Scarlet (2025)

Based very loosely on Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, this follows the perilous adventures of the princess “Scarlet” as she seeks retribution for the assassination of her kingly father by her uncle “Claudius”. He is aware that she is going to try something and so arranges for her to join him in the Land of the Dead. That plan doesn’t quite go to plan and though she ends up there, she is not yet consumed by it's nothingness. No sooner has she arrived than she encounters and allies with the confused young 21st century paramedic “Hijiri” and they both set about attempting to thwart the regicidal “Claudius” and his scheming wife “Gertrude”. The first thing I noticed watching this was how linear and two-dimensional the animation was. The backgrounds are uncomfortably static whilst the princess and her friend face many a foe, and there are too many rather bland music and dance numbers that really only serve to stagger this film’s already quite staccato pacing. Their adventures are presented in an curiously sterile and episodic fashion, almost emulating progressive gaming levels, and though there is an opportunity to develop both her and “Claudius” as characters, Mamoru Hisada seems to have decided to skip those stages and so leave us with something unfortunately undercooked. There are some action scenes now and again but they don’t really breathe enough life into this to raise it from the realms of the lacklustre. It’s watchable enough, but somewhat disappointing.