I think I get what Miyazaki was trying to go for here, but the movie struggles with being too ambitious. From what I'm hearing, in interviews, it seems more of a reflection on Miyazaki's worldviews rather than actually being a good film. I don't mind this being different from other Ghibli projects, but it really wasn't a good movie, Ghibli or otherwise.
About 75% of the film is a basic slice of life adventure. By the time things get interesting, the movie is almost over. Instead of spending so much time on the mundane stuff, there should've been more time spent on the symbolic, spiritual and fantasy-world aspects. There's something with these things, but I couldn't bring myself to care about anything else. There are even some important characters that don't get introduced until that 75% of the film is over. With the more complex stuff being mostly glossed over and zoomed past since the film doesn't have enough time to develop them by that point, it's hard to process them.
The characters have barely any personality because not much is done with them and they are trapped in this pretty basic story. The only characters that actually have personality are the heron and the minor characters. They were funny and quirky, design and character wise, but again, they don't really do much, or I had a hard time understanding them. For a Ghibli film, some of the characters are hardly expressive. I can kinda understand why with Mahito, but there still should've been more done with his character in terms of personality and development. He doesn't really actually progress much throughout the story and the growth he does get is very rushed. It's hard to understand what these characters represent when so much was going on so fast in so little time.
Even a couple of the character designs look straight out of other Ghibli films. Examples being Mahito and one of the old ladies that look like great value Grandma Sophia.
The only highlights I can give to this film are the music and animation. Still Ghibli-like.
The film left me bored and mostly confused, which rarely happens with a Ghibli film. For what it's worth, if you're really interested, it might be better to stream rather than to watch in all sitting. And it may require repeat viewings to get everything. Still, I wish the movie took more time to develop the world and characters.
About 75% of the film is a basic slice of life adventure. By the time things get interesting, the movie is almost over. Instead of spending so much time on the mundane stuff, there should've been more time spent on the symbolic, spiritual and fantasy-world aspects. There's something with these things, but I couldn't bring myself to care about anything else. There are even some important characters that don't get introduced until that 75% of the film is over. With the more complex stuff being mostly glossed over and zoomed past since the film doesn't have enough time to develop them by that point, it's hard to process them.
The characters have barely any personality because not much is done with them and they are trapped in this pretty basic story. The only characters that actually have personality are the heron and the minor characters. They were funny and quirky, design and character wise, but again, they don't really do much, or I had a hard time understanding them. For a Ghibli film, some of the characters are hardly expressive. I can kinda understand why with Mahito, but there still should've been more done with his character in terms of personality and development. He doesn't really actually progress much throughout the story and the growth he does get is very rushed. It's hard to understand what these characters represent when so much was going on so fast in so little time.
Even a couple of the character designs look straight out of other Ghibli films. Examples being Mahito and one of the old ladies that look like great value Grandma Sophia.
The only highlights I can give to this film are the music and animation. Still Ghibli-like.
The film left me bored and mostly confused, which rarely happens with a Ghibli film. For what it's worth, if you're really interested, it might be better to stream rather than to watch in all sitting. And it may require repeat viewings to get everything. Still, I wish the movie took more time to develop the world and characters.