The good (As in, why I didn't give it only one star):The art and animation in this movie were excellent The extremely large cast of characters is very well managed, there are very few that fall completely to the sidelines, story or writing wise The plot is easily digestible for those who are younger or newer to the mediumThe bad: The plot was mediocre at best, with the way the MC was brought into the plot utterly unrealistic and stereotypical for anime being one of its many unoriginal aspects, however, I could've set aside my qualms about the plot if not for the digital side of the filmThe ugly (As in, here's where I make an itemized list so it's not too ragey):1. The world of OZ is portrayed as impossibly immersive considering the fact that it uses mouse and keyboard or hand-held controls2. OZ is given an insane amount of access to the world. Considering that even UPS uses an internal network for its in-hub computers, it is unbelievable that computers with control over public works, infrastructure, satellites, and nuclear power plants would be connected to this social network on steroids.3. The "hacking" is so utterly nonsensical that to point out every single issue would take up the rest of this relatively short review 4. Real life martial arts skills do not translate to video game skills 5. A combat control scheme that requires use of the entire keyboard is utter nonsense and would be considered trash by anyone with even a small amount of gaming experience, and therefore should not have been even remotely popular6. The number of different platforms OZ is accessible through is difficult to believe, mostly in terms of the DS. Plausible, but unlikely.7. The supercomputer should not have been able to have OZ installed on it out of the box, installing an OS on the thing should've taken most of the time they had8. There should have been no way for people to "give" the girl their avatars in the end9. In-game proximity should have had nothing to do with whether the hacking AI could steal one's accountThere's more, but just remembering this movie is starting to upset me, so I'll leave it at that.

Summer Wars is one of the most ambitious animes to exist, ambitious doesn't always equal greatness on film as a result of being over-ambitious but Summer Wars is one of those that gets it right. Some characters are better developed than others, the main family members are very compellingly real but some of the side characters are sketchily written. If the film had less characters than it did the character development would have been even better.The animation is just wonderful though and stylistically unlike any other I've seen, the colours are eye-popping and the backgrounds are so richly detailed and textured. None of it felt confusing to me. The cyber-battles are particularly strong in this regard, the action itself is thrilling and the visuals positively dazzle. Summer Wars has a music score that is both rousing and ethereal, and luckily mood-wise when matched with the animation and the tone of the storytelling it never jars. There is also a thoughtful script that handles its emotional themes very touchingly and remarkably maturely, while the story covers a lot but despite exploring several themes it doesn't feel too much. The family themes are ones that really resonate and charm, and while the message is not the most original it's a truthful message that doesn't patronise. The lead characters are engaging and the voice acting, both in Japanese and dubbing, is dynamic and expressive.All in all, a beautifully executed anime and shouldn't disappoint anybody who likes Wolf Children and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. It's ambitious but apart from the writing of some of the characters it doesn't feel too much so. 9/10 Bethany Cox

As someone who watches many movies, this movie had it's archetypes that are often used. The kid who becomes a man, saving the world, the popular girl and the less than outstanding guy.With all this in mind, I was pleasantly surprised by the this movie. The characters weren't exceptionally over built, nor artificial, the family dynamic was fun to watch, and the series of twists and turns that occurred as the movie progressed really were inspiring. This movie may have used common plots, but it did in a way that was both inviting, intriguing, and most of all enjoyable. If you have 100 minutes to sit down, and watch a movie of laughs, loss, and self growth, definitely give it a try

Every year we received a movie trailer for some new film that comes with the subtitle "the family movie of the year". I've never understood the term, until when I watched Summer Wars, and after that I understand, because this is the one and only "family movie".The story of the film starts pretty standard: one guy that has to pretend to be boyfriend of a girl to keep grandma happy on her birthday... We meet the family, as we meet any other film family: full of crazy and charismatic members... and then the movie breaks down: a computer virus threatens to bring down the net and also start and finish war, if possible... and everything for some mistakes happened on the family... we witness the struggle for survival, not of humanity, but a family, a family that needs to keep together and get everything for themselves... The movie goes up and up every second, and has one of the most crazy, "adrenalystic" climaxes in cinema ever... and will leave you with your nails scratching your sofa... it's simply perfect.The mix of traditional animation with cel-shade and cgi is beautiful, the virtual world allow for a lot of creativity, and the real world looks so full of life... this is a movie to enjoy on full HD.In the end, this is a true story of how you always can rely on your family, no matter what bad the situation be... and you will love it...