Fans had been waiting for the release of Ladybug & Cat Noir, The Movie Since September 2018
July 28th was the day that forever changed the Miraculous Ladybug franchise. Since September 2018, Miraculous Ladybug fans have been waiting for the release of Ladybug & Cat Noir, The Movie, the film adaptation of the television show, Miraculous Ladybug. Six years later, fans can’t help but be overwhelmed by the sheer disappointment in Jeremy Zag’s $86 million dollar production.
Production was suspended numerous times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as struggles to finish the 4th and 5th seasons of the acclaimed television series. Ezra Weisz, the English dubbing director and voice actor for the film and animated series, had claimed in a Twitch interview that the original scripts had been rewritten several times to get the story “right”. Initially, it was supposed to be released in the summer of 2021.
It had a lot to live up to. The question is: did it succeed in meeting the expectations of fans around the world?
I’d argue that it didn’t.
Don’t get me wrong, it was what we were expecting. We knew that the storyline wouldn’t follow the same circumstances, but rather follow a simpler plot to reduce shooting time, and would be suited for younger audiences. Jeremy Zag, the director and co-writer of the movie, claimed that the plot was going to be similar to and respectful of the original animated series.
The plots of Marinette’s fear of social interaction, Adrien’s ability to charm her whilst remaining oblivious, and Shadow Moth’s reaction to discovering his son’s superhero identity were not only rushed but also did not reflect what the show has become.
Season 5, which to this day, has been airing its episodes through pirated sites, portrayed the contrary; Adrien and Marinette weren’t clueless any longer — Marinette was confident, more so as Ladybug. Moreover, Shadow Moth’s darkened heart led him to akuma-tize (that is, turning an ordinary angry person into a villain) his own son…more than once.
Even before the release of season 4, in Season 3, Cat Blanc exhibited how Gabriel Agreste would react to his son’s superhero identity. Manipulative, disregard for Adrien’s wellbeing, and not a single second thought towards his efforts in obtaining the Ladybug and Cat Noir miraculous.
According to Licensing International, the grand majority of Miraculous Ladybug’s fanbase is between the ages of 15-25. Yet this new interpretation of Miraculous Ladybug took away from what Zag had professed at first. The film is incredibly child-like in the way it follows an incredibly rudimentary plotline, where the villain’s problems could be solved with a simple miraculous sentence, a “heel realization”. Hawk Moth’s reasoning in the animated series is a lot more complex. As well, it withdrew from character development in its main cast (that have grown in television series) and made it clear just how much of a standard there was for its success in the show’s portrayal.
Us “Miraculers” expected a better approach to its writing, as well as further acknowledgment of how much its characters have developed. We don’t believe it was everything it could’ve been.
