The Wonderland


The Wonderland, known in Japan as Birthday Wonderland, is a 2019 Japanese animated coming-of-age fantasy adventure film directed by Keiichi Hara. Based on the 1988 children's story Chikashitru Kara no Fushigi na Tabi by Sachiko Kashiwaba, the film features a voice cast that includes Mayu Matsuoka, Anne Watanabe, Kumiko Asō, Nao Tōyama, Keiji Fujiwara and Akiko Yajima. The film also features character designs by Russian illustrator Ilya Kuvshinov.
The Wonderland premiered in Japan on April 26, 2019, and was screened in competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2019.

Voice cast

Matt Schley of The Japan Times gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, praising the animation and visuals but suggesting it as being among a number of anime films "trying to recreate the charms of Miyazaki". He concluded: "The Wonderland is not the first, and will almost definitely not be the last, to try to push the Miyazaki buttons — and while it succeeds on the surface, it lacks the deeper emotional core to make for something truly wondrous." Allan Hunter of Screen Daily wrote that the "overly busy story provides countless opportunities to create imaginative worlds and strange characters, but it also tends to feel like a string of set pieces rather than something that builds dramatic tension or momentum", feeling that "a less elaborate approach might have achieved more of an emotional impact." While noting the movie's shortcomings, Twwk of Beneath the Tangles also wrote, "I could appreciate the direction, which sometimes created an intensity and urgency that made me worry for the characters, and the abounding fantasy which reminded me that I, too, had an imagination once."