Sword Art Online season 1 will always hold a special place in my heart (season 2 was okay), and it hurts me when I think that those same characters that I loved so much are in this abomination.
I'll start off with the good:
Art: 8
The animation is VERY polished. Throughout the entire movie it was very smooth. The art style was generic A-1 Pictures. (That final fight scene was great)
Sound: 7
It was decent. There is not much to say. Nothing really stood out to me as extremely good or bad.
Characters: 5
I gave this a five because you got a lot of character development between Kirito and Asuna. The rest of the "gang" was there and those moments were enjoyable. HOWEVER, the new characters introduced to the story, in my opinion, were absolute garbage. They were 1 dimensional, boring, generic characters that you see in every bad show. The antagonist(s) is someone with a tragic backstory and is just doing evil things for his own selfish reasons. The new supporting characters are just as bland.
Enjoyment: 3
I also gave this a five because the movie wasn't all bad. The begging was boring but once you got toward the end, it really ramped up. Now I'm not saying the whole movie was bad (If you look past the story it was actually pretty decent).
Story: 1
Jesus christ where to begin. The story is boring and predictable. Just the same rinse and repeat SAO story we always get. The plot armor is just terrible. SO SO SO many plot holes. It's a simple idea but I have no idea how they messed it up this badly.
Overall: 4
It is a waste of time. IF YOU MUST, don't watch it for the story, just look at the action scenes.
Conclusion:
It's always nice to see characters that you adore, but don't watch this. Just rewatch season one or something.
