yeah I liked it! easy to watch the mountains - so beautiful but hard to watch the lab scenes. overall great movie!

this is a beautiful, moving movie full of awareness. i didn't expect it to be so touching. the final part made me sick the same way the documentary earthlings made me feel.

Personally I found it really overrated. It's fine, a solid 6/10, but there was as much comedy that fell flat as made me laugh out loud, and the 'subtle' social commentary was about as subtle as a baseball bat to the face. The interactions with the huge CGI pig were really impressive, but the actual appearance of the creature is not. It doesn't even really resemble a pig so much as a giant plastic hippo - it reminded me of an inflated toy out of Toy Story. Everybody seems to find the scenes where it defecates comedic genius, but I'm not sure when toilet humour became the height of comedic greatness. And the killer "he's having a shitty day" to round that off was about as witty as a Roger Moore one-liner as he dispatches a villain. The highlight of the whole film was Paul Dano who stole every scene he was in. I don't want to imply I didn't enjoy it, for the most part I did, I just don't think it warrants the evangelical level of praise currently being heaped upon it.

@silverhawkins said:

Personally I found it really overrated. It's fine, a solid 6/10, but there was as much comedy that fell flat as made me laugh out loud, and the 'subtle' social commentary was about as subtle as a baseball bat to the face. The interactions with the huge CGI pig were really impressive, but the actual appearance of the creature is not. It doesn't even really resemble a pig so much as a giant plastic hippo - it reminded me of an inflated toy out of Toy Story. Everybody seems to find the scenes where it defecates comedic genius, but I'm not sure when toilet humour became the height of comedic greatness. And the killer "he's having a shitty day" to round that off was about as witty as a Roger Moore one-liner as he dispatches a villain. The highlight of the whole film was Paul Dano who stole every scene he was in. I don't want to imply I didn't enjoy it, for the most part I did, I just don't think it warrants the evangelical level of praise currently being heaped upon it.

My guess you've never seen a Korean movie before, or an Anime.

I've seen plenty of Korean movies. No animes though (not really my vibe). This is a live action though so not sure how that's relevant anyway?

This is basically how I felt about it: www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/okja-review-bong-joon-hos-daffy-anti-meat-monster-mash-beethoven/

@silverhawkins said:

Everybody seems to find the scenes where it defecates comedic genius

I'm not sure who "everybody" is. I don't feel like it's comic genius but more of an attempt to maintain a light mood and provide something to appeal to a broader range of audience ages.

This isn't Old Boy or I Saw the Devil. It's clear from the beginning that the movie aims at entertaining and that the audience should be aware that, although there are elements that are meant to be considered as social commentary, it doesn't take itself too seriously and neither should the audience. It's a lampoon of society, greed and narcissism that also is meant to remind us of our simultaneously contradictory innocence and love.

@silverhawkins said:

I've seen plenty of Korean movies. No animes though (not really my vibe). This is a live action though so not sure how that's relevant anyway?

Exactly. I think this movie borrows a lot from anime style of storytelling, character's design and presentation, and also style of humor. And I think it was quite a successful attempt.

@D-magic said:

Exactly. I think this movie borrows a lot from anime style of storytelling, character's design and presentation, and also style of humor. And I think it was quite a successful attempt.

Napping Okja & girl at the beginning of film...very Totoro

Unamazing, but amazed... (mini spoilers ahead)...

First, the unamazing...

The movie shamelessless panders to the audience, assuming that we fully embrace it's ideology and when there is doubt about that it focuses on the sentimentality of the girl and her pet "super" pig... in a way, it mirrors the CEO character's (lucy?) attempts at rebranding her company... more than a little cynical... it's made for us to congratulate ourselves for not being "super" pig eaters and molesters... really?!

... there are only few moments where you kinda, sorta see beyond the idiology... the abrupt violence that the zealot ALF leader visits on his soon-to-be former comrade is one of the few moments of authenticity, the other being the new CEO's (Nancy?) trade with Mija to exchange the "super" pig for gold... Authentic moment...

The animal breading scene was absurd... are we really supposed to think of that as abhorent? What do you think happens in the wild with none GMO animals? Do they ask for consent? ... I think the movie relies far too much on us anthropomorphising the "super" pig, to think of it as human and to out ourselves in it's place, but with our morality and emotional life... I guess for generations raised on Disney this is ingrained now, in a Pavlovian way...

The part where I'm amazed...

I think the Korean setting and exoticness of it coupled with the "Super" pig branding and well done CGI hides how banal this movie is... the spectacle... if it was a midwestern girl and her pet GMO cow, I think people would see how uninspired the story is and maybe we'd see beyond the spectacle and recognise that we haven't been moved emotionally, just sensory stimulation with a few sprinklings of empty sentimentality... even though the execution is solid with such a skillful filmmaker and top class cast... BUT, I think the director knows this, the central event of his movie revolves around a spectacle, a mass marketing event, a propaganda engineered to sell the idea of "super" pigs as superfood through spectacle... The movie itelf is a super pig pageant, and we're like the onlookers, smiling, grinning, just along fornthe ride enjoying a day out in the sun...

I'm amazed that people aren't assessing this movie more critically, because without seeing it's shortcomings we can't truly appreciate what it does well... how self aware and calculating it is even at the micro-level, every side character and main character is this way apart from the innocent Mija, the avatar for the audience...

