Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!

Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

siderite The animation looked shoddy from the start, especially facial expressions, but I thought I would give this Korean anime a chance. It is about two close childhood friends that meet when they are adults and reminisce about the good old times. Or at least, this my interpretation of the vague plot. The reality of the film is that these two adults meet, you get a feeling they are old friends, and then there they are, as children, for the rest of the movie.Now, the story is something of a childhood fantasy, where the two boys find a magical marble that transposes them into an alternate reality. It doesn't happen all the time, only at random moments that seem to have no connection to what goes on around. Then there are bits of school and personal life that defines the characters. It all ends when one of the boys has to leave for Seoul.I felt it tried to be a Korean Miyazaki clone, but failed. The animation could have been better, but then again, if the story was good, I could have ignored it. The story was good in principle, too, with the childhood friendship, the mysterious girl (I guess she was a girl) from the fantasy world, the fluffy things, etc. However, it was all fragmented, unclear, like they wanted to make a series and then they collapsed all into a anime movie, with only the relevant bits salvaged for the end product.Bottom line: If they wanted a masterpiece of atmosphere and animation, they couldn't do it. If they thought they were doing something with a deep plot and emotional story, they failed. The result is somewhat in the middle, not one nor the other, and feels unnatural, broken.

Neddy Merrill Truthfully, I was lost trying to follow this South Korean important but I suspect it didn't make that much sense in the original Korean. It seemingly deals with a boy who finds a magic marble (I wonder what that would be worth on Antiques Roadshow?) which grants him entry into a magic realm where the furry Mari flies around on a big...uh dog maybe? The fantasy realm takes Jun-Ho out of his rather poor, rural world where his parent own a fish shop. That's about it as far as the plot goes but yet the 86 minute running time still crawls on by. Having said all that, it is a beautiful exercise in animation particularly the opening seagull sequence.

lyrast I watched a Korean anime film "My Beautiful Giirl Mari" and it is really quite magical. It's an emotionally demanding film which requires the viewer to enter two worlds—apparently diametrically opposed. One is the inner world of the imagination of a child. A world where the rules don't apply, where one is carried on cushions of clouds. The other is the external "real" world that we perceive around us with our senses and is ruled by apparently immutable physical and social imperatives. It is the conflict of these two perspectives which drives the film and gives it its remarkable emotional power.Perhaps the most poignant way we see the differences that underlie the two worlds is in the conflicting forms of love relationships that the film explores. Nam-woo clearly loves Mari. But even he admits that this love is impossible and can never be fulfilled. His relationship with Mari becomes a symbol of the search for beauty and love and joy which drives our being but which can never be satisfied. Mari is that unobtainable Grail for which we all search but can never obtain.Against that is the love of Nam-woo's widowed mother for the young fisherman. Here is the love of the earth. The love which is part of the cut and thrust of living—a love which {as the grumpy Granny points out} is simply necessary.As I said, the two universes seem separate. But at the climax they intersect. At that focal point we see that the two worlds are, in reality, complementary. The adult needs the fantasy universe as much as the child needs to relate to the external world around him or her. And in this magical conclusion we see the true unity that is needed to be truly completely human.

jpb58 This was my first-watched Korean anime, from director Seong-Kang Lee, called My Beautiful Girl, Mari (2002). The artwork and the music are truly beautiful. This looked different from much Japanese anime I've seen. In many of those anime they seem to try and hide Japanese facial features (i.e. minimize slanted eyes). In this film the children look Korean. I think it's refreshing.The story is about a withdrawn boy named Nam Woo whose father committed suicide. His mother is starting to date again and he's feeling neglected and ignored; even when the mother tries to arrange outings for her and her son and her new love interest Nam Woo has to be cajoled into going. He'd rather stay home and play with his cat.The boy has one close male friend; they are almost like brothers, however this friend is about to go away to boarding school, leaving Nam Woo feeling even more deserted by the people he loves. His grandmother has a heart attack and is sent to the hospital. Possibly another death in the family.Dealing with all the angst of growing up is never easy and so begins the strange adventure, whether real or imagined - it's never fully revealed, between Nam Woo and a beautiful voiceless girl who appears before him whenever he visits the top of the local lighthouse and rubs a marble with a tiny female image inside. Mari lives on the back of a giant white-pink dog who appears in the sky like a cloud. She takes Nam Woo on beautiful journeys and helps him to heal from his loneliness and sense of abandonment.Nam Woo's friend's father owns a charter boat and one day he's out doing an extra run to make money for his son's school tuition, when a huge storm appears over the water and shoreline. Nam Woo implores his friend to come with him and they run to the lighthouse, hoping that Mari can stop the storm and prevent the man's death. But Mari won't come when Nam Woo rubs the marble. The lighthouse is breaking up and it looks like a tidal wave is about to hit. Suddenly a bolt of lightning hits the lighthouse and Mari descends from on high, spreading a veil of peace, light, and beauty around everyone, calming the sea. The friend's father is saved.The friend goes off to his new school on the train, and as a parting gift Nam Woo hands him a little box. Inside is the treasured marble.Several years pass and Nam Woo and his friend are grown men. They have jobs in different parts of the country. The friend makes an effort to visit Nam Woo however -- and at the train station where they say goodbye the friend hands Nam Woo back the little box with the marble inside.Perhaps My Beautiful Girl Mari was a little slow at the start, but it's a dreamy, relaxing picture and so you should be prepared to be in a quiet room when you watch it, without disturbances, so you can enjoy its particular style of magic. 9 out of 10. If you love anime, don't miss it.