In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

First of all, this review comes from a person who hasn't seen the televised Haruhi series. I've read the light novels but I never got around to watching any of the anime for whatever reason. I recently purchased The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya from a used DVD store for a couple bucks which is probably the only reason I'll have ever watched this film.One word to summarize my experience with Disappearance is "daunting". At 164 minutes, nearly three hours, this is the longest anime film I've ever sat through. Typically a movie that long, for me, requires two sittings unless I'm really into it. I watched Disappearance in one night, in one sitting, and I don't want to completely attest it to me being engaged because there were a lot of parts that I found boring.The story is that one day series protagonist Kyon wakes up and everyone he knows is different. The stoic alien Nagato is now a shy, emotive girl. Time traveling Asahina Mikuru is the same but doesn't recognize him. And most of all, Haruhi Suzumiya isn't at Kyon's school any longer and attends a private academy. Why is the world this way and can Kyon return to his own reality? The story section is where the runtime becomes a problem. If I were to speed-read the light novel this is based on, I'd probably come out of the novel a half hour sooner than I would the film. The biggest problem with Disappearance is how much fluff I felt was attached. I had the distinct impression I was watching an uncut version of the film, one where an editor or the director didn't take the time to remove the extraneous scenes. It takes nearly a half an hour just to get to the actual story, the majority of the beginning of the movie is spent with slice-of-life and comedy bits that are good for introducing the characters to a new audience and giving a sense of comradeship, but nothing more really. Given the fact that the Christmas celebration isn't the focus of the finale and hardly plays into the story other than some minor motivation for Kyon, it's strange that the movie focuses so much on the minutiae of it all. Half the introductory scenes could have been cut.The middle of the film drags as well though. There are quite a few scenes of nothing happening that are well directed and animated, sure, and also sometimes gives a glimpse into the character and his/her thoughts but I can't help but feel that much of it was pointless. While I was engaged in the mystery of what was happening and I do love the characters I was pulling my hair out at points wondering why in God's name certain scenes were drug out or even included in the final product.The ending is abrupt. Like, really abrupt. It comes out of nowhere and doesn't feel satisfactory for the two plus hours you've had to trudge through to get to that point. And it leads to twenty-ish minutes of a conclusion that, again, is extended way beyond what it should have been.This movie could have been two hours easily.The animation and sound design are fantastic though. I love Kyo-Ani's animation and they're at the top of their game here. Everyone looks like human/bug hybrids but how can you not love those smug faces and want to protect those glowing smiles? The lack of music in certain scenes is a nice touch, it feels like the director understood using music for drama and not to fill dead air.I feel that descriptions and analysis of Haruhi characters have been done to death so I'll slide by this. I love Haruhi as a character and I love the cast. I've spent years reading the light novels and some of the manga, they've been part of my anime conscience for nearly a decade. I don't feel that this movie had a lot of good development though alternate reality Nagato is amazing and I'm sad they bastardized her with that abomination of a spin-off. Nonetheless, memorable characters. Maybe not so much if you're just taking the film on its own, but definitely in the grand scheme of the franchise.Disappearance isn't a bad movie in the least and has a lot of great merits. Everything about it screams quality but the amount of fluff and padding really weighs down what would otherwise have been an extremely worthwhile adventure. As it stands, I'd still recommend it but with the caveat that it may be best enjoyed in portions.