A good movie overall, certainly one worth checking out and thinking about, I just wished critics were more up to the task

@Renovatio said:

Unamazing, but amazed... (mini spoilers ahead)...

First, the unamazing...

The movie shamelessless panders to the audience, assuming that we fully embrace it's ideology and when there is doubt about that it focuses on the sentimentality of the girl and her pet "super" pig... in a way, it mirrors the CEO character's (lucy?) attempts at rebranding her company... more than a little cynical... it's made for us to congratulate ourselves for not being "super" pig eaters and molesters... really?!

... there are only few moments where you kinda, sorta see beyond the idiology... the abrupt violence that the zealot ALF leader visits on his soon-to-be former comrade is one of the few moments of authenticity, the other being the new CEO's (Nancy?) trade with Mija to exchange the "super" pig for gold... Authentic moment...

The animal breading scene was absurd... are we really supposed to think of that as abhorent? What do you think happens in the wild with none GMO animals? Do they ask for consent? ... I think the movie relies far too much on us anthropomorphising the "super" pig, to think of it as human and to out ourselves in it's place, but with our morality and emotional life... I guess for generations raised on Disney this is ingrained now, in a Pavlovian way...

The part where I'm amazed...

I think the Korean setting and exoticness of it coupled with the "Super" pig branding and well done CGI hides how banal this movie is... the spectacle... if it was a midwestern girl and her pet GMO cow, I think people would see how uninspired the story is and maybe we'd see beyond the spectacle and recognise that we haven't been moved emotionally, just sensory stimulation with a few sprinklings of empty sentimentality... even though the execution is solid with such a skillful filmmaker and top class cast... BUT, I think the director knows this, the central event of his movie revolves around a spectacle, a mass marketing event, a propaganda engineered to sell the idea of "super" pigs as superfood through spectacle... The movie itelf is a super pig pageant, and we're like the onlookers, smiling, grinning, just along fornthe ride enjoying a day out in the sun...

I'm amazed that people aren't assessing this movie more critically, because without seeing it's shortcomings we can't truly appreciate what it does well... how self aware and calculating it is even at the micro-level, every side character and main character is this way apart from the innocent Mija, the avatar for the audience...

A good movie overall, certainly one worth checking out and thinking about, I just wished critics were more up to the task

I love meat. I'll happily eat any little girl's pig, cow or any other animal she happens to be harboring.

I still didn't care about the potential difference in opinion held by the writer/director. It made me want some bacon the whole time I watched it.

I also think that if they would have used a mid-western girl and a cow, I'd have had a harder time suspending disbelief because I know that both cows and mid-western girls love to be eaten. That glassy dead eye stare also makes it clear that there isn't much happening between the ears and anthropomorphicizing one would be difficult.

On the other hand, I still enjoyed the movie even though I think eating other living beings is outta sight. The mega-corp dishonesty and greed and all the humor that accompanies it was great. I also think he didn't pull any punches making fun of the radical activists either.

As much as I like meat, I like mine grown naturally from an identifiable species. But that's just my hang-up.

the movie gives off a more anti-meat eating feeling than it is anti-GMO, which I find interesting and I wonder if the director recognises this...

if the super pig was naturally bread, would the film really change much?

i don't mind either way, as I don't look to movies to tell me what to eat, but i find it an interesting question.

@Renovatio said:

the movie gives off a more anti-meat eating feeling than it is anti-GMO, which I find interesting and I wonder if the director recognises this...

if the super pig was naturally bread, would the film really change much?

i don't mind either way, as I don't look to movies to tell me what to eat, but i find it an interesting question.

Yes, the movie would have changed entirely. With no patent, no growth contest and no promotional unveiling, there wouldn't be much movie left. Those aspects are the underpinnings of the screenplay. Although it shares some concepts with stories such as Charlotte's Web, it is still a very different story.

I could see how you felt the anti-meat message came across louder than the anti-GMO message.

Personally, I thought the anti deceptive, self-serving adult message was the clearest.

Yes! Very Charlotte's web, you nailed it!

As to the self-serving bit, how are Mija's actions any less self-serving than any of the adults? The big difference is that they pretend otherwise whereas she has not other pretense for her actions... She just wants her pig back...

So her only virtue, if one can call it that, is that she she is authentic to herself and her own desires...

@Renovatio said:

So her only virtue, if one can call it that, is that she she is authentic to herself and her own desires...

Yes, indeed. Her lack of deception makes her the virtuous one.

Intent isn't necessarily the thing that makes the others terrible people. It is their understanding that their intent could be harmful or objectionable and, because of that, their willingness to deceive and manipulate others in order to see the intent through that makes them horrible. In the same vain, it isn't the girl's intent that makes her a good person. It's her belief that she is right to see her intent through and therefore she makes no effort to deceive or manipulate.

Innocent idealism versus willful corruption.

@RoidDroidVoid

i agree with a lot of what you wrote, except i wouldn't call it idealism on her part... she just wants her pet back... the idealists are the ALF, who were shown to be corrupt as well..

come to think of it, it's interesting that the director chose it to be this way... she's not an untintentional crusader, or hero... at a stretch one could infer thst she symbolises being in a more harmonious natural way in the world...

i think with this movie, once you get beyond the headline grabbing bits that the critics and PR folks latch on to, there is more to think about and discuss... BUT, i wonder if people are thinking about it, or whether it's just film lovers like us who are doing so... do these ideas factor into people's impression of the movie, or are they just running with the Vanti-meat message and it's just film fans who are overthinking it...