eternal Land at the edge of The Otherworld. Continuing her quest, she seeks to kill him and render him into nothingness before he can reach the Eternal Land.
While in this world, Scarlet meets a modern day nurse, a caravan of kind elders, and enemy-turned-allies. From intense battles to mystical sky dragon attacks, her journey is filled with peril. But along the way, she discovers there’s more than just vengeance. Finding companionship in the nurse, Hijiri, Scarlet sees what her future could hold, what she’s capable of, and most importantly, what her father had hoped for. Once she finally reaches Claudius, it’s up to her to decide: live her life free of the shackles of revenge, the way her father wanted her to, or fulfill her own desire to avenge her father’s death.
Ahead of the U.S. theatrical release, Director Mamoru Hosoda brought the film to Los Angeles’ Animation Is Film (AIF) Festival. During its West Coast premiere, he also sat down for a quick Q&A to discuss the movie.
Director Hosoda’s films are always loosely based on reality and his inspirations. Mirai was inspired by his daughter’s birth and how his son felt meeting her, Belle was inspired by Beauty and the Beast, and Summer Wars was based on how he felt being welcomed into his wife’s large family. For Scarlet, he had two big inspirations: Shakespeare and his daughter. “As mentioned, when making Mirai, I was inspired by the birth of my daughter. Well, she’s actually nine years old now,” he began with a smile. “As the father of a nine year old daughter, this movie draws a lot of inspiration from that relationship [between her and I], and watching my daughter grow.”
In today’s world that’s full of division and conflict, Scarlet’s final decision to choose peace and forgiveness is reflective of a quality the director wishes to instill in his daughter. In a way, this decision shows her strength far more than the physical battles and her inner beauty far more than her shining pink hair and sparkling blue eyes. Scarlet is a strong character through her willpower, her compassion, and her heart. “This story is also inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet,” he shared. “In Hamlet, the father comes back after he dies and tells his son not to forgive, and to seek vengeance on whoever killed him. If I was ever in that position, where I was a ghost, I would say, ‘Why don’t you forgive that person?’ Otherwise, my child would dedicate their whole life to this ridiculous thing that is revenge. I think it’d be truly silly for her to throw her life away, seeking this type of justice.”
With stunning scenery and a bold soundtrack that meshes modern and medieval soundscapes, the film was made for the big screen. As Shakespeare is known for writing epics, it was only fitting that the film and story felt epic, dramatic, and large-scaled. “I tend to look in my immediate circle and find someone close to me to place them or someone like them as the main character in my films,” Director Hosoda began. “It could be a high school student or any other character, but in the case of Scarlet, our main character is a princess. Because of that stature scale, having this princess from 16th century Denmark with a nurse from present day, there’s a 400 year gap between them. [That’s why we went grand with the scale of animation]. I think this scale also lends itself well to all the big screens that we have in movie theaters nowadays, and with the movie even releasing in IMAX.”
As the director mentioned, characters in the movie come from all throughout time—Scarlet is a 16th century princess, Hijiri is a 20th century nurse, and countless other Otherworlders in passing are from various times and regions. While the film erred on the dramatic side as the princess’s goal of killing Claudius is always at the forefront, there are also moments of comedic relief. These moments were a break from the tension for audiences, but also served as a reminder that Scarlet and Hijiri are still young adults learning to navigate the world.
One particular scene that really showcases that lighthearted humor alongside the blend of different people within the Otherworld is during the pair’s stay with a Caravan of elders. Skeptical of the young princess and nurse at first, the elders warmly welcome them after Hijiri spends the day treating wounds and massaging sore backs muscles, earning the trust of one elder at a time. During the evening, everyone gathers for dinner around a fire, and as entertainment, one of the elders perform a Hula dance for everyone. Thanks to his budding relationship with the Caravan’s people, Hijiri is sent up to dance, too. This introduces a youthful, awkward, and silly side of his character, as he fails to match a single beat.
It’s a breath of fresh air to see the princess and the nurse laughing and being playful, embracing their youth even despite the setting and circumstances, and Hosoda shared that it was a memorable scene to create as well. “When I was storyboarding the movie, I could already tell, this scene was going to be very high difficulty in terms of expressions, the acting, and the performance. We wanted this scene to really feel very charming and cute, but at the same time be fun and awkward. When we were developing Hijiri’s character and drawing it out, I wondered if this would even be possible, but in the end, we managed to capture that nuanced charm.”
While Shakespeare’s Hamlet does a great job exploring the human mind in the midst of tragedy, Scarlet is almost like a “what if” episode of Hamlet’s tale. Instead of focusing only on the vengeance and bitterness, Scarlet is about finding light in the face of darkness.
