Summer Wars (Sama Wozu)

2010

Summer Wars (Sama Wozu)

Critics Consensus

Family drama mixes with virtual online action in the breezy and entertaining Summer Wars.

77%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 22

88%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 4,607
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Movie Info

Kenji is a teenage math prodigy recruited by his secret crush Natsuki for the ultimate summer job - passing himself off as Natsuki's boyfriend for four days during her grandmother's 90th birthday celebration. But when Kenji solves a 2,056 digit math riddle sent to his cell phone, he unwittingly breaches the security barricade protecting Oz, a globe-spanning virtual world where millions of people and governments interact through their avatars, handling everything from online shopping and traffic control to national defense and nuclear launch codes. Now a malicious AI program called the Love Machine is hijacking Oz accounts, growing exponentially more powerful and sowing chaos and destruction in its wake. (c) GKids

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Cast

Michael Sinterniklaas
as Kenji
Brina Palencia
as Natsuki
Pam Dougherty
as Sakae
Todd Haberkorn
as Sakuma
J. Michael Tatum
as Wabisuke
Maxey Whitehead
as Kazuma
John Swasey
as Mansuke
Shelley Calene-Black
as Mariko
Lydia Mackay
as Naomi
Mike McFarland
as Shota
Monica Rial
as Yumi
Barry Yandell
as Mansaku
Chuck Huber
as Riichi
Cynthia Cranz
as Rika
John Burgmeier
as Tasuke
Christopher R. Sabat
as Katsuhiko
Christopher Sabat
as Katsuhiko
Rob McCollum
as Yorihiko
Robert McCollum
as Yorihiko
Brittney Karbowski
as Yuhei
Alison Viktorin
as Shingo
Patrick Seitz
as Kunihiko
Colleen Clinkenbeard
as Noriko
Jennifer Seman
as Kiyomi
Cherami Leigh
as Mao
Caitlin Glass
as Nana
Bill Jenkins
as Kazuo
Anastasia Munoz
as Yukiko
Jason Liebrecht
as Ryohei
Tia Ballard
as Kana
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Critic Reviews for Summer Wars (Sama Wozu)

All Critics (22) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (17) | Rotten (5)

  • Far from resorting to easy, reactionary technophobia, Hosoda shows Japan's age-old traditions being upheld throughout different generations, with the beautifully realised digital community of OZ proving as much the solution as the problem.

    Mar 28, 2011

    Anton Bitel

    Little White Lies
    Top Critic

  • The filmmakers can't keep the strands of their clumsy plot straight, but they create brilliant images and manipulate them with blithe abandon.

    Jan 20, 2011 | Full Review…

    Joe Morgenstern

    Wall Street Journal
    Top Critic

  • An enjoyably trippy Japanese animated feature from director Mamoru Hosoda, Summer Wars combines real-world drama (school crushes, testy relatives) with virtual-world dramatics.

    Jan 20, 2011 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

    Steven Rea

    Philadelphia Inquirer
    Top Critic

  • The story's been done better (and balder) in Die Hard With A Vengeance

    Jan 16, 2011 | Rating: c | Full Review…

    Amy Nicholson

    I.E. Weekly
    Top Critic

  • The relationship between Kenji and Natsuki unfolds as blandly as a Debra Messing rom-com.

    Jan 14, 2011 | Rating: 2/4 | Full Review…

    Stephanie Merry

    Washington Post
    Top Critic

  • It's a sugar rush of candy-colored images, a beautifully drawn tale of family tradition and a bracing brain tonic about the Internet's charms and vulnerabilities.

    Jan 7, 2011 | Rating: 3/4

    Lisa Kennedy

    Denver Post
    Top Critic
View All Critic Reviews (22)

Audience Reviews for Summer Wars (Sama Wozu)

  • Nov 01, 2013
    A rogue artificial intelligence wrecks havoc on "Oz," an omnipresent virtual reality network of the near future, seizing control of most of the world's computers; a young math genius is the only hope to save the infrastructure. Decent juvenilia with outstanding psychedelic animations in the nonsensical but beautiful cyberspace battle scenes.
    Greg S Super Reviewer
  • Feb 02, 2012
    In "Summer Wars," Kenji works as a part-time programmer with his friend Sakuma for OZ, a worldwide operating system/social network. He takes a break when he is invited by Natsuki to attend her great-grandmother's 90th birthday party. But he is horrified when she tries to pass him off as her fiance.(On the plus side, he turns an adorable shade of red.) That's not the worst thing that happens to him that weekend as OZ is corrupted and crashed by an outside source that is traced to him. So, he does the one thing he is supposed to when confronted by a computer problem which is to find the nearest kid to explain it to him. Even with its share of banalities and contrivances, "Summer Wars" is still an enjoyable animated film. While the sequences inside OZ are much more impressive than the ones set in the real world(and it would have been fun to have explored OZ a little more), the emotional core of the film is the extended Jinnouchi family that has more than its share of members employed in public service with the movie definitely in favor of collective action. In this way, you could say that Japan is not only a country that respects its traditions(as one family member recounts the family's military battles) but one that also looks towards the future. Just don't keep all of your eggs in one basket.
    Walter M Super Reviewer
  • Jun 18, 2011
    Japanese animation with a boy-girl romance, a wacky extended family , virtual reality all mixed up into one. I usually find these kind of plots a bit tedious, and I lazily watched it in an American dub too, which rarely does these kind of films any favours. But it definitely had a charm, a colourful alternative reality and some nice little human interactions before the big-chase-to-save-the-world-before-it-blows-up kicks in for the action junkies. . <img src="http://www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/jicc/images/events/summer-wars-large.jpg">
    Lesley N Super Reviewer
  • May 09, 2011
    From the people who brought us The girl who lept through time, which i loved, another slice of beautiful animation, and at its core, a relevent story of todays age. the perils of online living, here the world is connected to one online system, everything is on there, and when a code is broken unknowingly, it allows a hacker to mess with the system and cause destruction at highest order if not stopped, all this done through online consumers and acounts. certainly a warning of todays age, while in the system, avatars take control and the fight continues. wonderful animation, and engageing story, it makes sence when watched, as the hacked system causes mayhem on outside world, while digital world inside is very sci fi. a entertaining blend of anime
    scott g Super Reviewer
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