Perfectly adorable

Perfect cast and a good story

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

For a movie with no dialog and little action. The Red Turtle holds your attention thoughout the whole film. The hand drawn quality of the senery and animation is beautiful and the story is clear to follow and emotional. Overal a very beautiful piece of art.

I don't want to drag the rating system down on this movie by giving it a 5, when the Good Part of the movie is truly a 10. I just wish that I could rate the movie twice. So, it's 10 stars for the art and 5 stars for the lead character's stupidity.Here's the good: Stunning animation, visually jaw-dropping, LOVED the tiny touches of nature that almost all American Films miss: minnows in the pond, crabs grabbing a dead baby sea turtle to eat, etc. I was okay with the length and the silence of the film. I was even okay with 80% of the plot.What I HATED about the film was what I'll call "My Logical Brain" syndrome. It bothered my husband and I so much when OBVIOUS SOLUTIONS TO SURVIVAL were blown off, that my husband just walked away after 30 minutes. I only hung onto watching the film because it was "pretty to look at". These are the issues we/I had: 1) You're stranded on a deserted island, your raft is demolished 3 separate times and yet you are TOO STUPID AND DIMWITTED to use at least SOME of the bamboo to construct the simplest of shelter!?2) Again, BAMBOO...Hello!? He could have constructed a shelter, used parts of the canes to store water rather than trot to an inland pond to constantly slurp up the water like a dog, and burn some of the bamboo to COOK the fish/meat he found, rather than pillaging from a decaying seal he found on the beach! They obviously know about fire, since they burn the LARGEST MASS OF BAMBOO ever seen, when a tsunami wipes out the bamboo forest! And here again, WHY would you burn it all? Why not parse it out as fuel for the rest of your life? Or, a SHELTER so you don't spend your time in the rain storms???3) I'm cool with the transformation of the turtle into the woman and I even understand the frustration and anger that the man felt toward the turtle thwarting his escape efforts. But, after they became a family with a young child, the damn fool STILL hadn't built a shelter but sleeps on the sand on the beach! What gives? And still, NO vessels to store water or food? They act as if they've just landed on the island and not been there at least 16 years (based upon the age of the son.)4) The male character was just plain stupid. As the film progressed, I just wanted him DEAD! He couldn't provide for himself, he couldn't provide for his family by building a shelter or providing fresh water, and he was TOO STUPID to move out of the way of a tsunami...he just stood and stared at it as his wife/partner dragged the fool away! Based on the son's age, he had to have lived on the island for at least 16 years...did you learn NOTHING!?As I mentioned above, these issues I had are all as a reaction from my Logical Brain Center. I realize that it's completely contradictory to enjoy a FANTASY film about a transforming sea turtle and bitch about real life survival skills, but that's who I am. If it doesn't bother you at all that the male character is as dumb as a bag of seashells, then you'll love the film.

Beautiful in its simplicity. No singing animals, explosions, dialogue, just a man, an island, and a turtle to start with.The movie is about isolation, humanity's need for companionship, man's relationship with nature as well the volatility and unpredictability of nature even in its stunning beauty.Everything about the island, the colors, and the animals is visual feast along with the characters' physical movements, are both realistic as well as hypnotic.I cried like a baby the last ten minutes of the movie all the way until the credits rolled, having understood loss.Spoiler: I wondered throughout the movie if the turtle was real all along, or if it had it died in the beginning and it was the man's imagination that carried him through years of isolation. The movie doesn't give any answers, and we are left to believe the fantasy, all the more with a quiet feeling of loss in the end.

This is the most barren, boring, and tedious of a film that Studio Ghibli has ever made. I am a long time fan of Studio Ghibli, with Spirited Away being my favorite, but it seems they are really struggling lately. They are branching out into directions most people don't want. The Red Turtle strays into the realm of avant- garde cinema, in that there is no dialogue, no plot, no explanation for anything you see, and no pay-off for sitting through an hour and a half of ambiance. I don't understand what they were trying to accomplish by completely avoiding dialogue. Dialogue is crucial for character development and communication between characters. Cast Away did a great job of getting around the problem of only having one character, by creating the character of Wilson the volleyball. Imagine Cast Away without Wilson, without any tension, and moving along at a snail's pace, with an ending as meaningless and nonsensical as the ending of Lost, and you've got the Red Turtle. It's a pointless, meaningless film, and it's a black mark on Studio Ghibli's reputation.