I have been reading "The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya" manga for quite some time now. I have seen too many remixes and fan tributes to count, so you simply have to call me a fan. I was sooo glad to finally be able to see the animated version for the first time in my life. I have to admit. It wasn't as good as I thought it would be. It was a million times better! This is truly one of the most wonderful and endearing films I have ever seen in my entire life. I have seen tons of movies, so that's really saying something. This also happens to be the longest animated movie I have ever seen in my entire life.I wouldn't have had it be any shorter. If nothing else, this has shown us that animated films of any kind can be epic. Honestly, I thought this was on the same level as Miyazaki films. This is probably one of the Top 5 movies I've seen in the entire past year! I have seen so many awful movies it was such a relief to see a true masterpiece like this. The first 17 minutes are basically nothing but setting up what has already been occurring in the series. In fact, I believe Kyon himself apologizes to the audience for such a long prologue! I finally found out that the character's name is pronounced "Key-On" and not literally Kyon as I always thought.That's what I get for not watching the stuff first! Now, I really do like to think that Haruhi is in fact God. Koizumi himself says she is kind of a God but it's just a theory of his. This movie seemed to disprove the idea that she was. I mean, Kyon himself is talking about the man upstairs and people praying to him and obviously doesn't mention Haruhi. Well, it's more or less stated that Haruhi created the universe (or possibly recreated it) so that's enough of a God for me! She's a being of immense power, okay? It's also great when the characters talk about Jesus, Muhammad and Buddha and Kyon doesn't know which to pray to! I am glad to be familiar with the source material because I understood all the references that were made to the show. You have to be a fan! The gorgeous animation is what makes this so wonderful, among many other things. These characters just come across as so real to me. I love how the setting is so mundane when it's really a series about magical beings changing the Universe. I am a fan now and forever. The pacing in this film is absolutely perfect. I feel not like a second of this was wasted. It's a pity this isn't mainstream enough to appear in movie guides. It should be on the IMDb top 250! It's also the longest movie I've seen based on a TV show. It's a truly epic journey in every sense of the word.The scenes in this film are amazingly intense. Kyon could just come off a stalker in this. I love how Haruhi slowly gets her old personality back. I love the idea of another character explicitly in love with her. Well, Kyon did make out with her to save the Universe. Come on, there must be something developing from that, right? It's so intense when Kyon goes nuts over hearing where Haruhi might be. I so feel for him as he argues with himself about wanting to live in a normal world. Of course he doesn't! He even admits anyone would be crazy to admit that!It's the true devotion he shows towards Haruhi and the other characters that make this so wonderful. Asakura works great as a villain too, as the series was lacking a villain for the most part. Everything is just so beautiful with wonderful details. Kyon is perfect as a narrator. As the only non superpowered being, he is the most relatable. He even says that after all that Nagato has done (won't spoil the ending) he'll confront the alien entities to stop her from being punished. This is a wonderful and unique film in every sense of the word. ****

Grab a Snicker's folks, because this is gonna be a while.I'll never forget my first time discovering the majesty of Haruhi Suzumiya. A good friend of mine sent me a link to the dance number that ends every first season episode. I laughed and discarded it as something out of a bizarre shojo anime, which isn't usually my thing. In the Related Videos section was Haruhi's performance of God Knows. I sent it to my friend who called it his favorite scene. I was surprised to learn that not only was he a huge fan, the show actually seemed pretty interesting.Later that week we watched the first few episodes of the series together and I fell in love with its quirky, avant-garde sense of humor and oddball premise. I watched and enjoyed the rest of the series during the rest of the week and enjoyed it all (minus Endless Eight, that was a big f*** you to the fans). But the finale, The Sigh of Haruhi, left a bad taste in my mouth. It felt so anti-climactic. Not the way a series this fantastic should've ended.Lo and behold last week when I discovered that there was a film to go along with the series. The trailer sure made it look interesting. Kyon wakes up one cold morning to discover that Haruhi is gone and no one remembers her existing. Not only that but Mikuru doesn't remember him and Nagato is a human with emotions. Koizumi is nowhere to be found. Kyon decides to go on a mission to uncover the source of this disturbance and correct it. Like I said, it sounded interesting. One thing my time in the anime fandom has taught me, anime films usually aren't nearly as great as the series that spawned them. So I went into this a tad bit skeptical. I was pleasantly surprised by the film's run time; nearly 3 hours. I love long movies, but only when done right, and this movie is most definitely done right. The plot is gripping and the pacing is perfect. I was just as confused as Kyon when the film started and really felt for him every step of the way. The animation looks just like the regular episodes of the show, but in much higher quality. It was breathtaking to see the characters I love in 1080p. Admittedly, I didn't really pay that much attention to the music. I was too engrossed in what was going on to notice.The movies ends just the way the series should have. I'm not really sure if this film can be considered a finale, but it is to me. I feel like we finally have closure while still leaving things very open ended. So all in all, I loved this film. It's not very welcoming to people who are new to show, but if you already love the show, this will take it to the next level. It did for me. 10/10

I love a good bit of Japanses film and Anime. This one has great animation, direction and style which looks excellent and reminds us of why animation should not be overlooked as a medium for film. I really enjoyed the setup of the story and the direction. Using angles not normally associated with animation it created a nice contemporary feel that appealed to a more mature audience. However around the 1.30 point of a 2.40 hour movie I had to turn off, my interest and care for the characters had waned at an alarming gradient, I unfortunately found the clichés and a slowly developing and rather unexciting plot not enough to keep watching, a rarity for me.I couldn't recommend it as a stand alone Anime movie it could quite put you off the genre. This is really one for the fans of the series (which I have never seen).