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Very well executed

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Expected more

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

First off, the animation and visuals in this film are quite stunning. The landscape shots are spectacular and breathtaking. The colours are vibrant and really bring the world of the film to life. The human characters, though are seemingly normal, is what Japanese anime is known for. To have average looking human characters that imply could be anyone. The other creatures in the film are appropriately strange as characteristic of Japanese anime. The narrative is also equally strange. It has a very dark tone to it, and the topics of life and death add to the darkness. What I like about Japanese animation is that they aren't afraid to make the characters 'human' in the sense that each and everyone of them has flaws. You might think you have grasped a character, but then the film goes deeper and adds another element to them. Unlike Hollywood characters who are usually one dimensional (what you see is what you get), these characters show sides of themselves that are unpredictable and that come up at the end. Additionally, a popular theme for Japanese anime films is that of the coming of age story - especially involving female protagonists. I don't think I actually know a coming of age anime that has a male protagonist...I'm not sure what this implies. Going off that, there is a lack of important female characters in this film (apart from the protagonist) which I dislike. The soundtrack is, for the most part, soothing and complements the narrative well. With the fighting scenes, it sometimes felt like an action movie. Those scenes are well done in terms of animation, visual effects and music accompaniment. Overall, an interesting film though it did at times make me wonder what in the world I was watching (Japanese cinema tends to make me think that). The animation is great and the characters likable. However, it can be quite slow at times and may be hard to get absorbed into the narrative.

This movie has a such wonderful plot which makes me feel like I really hop into the journey with excitement and nervousness. I could really sense the feeling of the adventure that has a combination of bittersweetness, pureness, innocence of friendship, love, loyalty in the movie.The music goes on perfectly throughout the movie. the animation of the characters are really beautiful together with the scenery and the filter. the graphic has a filter that has a calmness in it A worth to watch movie for people who loves adventure fantasy movie with some twists in the story!

I believe this movie is thought through bit more then most here give it credit for. All the Ghibli references left to themselves make for pretty bold plagiarism if it wasn't for the obvious meta plot. The whole Movie is full of Ghibli elements and characters because (so i assume) it is meant to be a movie about the animators own journey of experiencing the Ghibli universes and having to let go of them each at a time. The first time we see a mythical monster in the movie its a kind of Totoro bear on a bridge, (the scene mirroring spirited away bridge scene) and the first thing that is said is setting the tone for the theme throughout the rest of the movie "its dying". To accept the transitoriness of these blissful experiences one gets from watching a good fantasy movie is the girls message, exemplified when she has to let go of Shun (Haku/Howl) and the yellow cat creature from Nausicaa valley of the wind, while the teacher represents the artists working on this movie. The key scene at the end, where its all about trying to resurrect this whole Ghibli-juiciness into a new movie, being this movie itself: "it needs a living vessel" a body, a new Plot to incarnate itself into. The result is this movie which feels kind of like a living breathing Ghibli Frankenstein. I love that whole surreal scene at the end, with the eyes on the god-ship maybe representing the audience itself watching this movie, and the overtones of madness by the teacher(director/animators) as he has to sacrifice more then intended in order to bring back something lost. At times it also felt as if the movie was a love letter to Myazaki in general. There are tons of ghibli elements and references in this, and its fun to watch the movie just to try and find them all.

Makoto Shinkai is the rising star of the past decade in the anime world. Those who are familiar with his previous films, such as "Voices of a Distant Star" and "5 Centimeters Per Second" know him for his borderline photo-realistic animation and bittersweet stories of unfulfilled love. In many ways, this film continues that dialogue, however in a manner that is far more comparable to the traditional anime.The story, based heavily off of the Japanese myth of Izangai and the underworld (Shinkai studied classic Japanese literature in college), tells of a young girl who hears a distant tune through her radio receiver as she escapes monotonous, lonely everyday life in the woods. One day on her way to her hide out, a "bear" (who is really a spiritual guardian) attacks her on the bridge and she is saved by a mysterious boy. The boy receives an injury during her rescue, and is found days later dead in the river. She ventures into a fantastical underworld-- Agartha--with her teacher, who is seeking to revive his lost wife. The story beautifully conveys the permanent loneliness of loss.Many have compared it to Studio Ghibli's films, calling it a "ripoff" or "copy" of Hiyo Miyazaki's masterpieces. While, no doubt, this is inspired and comparable to Miyazaki, it is very different in many, many ways. First of all, it is a bit more mature thematically than most of Miyazaki's works. Second of all, the animation is stylistically different (opting more for light-oriented realism) and the plot develops a lot slower and more deliberately than what one expects from Miyazaki. Thus complete par- for-par comparisons between the two are misguided. If you approach the film expecting a Miyazaki aspiration, you will be disappointed and that's not the point. It is more like a wondrous marriage of Shinkai's signature melancholy, introspective, cerebral style and Miyazaki's fantastical grandeur. Despite the differences, with this film Sinkai has shown us that if there is one director that can take the tradition Miyazaki and Ghibli has established into the next century it is he.The strongest points of the film include Shinkai's greatly improved character rendering--though, not perfect, far better than his previous efforts. Wonderfully executed plot that develops in a slow, well-thought out manner. Sometimes in such stories of fantasy, directors let the plot get away from them, progressing it far too quickly; however, Shinkai kept the pace at the established rate. The character development was incredible as well.He also absolutely wonderful scenes of what film critic Robert Ebert has deemed "pillow scenes"--short, inconsequential shots such as a dragonfly on the water, or bird in the sky, or tree out a window--to take a quick breather in between important scenes. They are not only absolutely wonderfully animated, but put in to make the plot feel more natural, progress more realistically and, in this case, give the film a cerebral aesthetic which only adds to the movement of the audience. Though an important feature of many great anime movies, this is probably the film I've seen them used the most effectively. In his past films, Shinkai's over-used them, but had just the right amount in this one It's partially Shinkai's masterful control of lighting and photo realism, I found myself pausing and rewinding at times just to admire an inconsequential butterfly or shimmering sky.This is probably only the third anime movie I've given 10 stars, but it deserves every last one of them. Highly recommended.