THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS
Pros:
+Character and world design
+Captures magical Ghibli inspired feel
+Environmental message
Cons:
-Propaganda for the privileged (although probably unintentional)
-Poorly written villain
Thoughts:
The immediately obvious selling point of this film is its visuals. The characters and world are captivating. They bring out a similar spark to Ghibli films. Throughout the film, the characters travel across this breathtaking "wonderland", and boy is it gorgeous. However, the world is losing its color due to drought. In order to save it, the main character must go and rescue the prince who can perform a ritual to bring back the rain. They make a point to differentiate this world from Earth, which has already lost much of its beauty due to climate change. That's all well and good. I like me an environmentalist movie.
Sadly the movie, almost certainly unintentionally, also manages to tell a darker story. We quickly learn that the tale's villain comes from the slums. The main character's guide, an esteemed alchemist, warns her never to go near there. Already we have an upper class citizen steering our heroine through a biased view of this so called wonderland. The privileged only see what they want to see. To make matters worse, the villain is immediately labeled a bad person because they come from the slums rather than because of the crimes they have committed. And that's not all. The main characters are literally on a quest to save the prince--another upper class citizen obviously.
SPOILERS
It turns out that the prince and the villain are one and the same. Saving the prince is actually a matter of returning him to "normal" from his delinquent form. Immediately upon regaining his privileged-rich-white-boy self, the prince is forgiven and everyone lives happily ever after. According to the movie at least.
END SPOILERS
I wish I could recommend this film to support the artists and designers who clearly crafted it with passion, but I cannot bring myself to support its damaging message which is especially prevalent in today's world of growing inequality.