What happens when you expose hundreds of years of fairy tale storytelling to one hundred years of Socialism and 30 years of Euro Bureaucracy? Nocturna happens, that is. This is definitely no Studio Ghimli story, no Neverending Story, no Strings or no City of Lost Children, even if the authors do try to rip off from these movies massively. But the sum of all these parts is way worse than any of these parts.
You may also think the movie rips off from Woody Allen or Kafka, but there is great difference: The authors DO LOVE bureaucracy. The whole Nocturna seems to work as European Union bureaucracy machinery, nothing happens by random chance, there is well respected hierarchy and little interest of solving the issues of "other departments". No one seems to give a damn about the problems that have not been entitled to him by order from higher ranks. In contrast to dystopia movies like Brazil this machinery is displayed as positive. It is even more OK to have bossy boss of this machinery, who actually rules it more like a king than the CEO. We are supposed to be happy to be cared for and nurtured by this institution. Everything is planned, even the individual revolt of Down-syndrome ugly boy is according to the plan. (He is particularly ugly, he has not only huge hole between upper front teeth, but his upper jaw seems to be also broken, because left and right part of it seems to be animated independently. Yuck!)
There is no "evil" there, no enemy, only misunderstanding of Down-syndrome boy who created mess basically by not believing in the power of Nocturna bureaucratic machinery. He simply has to comply, he has to find his proper place and all then goes well, the ranks of the bureaucrats may go to sleep, because after busy well managed night there must be good rest for the hordes of bureaucrats. The next night might be horrible without their ever loving care! Or there might be revolt of some Nocturna work union that would lead to the chaos. We would be lost forever without The Socialist - Bureaucratic Management.
I do not see why someone can see such story as amusing. I do see it really frightening, it creeps me out. What is even more creepy is the fact that this Kafkaresque machinery is presented to the children as something positive, even if it does nothing to the solution of the problem. We should love The System anyways! The message is horrible and the characters are ugly. What a piece of junk! I'm sorry for the children that will be forced to see this grisliness. I would definitely throw it to the garbage bin and give them almost anything from Studio Ghimli instead. These Japanese movies are not only far superior in animation, but they do have really good and powerful stories. Nocturna has no such qualities at all.
You may also think the movie rips off from Woody Allen or Kafka, but there is great difference: The authors DO LOVE bureaucracy. The whole Nocturna seems to work as European Union bureaucracy machinery, nothing happens by random chance, there is well respected hierarchy and little interest of solving the issues of "other departments". No one seems to give a damn about the problems that have not been entitled to him by order from higher ranks. In contrast to dystopia movies like Brazil this machinery is displayed as positive. It is even more OK to have bossy boss of this machinery, who actually rules it more like a king than the CEO. We are supposed to be happy to be cared for and nurtured by this institution. Everything is planned, even the individual revolt of Down-syndrome ugly boy is according to the plan. (He is particularly ugly, he has not only huge hole between upper front teeth, but his upper jaw seems to be also broken, because left and right part of it seems to be animated independently. Yuck!)
There is no "evil" there, no enemy, only misunderstanding of Down-syndrome boy who created mess basically by not believing in the power of Nocturna bureaucratic machinery. He simply has to comply, he has to find his proper place and all then goes well, the ranks of the bureaucrats may go to sleep, because after busy well managed night there must be good rest for the hordes of bureaucrats. The next night might be horrible without their ever loving care! Or there might be revolt of some Nocturna work union that would lead to the chaos. We would be lost forever without The Socialist - Bureaucratic Management.
I do not see why someone can see such story as amusing. I do see it really frightening, it creeps me out. What is even more creepy is the fact that this Kafkaresque machinery is presented to the children as something positive, even if it does nothing to the solution of the problem. We should love The System anyways! The message is horrible and the characters are ugly. What a piece of junk! I'm sorry for the children that will be forced to see this grisliness. I would definitely throw it to the garbage bin and give them almost anything from Studio Ghimli instead. These Japanese movies are not only far superior in animation, but they do have really good and powerful stories. Nocturna has no such qualities at all.