And in a way, I feel like I got that; besides the beautiful animation and impressive background, storyboarding, editing and 2D/CG blending, Suzume felt to me like a much more realized experience than Your Name in terms of scope and entertainment value.
I like the "road movie" aspect of the journey, and how that ties to the plot. The bits of humor sprinkled around make for some really good light-hearted moments. The way it integrates the internet and cellphones into the story without these taking center stage is something that I very much appreciate, given how many other creators either decide to omit them or don't handle them very well (yes, I'm looking at you, Hosoda). And the fact that the male lead and ikemen for the ocassion spends most of the runtime as a chair is utterly hilarious (the light novel titles and Pickle Rick jokes write themselves).
Unfortunately, that last bit is as far as this movie deviates from anything remotely noteworthy. Because much to my disappointment, at the end of the day, Suzume, fails in a similar fashion to its predecessors: the characters are uninteresting.
For most of its almost two-hour runtime, the plot seems to be way more focused on moving from one big set piece to the other, rather than spending any time getting to know its protagonists beyond the surface. The few moments we get are mediated by the same old melodramatic clichés we've seen before in Shinkai's earlier works. And in a film that is ostensibly about personal and collective trauma, lacking a solid emotional core makes everything feel incredibly contrived, especially considering the real life tragedy the movie tackles.
As much as I can appreciate what it's trying to say, I think that Shinkai would benefit from working along another writer, or even just let someone else write the script the same way he eventually delegated character design.
In the end, most fans and casual viewers will probably enjoy the film. For me, though, I'll have to keep on hoping.
