Neddy Merrill Truthfully, I was lost trying to follow this South Korean important but I suspect it didn't make that much sense in the original Korean. It seemingly deals with a boy who finds a magic marble (I wonder what that would be worth on Antiques Roadshow?) which grants him entry into a magic realm where the furry Mari flies around on a big...uh dog maybe? The fantasy realm takes Jun-Ho out of his rather poor, rural world where his parent own a fish shop. That's about it as far as the plot goes but yet the 86 minute running time still crawls on by. Having said all that, it is a beautiful exercise in animation particularly the opening seagull sequence.

jpb58 This was my first-watched Korean anime, from director Seong-Kang Lee, called My Beautiful Girl, Mari (2002). The artwork and the music are truly beautiful. This looked different from much Japanese anime I've seen. In many of those anime they seem to try and hide Japanese facial features (i.e. minimize slanted eyes). In this film the children look Korean. I think it's refreshing.The story is about a withdrawn boy named Nam Woo whose father committed suicide. His mother is starting to date again and he's feeling neglected and ignored; even when the mother tries to arrange outings for her and her son and her new love interest Nam Woo has to be cajoled into going. He'd rather stay home and play with his cat.The boy has one close male friend; they are almost like brothers, however this friend is about to go away to boarding school, leaving Nam Woo feeling even more deserted by the people he loves. His grandmother has a heart attack and is sent to the hospital. Possibly another death in the family.Dealing with all the angst of growing up is never easy and so begins the strange adventure, whether real or imagined - it's never fully revealed, between Nam Woo and a beautiful voiceless girl who appears before him whenever he visits the top of the local lighthouse and rubs a marble with a tiny female image inside. Mari lives on the back of a giant white-pink dog who appears in the sky like a cloud. She takes Nam Woo on beautiful journeys and helps him to heal from his loneliness and sense of abandonment.Nam Woo's friend's father owns a charter boat and one day he's out doing an extra run to make money for his son's school tuition, when a huge storm appears over the water and shoreline. Nam Woo implores his friend to come with him and they run to the lighthouse, hoping that Mari can stop the storm and prevent the man's death. But Mari won't come when Nam Woo rubs the marble. The lighthouse is breaking up and it looks like a tidal wave is about to hit. Suddenly a bolt of lightning hits the lighthouse and Mari descends from on high, spreading a veil of peace, light, and beauty around everyone, calming the sea. The friend's father is saved.The friend goes off to his new school on the train, and as a parting gift Nam Woo hands him a little box. Inside is the treasured marble.Several years pass and Nam Woo and his friend are grown men. They have jobs in different parts of the country. The friend makes an effort to visit Nam Woo however -- and at the train station where they say goodbye the friend hands Nam Woo back the little box with the marble inside.Perhaps My Beautiful Girl Mari was a little slow at the start, but it's a dreamy, relaxing picture and so you should be prepared to be in a quiet room when you watch it, without disturbances, so you can enjoy its particular style of magic. 9 out of 10. If you love anime, don't miss it.

ebossert Like art-house movies, I have a love/hate relationship with anime. Sometimes I'm treated to a magical Miyazaki film, a quaint comedy like "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time", or an excellent romance like "5 Centimeters Per Second." Other times, however, I'm forced to sit through boring tripe like "Serial Experiments Lain" or "Grave of the Fireflies." I'm disappointed to report that "My Beautiful Girl Mari" safely rests within the latter category.The big problem with this movie is that there's no development for any of the characters and all of the relationships are wafer thin. You barely get to see the boy spend time with his family, which is allegedly the primary cause for his discontent with his personal life. It might have been a good idea to spend a little more time within the household so the viewer gets a better understanding of why this kid is so depressed all the time. And what's with that girl at his school? Did she serve any purpose whatsoever in this movie? It's no understatement to say that 90% of the running time is dedicated to showing the kid and his friend doing all sorts of dull activities like sleeping, walking around an old lighthouse, and other trivialities. Some of the swimming scenes were good, but that's about it. I don't know about you, but when I was a kid I would actually have fun when spending time with my friends, and a lot of the games we invented could easily fill a number of movies. A child's imagination is quite impressive when attempting to find something fun to do. It's too bad the filmmakers here were content with unimaginative wandering and dull-as-dirt filler material. Watch "Ponyo" (2008) for a more successful endeavor.But I still haven't even gotten to the worst part of this movie. And let me tell you, it's a definitive black eye to the filmmakers of "My Beautiful Girl Mari." What is it? Quite frankly, there is virtually no time spent in the fantasy realm with Mari. This completely cripples the entire premise of the movie, and one scene in particular makes this perfectly clear. At the 50-minute mark the kid worries about how "all of this might end" even though he had literally spent less than 2 MINUTES with the girl throughout the ENTIRE FILM! That, my friends, is HORRIBLE relationship development.Don't believe me? Try this. Imagine that you're on a first date. You meet this person at a restaurant, introduce yourself, and then sit at the table. While waiting for the server to bring you your drinks you say, "Gee sweety, I don't know how I'd live without you." Rest assured that you'll never get a second date.It's really a shame, because the animation in this film is gorgeous at times, but the whole project falls in on itself with an uninspired script. Did the filmmakers not know that the premise they're attempting to sell is the conflict between reality and fantasy? Don't you think it would be a good idea to fully develop the difficulties of reality and fully develop the comforts of fantasy? Neither of which is given enough attention here. What we end up with is lots and lots of dull filler. Why do some filmmakers feel the need to make anime films as bland as humanly possible? It's no exaggeration to say that the title of the film should be changed from "My Beautiful Girl Mari" to "My Boring Life."

dbborroughs Its been a week since I've seen this movie and it still haunts me. In its way its one of the finest animated films I've seen. Its not perfect and I'm not certain that its for everyone but for those who it clicks with will find that they have found a new friend.The story is told mostly in flashback.It concerns the summer when two boyhood friends were just about to be separated. As they prepare to be apart for the first time they find their lives are changing rapidly. Added into the mix are flights of fantasy, perhaps, as first one and then both boys are pulled into a strange world.What exactly transpires isn't wholly clear, which is fine, since this is essentially the memories of one of the adults of that magic summer. What happens, fantastic or not is simply reported as real, and we are forced to sort out if its real or not. Memory plays tricks and we don't remember everything, or even always correctly. You could say that how one sees the film marks what sort of person you are.This is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. There is a quality to the films images that has rarely been equaled in animated film. Several times the sheer beauty of what I was seeing brought me to tears.The best part of the film is how it makes you feel like a child. Things transpire and you FEEL what its like to be a child. This is not an intellectual knowing that this is what its like to be a child, rather the film physically makes you FEEL what its like. I can't explain it other than to say its pure magic. I've seen literally tens of thousands of films and I've never felt like this ever.Perhaps the only downside to the film is the odd nature of the telling. As I said things are not always instantly clear with what's happening. This is particularly noticeable at the start of the film where are characters are adults and they speak rather obliquely about whats going on. There is also several moments in main narrative where things seem a bit odd. While the oddness passes there is a lingering feeling, oh so very very minor, that something is amiss.But the flaws are minor quibbles. This is one of the great animated films and proof that not all the best animation is coming from America or Japan. If you get the chance see this movie. There is something very special about it.