YMMV / Sita Sings the Blues

• Alternative Character Interpretation: The shadow puppets are voiced by people from various regions of India who each grew up hearing different versions of the story. They point out their different interpretations of the characters and their actions.
• Awesome Music: Quite a bit. Even if you don't like jazz, there is quite a few original/other songs that work really well in the film and just sound awesome, most notably the song fans have dubbed "Sita's Fire," for lack of an official name.
• Broken Base: The "Nina" chapters are either just as good as the rest of the movie or the most boring parts that just slow the story down.
• Fridge Logic: At several points, the shadow puppets wonder about plot holes in the story:
  • The puppets ask why Sita doesn't escape Lanka with Hanuman, and instead waits for Rama to rescue her instead.
  • Sita leaves a trail of jewelry as she is kidnapped by Ravana so Rama can follow her. The female shadow puppet wonders how she can do that when she left all her belongings back home.
  • The two male puppets start to question why Sita is so loyal to Rama after everything he puts her through. The female puppet tries to explain that's it just a girl thing, but bullshit is still called.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Storming the Castle to save a Damsel in Distress while punching Mooks into Ludicrous Gibs may seem, well, ludicrous in context... then The Expendables did it in live action.
  • It may be hard for some folks to take a blue-skinned arrow-shooting hero seriously.
• Overshadowed by Controversy:
  • While still remembered as a creative adaptation of the Ramayana to some, the film is today mostly overshadowed by the controversies of its creator Nina Paley who became infamous for her hostility towards the transgender community and followers of the Jewish and Christian religions.
  • At the point of the movie's release there was a strong schism in Hindu audiences on whereas this was an appropriate adaptation, with the silhouette voice actors even having to step in to defend Nina Paley. More recently, Paley's various other controversies have returned this discourse on whereas the movie counts as cultural appropriation.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • One of the voice actors in the film is Nitya Vidyasagar. The film was made around the same time she started appearing on Sesame Street as Leela.
  • Non-acting example: You may recognize one of the Annette Hanshaw songs, as performed by...Batman.
• Tear Jerker: The second to last "Nina" chapter ends with the most painful cry of anguish you will ever hear.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Due to not glossing over how much of a jerk Rama is, the movie avoids having the original tale's issue of this happening with Rama. However, with the new focus this now happens with Sita. There is no doubt Rama treats her very badly, but at the same time Sita does almost nothing to try and reason with him, nor does she try to defend herself, even when he orders her to be abandoned in the forest while she's pregnant. Not helping is the fact that if she had just left Lanka with Hanuman earlier, or even by herself — which she was perfectly capable of doing — this likely could have all been avoided, but she insisted Rama be the one to save her; thus making it easier for her fidelity to be questioned. This trope is even Lampshaded by the Shadow Puppets.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The entire film really. More incredible that this was mostly done on her home computer. Special mention to "Sita's Fire."

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