The Promised Neverland - Live Adaptation of Critically Acclaimed and Successful Manga Series

While people were talking about the latest Zombie series in HBO, I opted to watch this movie instead which was released just few days ago. I was interested in watching this as it seemed interesting from its trailer (not the synopsis as it did not hint anything at all). Anyway, let's get to it now.

Brief Story Line

In a special orphanage called Grace Field House, a lot of children were taken care there till they reached certain age and would be adopted. Emma (Minami Hamabe - Ajin: Demi Human, Love Me, Love Me Not etc), Norman (Rihito Itagaki) and Ray (Jyo Kairi) were the most intelligent of them and always scored high in their tests. This made them became the favorites of the caretaker known as Mum (Keiko Kitagawa - The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Your Home is My Business! TV series etc).

However, all the happiness that Emma had with the rest of the kids were gone once she found out what really happened to the kid who was said to be adopted. Things got worse for them when there was a new caretaker named Krone (Naomi Watanabe - The Untold Tale of the Three Kingdoms etc) assigned to Grace Field House. Emma later decided to escape from the orphanage together with the other kids.

So what would happen to them? You can find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

OK, this movie felt quite dark and there was a fantasy element though not that strong (it was classified as dark fantasy). But what surprised me was obviously the part when we were shown what really happened to the adopted kids. From what I read on the internet, it was based on manga of the same title created by Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu that was already made into anime series as well. It would explain the strong manga vibe I felt when watching this. Now I have not read or seen that yet so I cannot say if it stayed true to the original plot. But it seemed to be garnering praise from critics and was said to be quite loyal to the main story. No wonder it was a commercial success in Japan.

The main characters of the movie were the 3 children and Mum who were nicely played by the cast. Minami Hamabe looked youthful enough to be a 15 year old girl despite she was already 20 years old when she played in the movie. Her always cheerful and smiling face was very pleasing and her very close relationship with the rest of the kids was a joy to see. I also liked the character Norman who was so protective of Emma, while Ray was the most unique one. Keiko Katagawa was truly convincing as the Mum whose facial expressions were amazing as she could easily shift her cold or warm side. Oh, Naomi Watanabe was very good too in portraying such an annoying caretaker.

The story itself was interesting as it focused on how the kids tried to escape from a place that seemed like paradise. It reminded me a bit of The Maze Runner movies, though that was more action and intense while this is more drama with little suspense. There was a bit of twist here that was not a major surprise, but it did make it more interesting. The most intriguing part was how they tried to run off with all the kids who were mostly very young and only few in their adolescence.

Btw, the film was quite long with duration of 120 minutes, though it did not make me bored. The pace was pretty standard, which could make people hoping for high intensity be a bit disappointed. The ending to me felt like it had more stories to it. And it could be so, since the manga looked to have additional plot after that ending and it also felt like not all things have been resolved. If you watched the closing credits, it was full of animations, probably taken from the manga/anime. There was no mid or post end credit scene in here.

Overall to me this was a movie that was pretty entertaining. It had few moments of suspense related to the grand escape plan and the relationship among the kids was interesting. It also had few dramatic moments though not up to the level of extreme. I also like that bit of twist towards the end. But if I got to be honest, more intensity would make me enjoy it even better. So if you have read the manga or watched the anime series, chances are you would like this one (biggest alterations as I understood was the age difference that did not seem to bother audience). But if you prefer more action/suspense then this one possibly not that satisfying.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars