Story: Awful pacing. They wanted to show a lot and didn't have the time. Also, this feels like someone not trying to copy other Ghibli films as much as someone who tried to learn from them and missed the mark. It was clear what every scene was trying to convey and how we were supposed to feel about the characters and that was the problem. This movie somehow managed to commit the tell not show error by showing too much. It was almost impressive. Additionally every scene switch felt weirdly jarring even when it was the same character just walking in one room to another to me. Reveals were misplaced and scenes used too many times, which also lent to the color by the number feel of this movie.
Art: Exquisite. We all knew that though. Without it, the cracks in this movie would be 10x clearer.
Sound: Beautiful music, however, like the story it felt awkwardly placed and sometimes too loud. It became music that said, you need to feel this now, instead of music that leant itself to the moment.
Character: I dislike Yuna almost solely based on the fact they tried so hard to get me to like her. Van was dull, they didn't quite figure out how to make him the tortured quiet heroic lead. The doctor gave me Howl vibes but ultimately seemed....unnecessary even though he most definitely was necessary. The female tracker was cool at first but also missed the mark with telling us exactly why she felt what she felt but also being vague? Her actions were at times inconsistent and not in a character growth kind of way. All in all, the characters had no room to breathe and come to life.
Enjoyment: I was angry watching this movie. I sat in the theatre lamenting on what this could have been. I was excited to see this had an R rating and even though I think they could have made it PG13 with what was shown, I appreciate the darker moments. In retrospect though, I look back and wonder if they may have not been confident in their ability to convey that darkness without showing it...
Overall, I think it was a decent movie that I won't watch again. It had the bones to be better. I think it could easily be redone by a different story teller or maybe the same person going back to the drawing board.
