Catch a bit of anime ocean magic Sunday, Tuesday

Above : The anime film “Children of the Sea” will play in Spokane on Sunday and Tuesday. (Photo/GKIDS)

It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a good anime, at least on the big screen.

Of course, I – along with much of the moviegoing public – have only recently returned to the theaters. In recent weeks, I’ve seen “Undine” at the Magic Lantern and I caught an early screening Thursday night of “In the Heights.”

On Sunday, I and everyone else will have the opportunity to indulge in a special big-screen showing of a 2019 anime titled “Children of the Sea.” The film is set to show in dubbed format at both AMC River Park Square and Regal’s Northtown Mall (with a second subtitled screening at both theaters on Tuesday).

Directed by Ayumu Watanabe, the film is based on Daisuke Igarashi’s manga of the same title, which was serialized between 2005 and 2011.

In brief, the film focuses on the high school student Ruka who ends up spending her summer vacation at the aquarium where her father works. There she meets a mysterious pair of boys, named Umi and Sora, who were supposedly raised by a type of sea cow (a relative of a manatee). The three end up involving themselves in the mysteries of the ocean.

Variety critic Peter Debruge wrote this: “A lonely 14-year-old connects with two boys raised at sea in a gorgeous, sensitive anime movie that takes a wild out-of-this-world turn.”

And Robbie Collin of the Daily Telegraph wrote, “It leaves you with the sense that the art form’s boundaries have been nudged a little wider as you watched.”

Adding a different perspective, the New York Times’ Maya Phillips wrote, “ ‘Children of the Sea’ finds plenty of beauty and purpose in the watery depths but doesn’t provide enough grounding first: It’s all too easy to get lost 20,000 leagues under the sea.”

Ah, well, everyone’s a critic.