Oblivion Island is a CGI animated film that was released in 2009 to commemorate Fuji Televisions fiftieth anniversary. As it mentions boldly on the DVD case it went on to win three animation awards and became nominated for two others. This is quite a feat seeing how its basically another Alice in wonderland type story and those have become pretty much a dime a dozen in recent years. But looking past that when the film is taken at its own merits did it really deserve those awards? Lets take a look. The movie opens with a stylized piece of animation that tells the audience about a race of fox spirits who sneak around your property stealing any of your possessions thatve become neglected or unloved. This story is being told by Harukas mother whos being visited by her husband and daughter on what will soon become her death bed. Haruka says she wont get visited by the foxes because she takes care of her possessions including a beautiful mirror that her mother gave her. I wonder where this is going. Fast forward about ten years to when Haruka is a sixteen year old student her father is working hard to support her and right off the bat Haruka comes off as a very unlikeable character. She walks into the house with a friend from school sees that its still a mess and complains that her father doesnt clean the house often enough. Shes pissed that he drank her ginger ale as well as at the fact that hes rarely home. Because of his job. Wheres the Facebook Parenting guy when you need him? Looking at her clock somehow reminds her of her mothers mirror which she lost several years ago so she visits a shrine to the fox spirits to ask for it back. Her keys fall behind the stairs to the shrine so she crawls underneath to get them back. She places them on the step but before she can get out a fox spirit runs up and takes them offering us our first actual plothole of the moviewait for it. She follows him to the base of a tree where she gets sucked into the Land of the Lost. At least thats what Im calling it. She meets up with the terrified fox and accuses him of theft but he reassures her that he doesnt steal. He reclaims abandoned and neglected objects. Okay so there are two plotholes here. First of all yes he just STOLE her keys which had only been on the step for a few minutes. Not abandoned not neglected. And despite being a fox he didnt notice her there less than a foot in front of his face. Did Alan Grant write that scene? And Im sorry but if these fox spirits were really this careless wed have captured at least one by now. Okay back to the story... She promises to give him her keys if he helps her to get her mirror back which she believes must be down here. This is where the plot finally takes off and trust me it has more holes in it than Spongebob Squarepants eating swiss cheese in the middle of a shootout. Production wise Oblivion Island is pretty underwhelming. Its a fully CGI movie so it doesnt have the typical anime problems... Like low frame rates and frozen images... But its still really cheap looking. The style and quality of the animation seem like an awkward cross between Mr.Stain in Junk Alley and a Kingdom Hearts cutscene. The artwork is colorful and highly detailed but at the same time bland and gummy looking. There are times when it breaks away from this happy color palette long enough to really shine like the real world scenes and a giant skeletal beast that they deal with late in the movie but for the most part this movie is visually unremarkable. The story is well paced and never boring but the amount of contrived plot twists and broken physics rules that they had to use to tell the story is just absurd. Despite his species being prevalent in the opening animation and the basis of the entire japanese myth Teos the only fox spirit we ever meet. At one point in the movie Teo has to give a speech about humans not being all that bad although hes the only character in the movie who was ever afraid of her. He shows them a windup toy plane she built and they react like theyve never seen one before. Her mirror was supposedly stolen from the Baron by some mysterious underground thieves but when they go underground to retrieve it theres nobody down there who looks capable of such a feat. Just creepy dolls slimy bugs and a sortacool giant monster that looks like a cross between a rancor and an ugly quilt. But my real problem with this movie above all else is the ending. As ridiculous and dumblyplotted as this movie was it could have been saved by having a smart ending. As it turned out when they came back to the surface with the mirror the Baron was waiting at that location... Somehow... and takes it along with his new prisoner Haruka. Now this is what I was hoping would happen Upon entering his castle Haruka notices that the Baron really does love and treasure her mirror. Its like a comfort blanket to him. Being without it for so long has driven him mad and having it back his life is complete again. She realizes that she doesnt need some mirror to remind her of her mother because the memories in her heart are enough. She agrees to leave this world empty handed but not empty hearted as shes taking a valuable life lesson and several steps towards maturity along with her. Of course that doesnt happen. A wont tell you exactly what actually happens but to put it in broad strokes The Baron is a Bond villain and the mirror is a MacGuffin. The entire third act of this obviously easterninspired movie is nothing but an explosion of westernized cliches. Haruka learns to appreciate her father and her possessions but she never really grows or develops as a character because Spoiler alert she got exactly what she came for. I own a 12 inch stuffed Bulbasaur that my father won for me at a carnival when I was little. I love it treasure it and still own it. Its on my dresser as we speak. But if one of my little cousins saw it and fell in love with it Id surrender it in a heartbeat. Why? Because when you grow up your childhood relics deserve to be with someone who needs them more than you. Toy Story 3 nailed this idea and in a different way so did Labyrinth both of which are American movies. Overall its a pretty bad movie by all accounts but its not terrible. Its watchable. Its safe and entertaining for younger audiences at least those who are young enough to watch The Santa Clause without asking any questions. I give this movie a 5/10. I dont think it really deserved any of those awards it won but its worth a rental.