To start off, I'll head Fly Straight into the Characters and CG of the Film. The Background art is almost Disney/Pixar quality, it is very Beautiful and Stunning. The Lighting of the scenes is well done, and the Rain is great. Foliage is almost life like but still fits into the world with the Characters. Special Effects are almost Disney quality and are well done.
I had a small gripe about Characters and how they looks and placed into the scenes... but that grew on me. The character designs still have the Ghibli Charm. They may look flat at first glance, but to me they do not.
The first thing you may notice is the hair which has a Plastic like Doll Appearance which IMO looks great. Then you notice the Eyes and Eyebrows, These are very expressive for a 3D Model and actually look nice.
The Mouth is the only Issue on the Character Models, they just feel slow and look weird (This is more Apparent in the Dub where the VA/ADR don't do a good job with Lip Sync making you stare at their Mouths more).
When you get to the Clothes these are standard with normal Textures so nothing special.
Each Character has there own unique charm and are enjoyable to watch. The Mandrake the most Unique of the Characters has had extra care put into him, and is the character most people would like... i know right, the most scary one is the best one..
For the Plot, I'll keep this short (Yeah like haven't done so far), It is Average, but Captivating, you don't want to look away. Almost every minute was good, some parts were Questionable, but the rest was fine. There isn't any plot holes... ok maybe one, but i wont talk about it because you will need to see it yourself. The Ending was a Cliffhanger like at the end of a Harem Anime... It is set up like there will be a sequel... but Ghibli doesn't do sequels and apparently the Book isn't finished because of the writer, So i have no clue what will happen. iIwant more... but probably won't get it.
Overall Thoughts, It is an enjoyable film till the end with some issues in the CG but you get used to it quickly. The Plot can be better, but it is nowhere near bad, just wish it didn't have the Cliffhanger. The characters are loveable and the backdrops are beautiful. I definitely recommend this film, just don't set your expectations too high.
