Barbara C (gwynfallan)

Three disjointed segments with nothing in common other than the fact that they're short. Given the title, you start off with preconceived notions, the the first chapter "Magnetic Rose" comes at you. As you watch a phenomenal story emerges and you begin to understand the title and think you know what is to come. Wrong. "Stink Bomb" is thrown at you leaving you confused as you try to make sense of "Cannon Fodder". The last is good, not great, but it takes so long to recover from the previous segment that much of its meaning and emphasis is lost to the viewer. Additionally the animation quality/style degrades with each segment, though that is likely each director's prerogative.

As a whole I can't give Memories a high rating as it seems disjointed and lacking focus or purpose, far less than Akira Kurosawa's Dreams and those were dreams not memories. Individually, "Magnetic Rose" would earn 4-stars, "Stink Bomb" would scrape together 2-stars and "Cannon Fodder" would earn 3-stars.

Not particularly adventurous or daring, nor romantic or funny, this film is a wonderfully scripted, acted, and animated childrens' film. I say it is for children because while it is a family film, its simple straightforward story carries in it murky morality tales and is thus very much slanted toward children viewers. Additionally, I felt character information about some of the supporting cast was missing. Yes the information wasn't incredibly necessary, but it some things (like a magical being made of vegetables?!) would have made infinitely more sense.