YMMV / Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie

• Catharsis Factor:
  • For those who hate that Gabriel Agreste/Hawk Moth essentially won at the end of the fifth season of the show and got away with everything with no real repercussions to his image via a Heroic Sacrifice to the point of having his son and all of Paris remember him as a good man to his last breath through Ladybug keeping his secrets hidden from anyone else, seeing him get called out by Adrien for his abuse and then arrested for his crimes after being exposed and giving up the fight willingly is beyond satisfying.
  • Likewise, for those who felt robbed of Adrien having a role to play in the finale, not only is his relationship with Gabriel not downplayed in favor of the conflict between him and Ladybug, but it's Adrien, not Ladybug, who causes Hawk Moth's defeat (albeit thanks to Marinette saving his life), as learning that he's been fighting his own son causes Gabriel to renounce his Miraculous and willingly get himself arrested.
  • For the many who grew frustrated with the constant back and forth regarding the heroes' secret identities and the resets forcing them back to square one whenever they did learn, the movie ends with a not-so-subtle unmasking between both Adrien and Marinette, the latter figuratively removing the former's mask before revealing herself to be Ladybug, with no reset being done at the end.
  • Though in different circumstances than Gabriel's show self, Adrien's Calling the Old Man Out after Ladybug broke his heart. Many of those who wanted to see Adrien grow a spine and firmly confront his father about his awful behavior without being dismissed are satisfied to hear Adrien point blank telling Gabriel that he stopped being his father years ago, throwing Gabriel's "I'm your father" excuse to control his life back in his face since Adrien isn't as willing to forgive as his series counterpart does.
• Character Rerailment:
  • Adrien/Cat Noir in the show started out as a decent hero, but soon gained a Memetic Loser status because of how often he got beaten by the latest villain, being Locked Out of the Loop regarding many secrets, and the fact Ladybug got the most attention in the Gabriel saga despite the story arc centering around his family. In the film, while still the source of jokes at times, Adrien/Cat Noir is depicted as a good hero in his own right, and his story with Gabriel is given proper focus and even ends up being what saves the day in the end.
  • To a lesser extent, there's Marinette/Ladybug. She started the show as an awkward teenager entrusted with a lot of power she wasn't ready for, but things spiraled thanks to many factors: including her quick mastery of many abilities, the general trust that Master Fu had for her over Cat Noir, becoming the Guardian during the end of Season 3 despite minimal foreshadowing, having a greater focus in a story arc that's based on her partner's family, and her coming across as way too overpowered compared to Cat Noir, despite the fact that they're supposed to be equal partners. In the film, the earlier characterization is kept, her power level is slightly lessened so she and Cat Noir are on equal footing, and she doesn't overshadow his character arc nor is she the one who ultimately gets Hawk Moth, that instead being Adrien, although she still plays a key part by saving him before he can get killed which enables Hawk Moth to recognize him as his son.
  • Gabriel is also returned to his early show characterization, being a grief-stricken and emotionally neglectful father who is nonetheless still capable of being a Reasonable Authority Figure who loves his family deeply. While later seasons would up the ante on the abuse he is willing to inflict on Adrien and see defeating Ladybug become his primary goal even beyond reviving his wife, the film portrays him as a legitimately threatening villain while keeping his grief over Emilie’s loss his foremost motivation. His gentler redeemable qualities are kept which leads to his willing surrender at the end of the film.
  • Chloé's a minor example. In the show, she started as a bully before being given the Bee Miraculous, until she eventually botched things up by the end of season 3 and doubled down back into being a bully, only now she wanted everyone to suffer. The film sticks with the earlier characterization of season 1, while making her nicer in general, and only gives her beef with Marinette, which is treated more like Chloé being a petty annoyance rather than a rapscallion who wants to make her miserable at every opportunity.
• Fandom Rivalry: Surprisingly, one's popped up between fans of the original show and fans of the movie over which one did the general plot better. Fans of the show are vocal about how much They Changed It, Now It Sucks! and how the show managed to explore the characters better, while fans of the movie argue that the movie managed to do five seasons' worth of story better in under two hours and accuse the show fans of being conditioned to prefer the show's writing even at its worst. Of course, there's also plenty of fans of both the show and the movie, or fans who still prefer one over the other but appreciate both for their different takes on the story.
• He Really Can Act: Keith Silverstein as Hawk Moth truly brought his a-game in this film incarnation of the iconic villain. Not only does Gabriel appear to be descending into madness, but when he realizes the harm he has caused to his son, he experiences genuine remorse and disgust over his own actions, leading him to beg his son for forgiveness, voiced with all of the pure, raw emotion that Keith can muster.
• Improved Second Attempt: The film has made some adjustments and fixes to address long-standing issues that the fandom had with the main series.
  • Many fans are more satisfied with the conclusion of the movie than they were with the season 5 finale, giving not only a more fitting conclusion to the Agreste family arc, but making Adrien and Gabriel learn each other's secret identities, which is something the show didn't do.
  • The show proper never did musicals before outside of the Christmas special, which most people agree is So Bad, It's Good. The film is a musical, but the bigger budget and more cinematic feel allows them to make songs that are leagues better than what the special had.
