autumn carrot

I enjoyed this animation a moderate amount! lol It wasn't bad at all, but I wouldn't say it's as amazing as the online obsession with it suggests. Some have been comparing it to Encanto, and as a person who loved Encanto, I can't see it! lol! Encanto has a soul to it; the plot is very sincere, and by the end, that sincerity is felt through the development of all the characters. Here, however, though sincerity is a part of the story, it's not really felt. Nowhere more so than in how it treats two out of the three main characters. But the most important thing about this animation, in my opinion, is that it's a well-made piece of work made by a production team that isn't Disney, and that's something we desperately need, for variety reasons.
I found the promotion around this film very icky. As well as my overall contempt for kpop, this made me approach the film with ire, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was simply a light-hearted entertaining cartoon which can be enjoyed by children and their families together.

Plot: That said, I found certain elements in the plot a bit underwhelming. For one, the narrator makes it sound like fans are very important to the main force behind the plot, being who helps the artists create the honmoon and all, and pointing out how without them, there's no point and such. This should mean that fans should be respected by the narrative as precious and beloved entities, right? However, throughout the film, fans were only treated as a brainless mass who follow like sheep where they're led, only good to be milked for profits. Fans were the butt of the jokes all the time too. So maybe that's true to how kpop industry sees the fans but it's a bit odd to make it so obvious in your PR film for the industry, lol?!
Secondly, the story is supposedly about a trio, but truthfully, one character has the main arc in the story, and the others are oblivious and rather shallow sidekicks who barely get any development besides a few dramatic lines in a song at the very end. They could have done more with all three?
Lastly, this film tries sooooooo hard to make the idols seem like relatable girls next door....it was trying a bit too hard. They were so media-trained-to-look-like-humans-but-actually-have-no-soul-behind-their-eyes feel to them! lol
Now for the positive part: Rumi's plot was really interesting. (I still think the payoff wasn't satisfying enough.) The demons are fun, and the comedy is actually funny. The whole plot works. I think it operates really well as an average Children's film. It has positive messages, with a fun friendship-centric story and a generally entertaining introduction to Korean music industry ...even if it's not true to life at all! lol It doesn't need to be though, it's fiction.

Acting: The voice actors were great.

The music: It's not really my taste. I don't like kpop and I didn't like these but they weren't so bad as to skip. You can sit through them once.

Production: I think the strongest part of this project is the animation. It was genuinely well done.

Rewatch: Hmmm, I thought about it, but I haven't actually done it yet. I might watch it again once but it's not gonna be something I would rewatch over and over again like Howl's Moving Castle or Spirited Away or like...Lion King!

Overall: Sure, watch it! It's a fun lil film.