Watch Kids' Reviews of
HINOKIO

The Japanese movie, Hinokio: Intergalactic Love, is about a boy named Satoru who uses a robot that his father gave him to enter back into the world. Satoru is dealing with depression from his mom's death. He begins to stay away from the outside world and sends his robot, which he can control, to school. Hinokio, the robot, begins to experience what Satoru wants in real life. I recommend Hinokio for the KIDS FIRST!! Film Festival. This is a sweet, heartwarming movie. It shows how sensitive kids can be, especially dealing with death. I believe young kids and tweens would definitely enjoy and relate to it. Reviewed by KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Kamren W., age 8.

This is a unique and clever coming-of-age film that follows a boy who uses a robot to connect with the real world after a traumatizing event. This film is absolutely amazing with a cast of very talented child actors and an engaging story. Even though our protagonist is represented by a robot, this film does not lack human emotion. It has your heart in a vice several times with the characters' intimate interactions. It is in Japanese with English subtitles which narrows its audience to kids old enough to read sub-titles quickly enough to keep up with the action. If you are able to provide captions it's worth it. I highly recommend this film for ages 9 to 18, and younger if they can read well. And, I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Hinokio is an amazingly unique Japanese sci-fi movie from director Takahiko Akiyama which is centered on a boy, Satoru Iwamoto, who has been confined to a wheelchair for a year after a car accident which resulted in his being disabled as well as his mother's death. Satoru is so traumatized by the death of his mother and his inability to walk that he doesn't leave his room, and instead uses a robot (nicknamed "Hinokio" after a special type of wood used in its construction, and its similarities to the children's tale "Pinocchio") to experience the outside world.

The story is all about Satoru's journey through life and his own self discovery at the same time. Through the robot he controls, Hinokio, Satoru makes many friends such as the video game-loving Kenta and his closest friend Jun. Satoru has many fun experiences with his friends, fishing with Jun and camping with his entire class, but they're all experienced through his robot persona and, as such, they just don't feel quite right to him. He can't fully enjoy what he's doing in life since he's really just operating a robot from within his room. Because of this, Satoru installs a program in the robot which allows him to feel what the robot feels. It's his attempt to make his experiences more real. His plan works but it brings out both the good and the bad feelings he faces in the world and almost he dies because of them.

Hinokio brings out a lot of emotions, some happy and full of relief while others are sad and full of danger. The appearance of the robot Hinokio and the story behind the boy who controls it is really moving from the moment he walks into the classroom until the credits roll down the screen. Hinokio makes you feel something and that's a quality that most movies don't have.

On the visual side, the robot Hinokio is very visually appealing and blends in nearly seamlessly to the world around it. The acting is also very good, in particular, Mikako Tabe who plays the role of Jun. The dialogue and inflection is really effective in keeping the atmosphere emotionally charged, even when it's said in a language I don't know (I watched using English subtitles, with the audio in Japanese).

Overall, Hinokio is a very intriguing and well-made film that digs deep into the necessity of relationships between people, displaying just how important and life-changing those relationships can be. Hinokio has a short fight scene where Satoru uses the robot to defend his friend Jun from a group of older "bullies" along with some virtual violence from within a computer game, but the violence was mild enough to fit within the KIDS FIRST! Criteria.

I give Hinokio a strong rating of 4 stars out of 5 and highly recommend it for ages 8 to 18. I believe even younger children will enjoy the robot interacting with the world, even though they may not grasp the moral implications of the film.

Reviewed by Kyle Burda, KIDS FIRST! Reviewer

This is a very unique and poignant coming-of-age story of loss and first love. Satoru is a withdrawn boy who uses a very advanced remote-controlled robot (Hinokio) to communicate with his schoolroom from home. Through the eyes of the robot, Satoru experiences real life friendships and his first real love. Eventually he realizes that he must go out into the real world.