SU: the movie

"how did a loser like you become savior of the universe?"

"i changed,"

i grew up with steven universe. through formative years of my life, i got to know its characters and watched them change along with me; i mourned their losses, celebrated their victories, and rewatched episodes of the show countless times. that last bit less so near the end of the show’s run, as college started, but still. I love steven universe.

that’s why it makes me so so happy to be able to enjoy this movie as much as i do. it’s been talked up to me, most recently by my wife, who i just finished a rewatch of the original show with, but with media this close to my heart, i’m very careful. i’m sometimes loath to admit it, but change is terrifying when it comes to something i hold this dear

it turns out, though, that my friends are still my friends! our friends are still our friends! everyone’s grown but the roots are the same, and getting to see them in the new context of the world they’re building through happily ever after was just the start i needed this movie to have to hook me back in.

and ! and and ! connie gives steven a kiss on the cheek to start the number off, which is just. gah, ! it warms my heart, even as the lyrics of the song (and the hour and ten minutes left of the movie) belay that no, this isn’t happily ever after, and that there is, in fact, a conflict to be had.

and wow, it turns out that conflict involves completely undoing the development each of the og crystal gems has had throughout the series, which. makes for so many fun moments and also so many moments that feel akin to hell. pearl following greg around and being, uh, temporarily “”his”” pearl is. well! it’s certainly funny if you don’t think about it too long.

the rebuilding micro-arcs that we get for each of the original crystal gems feel supririsingly full, and, again, effectively tug at my nostalgia. pearl’s wrap up with independent together was particularly emotional for me. the line when she joins into the song after getting thrown up to be backlit by the moon… it’s just incredible. the loss and limerence she deals with in the main show struck particularly close to home on this last watch, and i can feel that echoing here.

"nothing is holding me back now // no one can push me around"

when it comes to intense emotional resonance, though, pearl gets beat out in this movie by spinel, and it’s. not particularly close: her experiences with betrayal and being loved, with being used by those she’s closest to and the way it impacts her ability to trust. the execution of these themes feels realistic and brings with it a pointed melancholy.

drift away was the standout song from this movie, for me. the soundtrack is chock-full of excellent tunes, too, but that scene in the garden puts it above the rest. steven gets to witness firsthand, yet again, just how much his mother has left behind to mend (and wow does he look the part of an exhausted healer here, someone please let my boy step down as everyone’s emotional support teenager), along with the double realization as spinel has to sing through her memories of that trauma to restore herself back to normal.