For starters, let's look at what this film does right. The premise of this movie is incredibly original and derives heavily from Japanese legend in order to create something new and refreshing, much in a similar way to what "Your Name" did but to a much greater extent. The visuals, as always, are absolutely breathtaking as one would come to expect from a Shinkai Makoto film. Finally, while this film isn't dark by any means, in comparison to other Shinkai Makoto films in recent days it does go a tad bit dark in a couple places. It's always nice to see some risks be taken in a film that definitely warrants some pre-viewing expectations, even if those risks are incredibly major ones.
Without giving away too much, the one major downfall this film has is that the ending is extremely predictable. It isn't a bad ending by any means, but because of how rehashed it felt it kind of sucked out the dramatic tension a little. That's about the only complaint I have, but for me, it's kind of a relevant enough issue that it knocks what should be another masterpiece down a couple of pegs.
Overall, I still highly recommend this film, especially if you, like me, loved "Your Name" so much that you desperately want to see more stuff of the same style and caliber.
