Imperfect, a bit of a relic of a different cinematic era – but enjoyable and interesting nonetheless. Fantastic cast. (Seriously dated score.)

Love how realistically complicated the opening is, in media res, with two interpreters, one who was a cartographer until 10 min ago.

Mostly a drawn-out series of global reaction shots — but a very striking-looking one with poignant character moments sprinkled in. And one of the catchiest 5-note melodies in cinema history.

...But, like, he didn't need to build that mountain model inside his house like that. 🫪

Let's do Beetlejuice meets Monsters, Inc. – but make it deeply Taiwanese, and thoroughly 21st century. Make sure there's humor both slapstick and sarcastic – grounded in the story of a young woman literally crushed by the weight of her family's expectations, and a gang of influencers and misfits struggling to understand what it really means to be seen.

I thought this was going to be a movie about learning empathy, which made me inclined to like it — and I suppose it *was* meant to be that, but the messaging is so muddled, and so much of it seems just ugly and cruel. Like, is the man really teaching the kids that revenge is the way?? And why are the kids attacking a pig after the man said one saved his life??? Maybe I'm just too sick to get this right now, but it left me feeling icky and even more despondent about humanity.