is a 2021 Japanese animated science fantasy film written and directed by Mamoru Hosoda and produced by Studio Chizu. The story is inspired by the 1756 French fairy tale Beauty and the Beast by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont as well as the 1991 Disney animated film.
Belle premiered on July 15, 2021, at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, where it was well-received by critics with a standing ovation that lasted fourteen minutes. The film was additionally dubbed into foreign languages (English, Chinese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, Greek, German and Polish). It was released theatrically in Japan on July 16, 2021. GKIDS has licensed the film in North America, with a nationwide release date of January 14, 2022, and previews in select IMAX theaters on January 12, while Anime Limited released the film in the United Kingdom on February 4, 2022.
Belle is the third-highest-grossing Japanese film of 2021, accounting for in box-office rankings as of December 12, 2021.
Plot
17-year-old Suzu Naito lives in the rural Kōchi Prefecture of Japan with a lost passion for singing and writing songs. As a child, Suzu witnessed her mother rescue a girl from a flooding river at the cost of her own life. She resents her mother for "abandoning" her for a stranger's child, has grown distant from her father, but remains in contact with a group of older choir teachers who were her mother's friends. She is alienated from most of her classmates, with the exception of her childhood crush and self-appointed protector Shinobu Hisatake, popular girl Ruka Watanabe, sportsman Shinjiro "Kamishin" Chikami, and her genius best friend Hiroka "Hiro" Betsuyaku.
At Hiro's insistence, Suzu signs into the popular virtual world "U" and is appointed a beautiful avatar with freckles (through the AI engine's biometric analysis), whom she names "Bell", the English translation of her own name. Upon logging in, she finds herself capable of singing again. With the assistance of Hiro, who appoints herself Bell's manager and producer, Bell becomes a hit on U's music charts, and people start referring to her as "Belle", meaning "beautiful" in French.
During one of Belle's concerts, an infamously strong and near-unbeatable user, "The Dragon" (or "The Beast"), arrives, fleeing from the Justices, a vigilante group led by the self-righteous Justin, who fight the Dragon and accuse him of disturbing the peace of U. Justin plans to unveil the Dragon's identity to the public using a specialized program mostly reserved for U's owners. Intrigued by the Dragon, Suzu begins to gather information about him. She discovers that he is popular amongst children, who consider him to be their hero, particularly a kid named Tomo who was on the news following his mother's death. Belle searches U for the Dragon and is led to his hidden castle by a mysterious angel avatar. She meets the Dragon and his five guardian AIs. Belle and the Dragon grow close. In the real world, Ruka confides to Suzu that she has a crush on Kamishin. Suzu helps the two confess their feelings.
In U, Justin captures and interrogates Belle, threatening to unveil her identity to the world if she refuses to cooperate. The Dragon's AIs rescue Belle, but their intervention allows Justin and his group to locate the Dragon's castle and burn it down. The Dragon flees before Belle can find him. Suzu and Hiro work to find out the Dragon's real identity before Justin can and warn him. They find a live video feed of Tomo singing a song only Belle and the Dragon know; Tomo is the angel avatar, and his older brother Kei is the Dragon. Both boys are being physically and verbally abused by their father; Kei's protectiveness over Tomo is what gives the Dragon his unbeatable strength in U. Suzu contacts Kei offering help. Kei does not believe that she is Belle, and generally distrusts everyone who offers him help, since nobody has ever followed through. Shinobu, Ruka, Kamishin, and the choir teachers reveal their knowledge of Belle's true identity and urge Suzu to sing to gain Kei's trust. Suzu unveils herself to the world in U and sings. Kei decides to trust her and tries to contact her again. When Kei's father sees that evidence of his abuse has been posted online, he terminates their internet connection before Kei can tell Suzu their address.