Maboroshi 2024 Movie Review

This movie has nice animation and an interesting story all the way through until the very end, where we find yet another film that leaves the audience to try to guess what actually happened and what it meant.

There are several good aspects to this film. The story is decent most of the way through. The animation is fine. The characters are interesting. But the plot and story line are flawed, presenting bits and pieces but never succeeding in telling the entire story.

Some may feel they understand what happened, but in truth one simply adds their own truth to the incomplete plot. And while two or three different “theories” are presented throughout, it’s difficult to understand why the townspeople believe a man who is quite obviously insane. (But then, that has happened in real life, hasn’t it?)

All in all it was an interesting but unsatisfying film. I never like it when the writers and directors leave it to the audience to figure out what story they’re trying to get across. To me that’s a stunt that very seldom works. The relatively low rating here would indicate the majority of the viewers felt the same.