I thought that given the scope of the narrative they were working with they did a fairly good job of including all the details necessary to tell a complete story. There was no unnecessary fat, it got the information it needed to the audience efficiently and succinctly. This of course means that there is little time for an audience to process the emotional weight of what our characters might be feeling at any given time because it's quick to move on to the next story beat at a brisk pace. Tonally it's a bit of a mess, because there were times when I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a drama or a comedy. The goofy side character leaned just a little bit too far into goofy territory.
And let's talk about the animation. There were scenes here or there where it seemed decent, but for the majority of the movie it felt like watching a slide show or picture drama. Constantly scenes would consists of a few frames of panning shots played two or three times in a row to make it seem like there was more going on than there was. If there was any real action in a shot they'd be sure to get their money out of it by repeating it a few times for good measure. You could make a drinking game out of how often it happens.
I'm here not to criticize this as an adaptation or as part of the greater Clannad saga in any way. I'm just trying to give my objective opinion about this movie as an individual piece of art. In that department it manages to at least hold your attention for the duration of it's run-time and even if I personally didn't feel any emotions coming off of this I realize that it's possible someone could have. The breathing room wasn't really there for me to fully establish an emotional connection with the protagonist, but I'll admit it was still a heartwarming ending. I give it a 6/10, not bad not great.
