If the primary 5 minutes of Scarlet had been the whole film, I’d have been completely happy.
In these opening moments, director Mamoru Hosoda (Belle) transports viewers to a incredible realm, one the place the previous and future intertwine. Right here, a red-haired younger lady wanders a desert wasteland full of discarded armor and slow-creeping magma flows. The clouds within the sky above ripple like ocean waves. A gargantuan dragon swims by means of the air, leaving crackles of lightning in its wake.
The scene is disorienting and dazzling in equal measure, particularly as Hosoda toggles between the desert and a glowing, liminal house the place the younger lady wears not the cloaked garb of a hardened wasteland survivor, however the sensible white robe of a princess. It is whereas sporting this robe that the younger lady remembers who she is and why she’s within the desert. At that time, Scarlet goes from fascinating fantasy to a completely gonzo epic.
That is as a result of the lady’s recollections reveal that Scarlet is not solely a surreal fantasy story. It is also an adaptation of Hamlet. And whereas a high-concept, animated adaptation of Hamlet may be nice — look no additional than The Lion King for proof — Scarlet principally chafes surprisingly towards its supply materials. The result’s a movie that is confounding in its adaptation ambitions, but nonetheless manages to be showstopping.
How does Scarlet tie to Hamlet?
Credit score: Studio Chizu
The younger lady we first meet within the wasteland is Scarlet (voiced by Mana Ashida), the princess of Denmark. As a younger youngster, she witnessed her Uncle Claudius (voiced by Kôji Yakusho) commit a violent coup towards her father (voiced by Masachika Ichimura), executing him proper in entrance of her. (A far cry from Hamlet‘s Claudius stealthily slipping poison within the king’s ear.)
That Scarlet‘s tackle Claudius has him so clearly and visibly answerable for her father’s homicide signifies that Scarlet does not have to tug from Hamlet’s bag of tips to evaluate her uncle’s guilt. No pretending to be mad or placing on calculated performs for her! As a substitute, she jumps straight into battle coaching to take Claudius down. Sadly for her, Claudius is 2 steps forward and easily has her killed.
However dying shouldn’t be the top for Scarlet like it’s for Hamlet. She awakens within the Otherworld, the unusual afterlife on show in Scarlet‘s first scenes. Because the previous and future are one within the Otherworld, each useless soul winds up right here — together with Claudius’. Now, Scarlet has another likelihood at vengeance, however even the afterlife comes with peril. Die right here, and also you vanish into nothingness. And with armies of useless troopers and Claudius’ henchmen standing between her and her aim, Scarlet should accomplish the inconceivable if she is to see her aim by means of to the top.
Why is Scarlet even an adaptation of Hamlet within the first place?
Credit score: Studio Chizu
From right here, Scarlet primarily turns into a number of totally different motion pictures. It is partly a fantasy journey during which Scarlet should struggle hordes of troopers from varied time intervals. The motion sequences are riveting: simply the correct amount of brutal, whereas pushing Scarlet’s appreciable prowess to its limits.
Scarlet can be partly an anti-war treatise, with heaps of pro-immigration and pro-refugee messaging. The previous manifests itself within the arrival of Hijiri (voiced by Masaki Okada), a present-day nurse who desires nothing greater than to heal the struggling residents of the Otherworld. He is staunchly anti-conflict, a counterpoint to Scarlet’s bloodthirsty nature.
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Scarlet’s nature is echoed in the remainder of the war-torn Otherworld, which runs rampant with bandits preying on caravans of harmless souls merely attempting to make it to Eternity. That promised heaven lies on the high of a mountain vary, however Claudius has arrange store in a close-by fortress and walled off the trail to Eternity from the Otherworld’s plenty. The wall imagery attracts a transparent parallel to present anti-immigration and anti-refugee insurance policies, echoing Trumpian philosophies of exclusion. Subtlety, thy title is not Hosoda.
The pairing of those huge, if simplistic, concepts with Scarlet’s Otherworld odyssey is already so much to soak up, and that is with out the Hamlet adaptation component. Following Scarlet’s dying, the story ceases to turn into the Hamlet you understand. But Hosoda nonetheless places twists on acquainted Hamlet parts. Scarlet should face down minor Hamlet characters like Cornelius (voiced by Yutaka Matsushige) and Voltemand (voiced by Kôtarô Yoshida), with Hosoda turning these bit components into online game mini-bosses. (Shakespeare’s main feminine characters get far much less to do: Ophelia is solely absent, and Queen Gertrude steals the present in a single scene solely to vanish in any other case.) Characters recurrently communicate in traces from the play, prompting me to jolt up and gasp on the display like a Marvel fan recognizing a key Easter egg in an MCU film.
Then after all, there’s the dying of all of it. As a personality, Hamlet is fascinated by dying, therefore his traditional question of “to be, or to not be.” Scarlet strands its Hamlet stand-in in dying, inflicting her to struggle previous the bounds of her personal mortality. It is an attention-grabbing juxtaposition, but one Scarlet not often ponders. As a substitute, it focuses on Scarlet’s selection between vengeance or breaking the cycle of violence. At that time, all of the Hamlet references start to really feel extra like window dressing than story parts with deeper thematic resonance, and Scarlet‘s cohesion suffers wildly in consequence.
Scarlet remains to be a stunning, unforgettable trip.
Credit score: Studio Chizu
With all these transferring items, there is no doubt that Scarlet is as maximalist as may be. And that stage of boldness, of throwing all the pieces on the wall and hoping it sticks, makes even Scarlet‘s most weird moments thrilling. Positive, “Hamlet, however make it warrior princess” does not utterly maintain collectively over the course of Scarlet‘s two-hour runtime, however it’s undeniably thrilling to observe one thing so sudden play out.
The place Scarlet excels essentially the most is the world-building of the Otherworld, which Hosoda renders in an intriguing mix of 3D and 2D animation. At instances, the combination of 2D facial expressions towards a extra photorealistic 3D panorama may be jarring, but the impact solely provides to the strangeness of the Otherworld.
The Otherworld affords up a wealthy background the place Scarlet and Hijiri’s quest can unfold. Its inhabitants come from a mix of cultures and time intervals, creating an exquisite aesthetic conflict. Elsewhere, small particulars within the panorama, like a quarry filled with cairns, communicate to the various, many useless souls who’ve handed by means of.
Nonetheless, the true standout of the Otherworld is its dragon, an enormous beast whose conceal is peppered with the weapons of those that have tried to slay it. It roars into view throughout scenes of carnage, bringing earth-shattering lightning and thunder together with it. The dragon’s fearsome look, mixed with composer Taisei Iwasaki’s thrumming rating, makes for an unforgettable theatrical viewing expertise. Really, I felt like I used to be levitating out of my seat.
Now, does Scarlet ever dive deeper into the lore across the dragon, or its function within the Otherworld? Probably not. However did I care? Not that a lot!
That mentality sums up the easiest way to strategy Scarlet as a complete. There isn’t any doubting it is messy, however there’s additionally no doubting its capability to astonish.
Scarlet begins an unique IMAX engagement beginning Feb. sixth earlier than opening nationwide on Feb. 13.
UPDATE: Feb. 4, 2026, 3:24 p.m. EST This overview was first revealed on Oct. 7, 2025, out of movie’s U.S. premiere on the New York Movie Competition. It has been up to date to mirror viewing choices.
