‘Lu’ will dance into kids’ hearts
A distant companion piece to Studio Ghibli’s 2001 classic “Spirited Away,” the English language-dubbed GKIDS anime release “Lu Over the Wall” tells a variation on the tale of the Little Mermaid, who leaves her watery realm and falls for humanity.
The mermaid, aka ningyo, in this case is Lu, a pint-sized water sprite, who bonds with middle school student and musician/loner Kai (voice of Michael Sinterniklaas). Kai lives with his father and grandfather in a fishing village where the merfolk are feared and thought to be harbingers of disaster. Kai has been persuaded to join his friends’ rock band because of the “crazy beats” he comes up with on his laptop.
Lu, who lives in the water,
but sprouts legs when she dances on dry land, becomes their drawing card when a video of her wild dancing performance goes viral. If you’re a fan of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” you’ll see fascinating correlations between the films.
Lu can control columns of water and burns in the sun, and when she bites dogs they turn into dogfish.
In some ways, “Lu Over the Wall” is the kiddie version of Oscar winner “The Shape of Water.” The visuals in “Lu Over the Wall” combine traditional handdrawn imagery with Adobe Flash software techniques and are at times wildly hallucinogenic.
Director Masaaki Yuasa (“Devilman: Crybaby”) names American animation pioneer Tex Avery among his influences. The award-winning film is frankly nuts at times, but I think your kids are going to dig it.