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Paris. Teenage girl Marinette gets a crush on a boy from her high school, Adrien, but he is not interested in her. His dad Gabriel uses a magical jewel, Butterfly Miraculous, to transform into Hawk Moth and lure the forces of Ladybug and Black Cat, hoping their powers will revive his late wife Emilie. Marinette receives the superpowers of Ladybug from Wang Fu, whereas Adrien receives the superpowers of Black Cat, without knowing this of each other. They thus battle the evil forces which possess certain angry people and transform them into demons which wreak havoc. Black Cat falls in love with Ladybug, not realizing she is actually Marinette. When the forces of evil engulf Paris and cause mass destruction, Gabriel renounces his forces when he realizes he hurt Black Cat, who is actually Adrien. Father and son reconcile. Marinette and Adrien fall in love.
The feature length film adaptation of the popular computer-animated TV series with the same title, "Miraculous: The Movie" is a rather lackluster experience. "Miraculous" shares a lot of similar 'magical girl' traits with that gem of animation "Sailor Moon"—a teenage girl receives superpowers and transforms to fight against the forces of evil; a masked male superhero is her romantic interest and sidekick; forces of evil possess angry people and transform them into demons that attack people—but it doesn't share its quality, at least not in this film. Speaking truthfully, even the three "Sailor Moon" movies were also weaker than the series, never reaching its level of creativity (except maybe "Promise of the Rose" on a few occasions), but that still doesn't mean much. "Miraculous: The Movie" has too little highlights and too many boring musical sequences which feel shoehorned and like an intruder in the story, not managing to intrigue the viewers.
The opening act has a clumsily written sequence in which Marinette runs away from the angry blond high school girl Chloe and almost gets run over by speeding cars (!) on the street, as if the former is more dangerous than the latter; whereas the jokes are only intermittently amusing—for instance, in one sequence, while fighting a gargoyle-like flying demon, Ladybug and Black Cat fall into the Seine and have this dialogue ("We have reached the bottom!" - "At least they have good fish here!"). One battle sequence is truly creative: while fighting a giant balloon-like demon, Ladybug and Black Cat get a brilliant idea how to finish him off. They use a giant leverage to move the balloon-villain onto the pointy Louvre Pyramid, thereby bursting it, which is a clever use of Paris landmarks in the story. Sadly, the rest is routine, since the dialogues and interactions are mostly bland, while the subplot involving Adrian's father Gabriel trying to revive his dead wife is a bit too depressive and dark for the tone of the movie. The idea that the heroine Marinette is in love with Adrien, while he is only in love with Marinette's alter ego Ladybug is nice, yet when there isn't that much inspiration, not much can be achieved out of that. "Miraculous: The Movie" is solid, but will not create new fans since it lacks humor, wit and ingenuity.
Grade:+
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