If you want a great fantasy story, look elsewhere. If you want an average story about fantasy, this is the plain film to watch. An 8 score is what this movie can receive as proof that if you take away the nice art, you are left with a boring story.
There were so many ways of making a fantasy story about small people interesting, but this isn't one of them. The magical appearance of a woman in tall grass gives off a "fairy world" vibe, but the film as a whole is only somewhat of a fantasy.
Nothing more boring than watching a plain 2 hour story that's carried slowly on a modern graphical fidelity. Yawn. Modern anime shows do the same thing without the need of being so lack luster in its plot or pace.
The pros about this movie is that it has Ghibli brand to it. The Cons: if it wasn't a Gibli film most would rate this a 6 or 7 for its lackluster story and enjoyment.
Again, many ways this could have been better by utilizing the small world fantasy, but it was more tone-down than anything, you're better off watching Honey I shrunk the kids or Steven Spielberg's Strange Magic.
As far as story, the main cast could deserve better love as I'm sure whatever adaptation their from they have more character than what was portrayed in this film.
8 for mediocrity. A good film to watch when you're bored. A bad joke for being a Ghibli movie by the absurd mundane quality of needing modern graphics to carry the entire story appeal.
Plus, the characters were so flat, it was just dumb.
8/10 because its Ghibli.
