The Wonderland

The Wonderland
The Wonderland
	Theatrical release poster
Japanese name
Kanji	バースデー・ワンダーランド
Revised Hepburn
Transcriptions
Revised Hepburn	Bāsudē Wandārando
Directed by	Keiichi Hara
Written by	Miho Maruo
Produced by	Nobuo Kawakami
Starring	Mayu Matsuoka; Anne Watanabe; Kumiko Aso
Music by	Harumi Fūki
Production; companies	Warner Bros. Japan; Aniplex; Fuji Animation Studio; Fuji Television Network, Inc.; Dentsu; Signal.MD
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release dates	April 26, 2019 (Japan); June 2019 (AIAFF);
Running time	115 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

The Wonderland, known in Japan and the UK^[1] as Birthday Wonderland (Japanese: バースデー・ワンダーランド, Hepburn: Bāsudē Wandārando), is a 2019 Japanese animated coming-of-age fantasy adventure film directed by Keiichi Hara. Based on the 1988 children's story Chikashitsu Kara no Fushigi na Tabi (Strange Journey from the Basement) by Sachiko Kashiwaba,^[2]^[3] it stars Mayu Matsuoka, Anne Watanabe and Kumiko Aso. The characters were designed by Ilya Kuvshinov. It premiered in Japan on April 26, 2019, and was screened in competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2019.^[4]^[5] It was the final Japanese film to be released in the Heisei era, five days before the 2019 Japanese imperial transition.^[6]^[7]

Voice cast

Mayu Matsuoka as Akane
Anne Watanabe as Chii
Kumiko Aso as Midori
Nao Tōyama as Pipo
Keiji Fujiwara as Zan Gu
Akiko Yajima as Doropo
Masachika Ichimura as Hippocrates

English voice cast

Lisa Reimold as Akane
Allegra Clark as Chii
TBA as Midori
Jackie Lastra as Pipo
Ben Lepley as Zan Gu
Jennifer Losi as Doropo
Zach Aguilar as Prince
Frank Todaro as Hippocrates

Release and reception

Matt Schley of The Japan Times gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, praising the animation and visuals but suggesting it as being among a number of anime films "trying to recreate the charms of Miyazaki".^[8] He concluded: "The Wonderland is not the first, and will almost definitely not be the last, to try to push the Miyazaki buttons — and while it succeeds on the surface, it lacks the deeper emotional core to make for something truly wondrous."^[8] Allan Hunter of Screen Daily wrote that the "overly busy story provides countless opportunities to create imaginative worlds and strange characters, but it also tends to feel like a string of set pieces rather than something that builds dramatic tension or momentum", feeling that "a less elaborate approach might have achieved more of an emotional impact."^[3] While noting the film's shortcomings, Twwk of Beneath the Tangles also wrote, "I could appreciate the direction, which sometimes created an intensity and urgency that made me worry for the characters, and the abounding fantasy which reminded me that I, too, had an imagination once."^[9]