This movie is so pathetic that I have rated it as 4/10. This is the lowest I have ever rated to an anime or movie. Even the OVAs float around 5/10 or 6/10 which are largely junk.
The only thing worth appreciating is the different art style. Though this art style doesn't inspire one to watch the movie/anime but still feels refreshing. I am a bit open about the art style and don't complaint much about it.
Apart from that everything feels way below the standards of Ghibli. There is no proper story at all just bunch of random events happening in the life of the Yamadas. The sound effect is quite bad in comparison to Studio Ghibli masterpieces released before and after this movie.
The characters could be said to be somewhat believable but not much. This is another area where I don't complaint about the choice of the storywriter and the production team. But this time around, I am not at all pleased with the characters either.
Well direction doesn't felt to be good either. I know I have no understanding of how direction works and all but what I know is that it is equally important as story. This movie failed in this also. The movie was so relaxing to watch that I was nearly asleep till the mid of story. I felt other tasks like filling up bottles for cold water more interesting than this movie. While watching the movie, I did several such tasks and just was waiting for the movie to end.
One may ask if I was so bored then why continue with this movie. Well its simple, it was the last Studio Ghibli movie that I haven't watched yet. Also, I once stalled the movie for later after watching for first 10 minutes.
