PAST THIS POINT THERE ARE SPOILERS (Also Fate/Zero Spoilers)
Sakura played a very prominent role in this movie. She seems to be close with Shirou, but this isn't really the case in this world line. It's one of those plotholes that kind of bears on me the more I think about it. If Sakura were really so close with him, she would have known about Miyu and she would have been at his house as she was in the Stay night world line. I think the prevailing tone of Sakura's relationship with Shirou is that she has the same feelings as the Stay night world line, even though there is really no way those would have developed in the same fashion and nothing in the movie gives us indication as to why we should believe she feels strongly enough to not only toss a card in the Grail War away for him, but feel the need to protect him. Further, if she cares about him why does she intend to disclose the Grail War in the first place? This seemed strange at the time I watched, but it sits even weirder now. The whole involvement of Sakura in this worldline is supposed to be the straw that breaks the camel's back, but I don't think I can buy it. Honestly, Shirou just needs an easy reason to kill everyone between him and Miyu and Sakura made an easy path for the writers. This was a pretty shameful way out of genuine exposition in my opinion.
The relationship between Miyu and Shirou doesn't feel forced, it is probably the best presented out of any of them in this movie. At certain points, Kiritsugu is presented with a similar desire for an end to suffering that he pursued in Fate/Zero, albeit without any indication that he was involved in the Third Grail War. We know at a later point that the Grail Wars happen here, but Shirou is found orphaned by an apparently unrelated incident. Kiritsugu goes from a philanthropist saving Shirou to a heartless utilitarian ready to sacrifice Miyu if it means saving the world from suffering. This doesn't seem completely on the money to me for Kiritsugu as a character. As an example, even knowing Irisviel would become the Grail, he preferred not to sacrifice her in order to accomplish his task. The question I seek an answer to here is if Kiritsugu was willing to bond with the Einzbern heiress to such an extent in a different world, what compels him to deny the humanity of this younger homunculus character here? It may not be exactly the same Kiritsugu, but there are some critical differences that the movie makes no effort to rectify or rationalize.
I can't give the movie much better than a 7, and that may be lightly generous. In my opinion, the narrative integrity of the movie could use a lot more work to classify it in a similar sense to Fate/stay night or Fate/Zero.
