I didn't see this as a kid and so much of the magic it holds for others, I'm missing. For me, many scenes are visually arresting and evoke the marvels and wonder of childhood. But the narrative buckles under the children's own fantasy of escapism, rendering much of the latter half pretty weak. Compared to the internal conflicts of Kiki and Spirited Away, the characters' conflict here seems relatively broad, perhaps because they are younger than in these other two. It's a movie guided more by images and feel than by a coherent narrative logic, which I think is to its detriment, especially when tying things back together at the end. I can see its appeal for those who grew up with it, but to me it's a messy echo of the childhood nostalgia I get from other Miyazaki movies.
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