  • The romance between Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Cat Noir has also been seen as a marked improvement over the show. Thanks to the duo's characters being rerailed back to their original personalities, as well as toning down/removing the problematic behavior both halves showed, it makes the development of their relationship much more rewarding and much less awkward.
  • One of the notable changes is that Marinette is portrayed as being actually clumsy (to the point she's a disaster magnet) and not as proficient in many things, which significantly impacts her self-confidence and causes severe doubts about her worthiness as Ladybug.
  • Moreover, Marinette's feelings for Adrien have been toned down to be more endearing and less intrusive, moving away from the previous stalkery behavior in the main series; she's even able to hold proper conversations with him. Similarly, Adrien/Cat Noir's interactions with Ladybug show a flirty yet teasing and comforting dynamic, toning down his own Entitled to Have You tendencies in the series proper; the worst it gets is him following Nino's bad romantic advice at the worst possible time, which he immediately stops once Plagg alerts him to the disaster at hand.
  • Additionally, the film emphasizes that Adrien is just as vital as Ladybug's partner, balancing their powers, bringing them to their true potential and showcasing his ability to handle adversaries just as effectively as Ladybug herself.
  • Adrien is the one who calls out his father's terrible behavior and later, manages to make him realize how messed up he was as Hawk Moth. Unlike his series self, Gabriel becomes remorseful upon realizing he's hurting his son and willingly surrenders.
  • Master Fu doesn't show favoritism and reveals himself not only to Ladybug but also to Cat Noir. He even advises the two to get along so they can unlock their full powers.
  • Some folks had issues with Marinette and Adrien needing to keep their identities a secret from each other (despite knowing the rest of the Miraculous heroes' identities) and going through a very long Will They or Won't They? situation. The films, on the other hand, did not make this a big deal and had Marinette reveal her identity to Adrien after discovering he is Cat Noir, and they get together by the end of the film.
  • The identity stuff results in the duo not being able to contact each other when trouble arises, resulting in numerous instances where one of them (almost always Cat Noir), is unable to show up to an Akuma attack. Here the movie gives them the ability to alert the other in their civilian identities via the flashing lights of their Miraculouses.
  • Chloé grew to become more and more vile until she was ultimately banned from Paris and became Public Enemy #1. Here, Chloé gets a brief scene of showing concern for Sabrina, and even decides to make a truce with Marinette at the end of the film (before admitting that she'll go back to harassing her after New Year's).
• Magnificent Bastard: The movie's version of Hawk Moth, real name Gabriel Agreste, attempts to revive his wife Emilie by stealing the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses, electing to use the Butterfly Miraculous to turn people into supervillains to cause chaos and draw their holders out when he learns that only those jewels have the power he desires. After successfully drawing Ladybug and Cat Noir out with his first Akumatized villain, he breaks a legion of criminals out of prison and Akumatizes them to attack Paris and battle the heroes. After several failures and realizing that his relationship with his son Adrien has deteriorated, he Akumatizes himself and fights the duo, destroying Paris and easily defeating his enemies, but he stops and surrenders when he realizes that Cat Noir is Adrien and that he was hurting his own son.
• Most Wonderful Sound: Ladybug's yo-yo makes a pleasant zipping sound when she swings it, and produces a sound like a retro video game sound effect.
• Narm: The musical numbers can come across as this. Notably, French audiences are not used to have musical numbers into French animation films, usually one or two reprises of the main theme. And even in Disney it can end up being painful ("Libérééééee, Délivrééééee"). Here, given the trailers put little to no emphasis upon this element and the extra cheesiness of the French versions of the songs, some viewers were unpleasantly surprised. The sheer amount of songs took its toll on older parts of the audience (from teens on), to the point that on the day of the release, in some large Parisian multiplex theaters, audible, strong, exasperated groans could be heard coming from the entire projection room as soon as a song started / was about to start. To some, this made the movie cross the line straight from narmy into awkward, cringe-worthy territory.
• Narm Charm:
  • The amount of emphasis put on The Power of Love could come across as ridiculous, but the movie is so earnest about it that it's hard not to feel moved by it.
  • While the animation surrounding them is excellent, the songs generally feel like cheesy 2000s pop ballads. But again, they are played so earnestly that many can't help but love them.
• Questionable Casting: The announcement that Cristina Vee wouldn't be doing her own singing as Marinette/Ladybug baffled some fans, since Vee is an accomplished singer herself. It doesn't help that Lou Jean has a noticeably deeper voice than what Vee uses to play the character, making for some jarring Singing Voice Dissonance.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: For people more used to the kid friendly nature of the series, this movie has some more mature elements that would catch them off guard. Emilie is flat out stated to be dead instead of "disappeared," Gabriel gets a bloody gash across his face during the climax, the word "hell" is uttered by a disgruntled security guard, and alcohol consumption and smoking are both portrayed on-screen.
• Win Back the Crowd: After the massive Broken Base the post-season 2 episodes of the original series ended up attracting, a significant portion of the fandom saw this movie as a return to form for the franchise, thanks to how it fixed many of the complaints they had.

---