STORY:
The most disappointing and yet most impressive thing about this movie is the story. It actually IS very, very good, but only in the beginning. Or, let's say, throughout the first half of the movie. Then it gets unnecessarily complicated - I still don't get everything. It would've been perfectly fine if they would've left out some of those many, too many twists. But there are also many enjoyable moments that caught me off guard. You know these moments when you think, okay, it cannot get any worse than this - and suddenly it gets MUCH worse? This movie is full of it, and THAT I liked.
ART:
The art is very fluent and enjoyable. It's a mix between rather unspectacularly animated characters/objects and some 3D elements.
It makes everything a lot more interesting for the eye to watch.
SOUND:
Throughout the whole movie there are parallels to Sleeping Beauty. Not only does a character from the movie serve them to you by narrating the fairy tale itself; The music actually makes you believe you're in a fairy tale. It wonderfully mixes with the dark setting, leaves a bittersweet taste. Simply beautiful.
CHARACTER:
The characters all have their own surprising little secrets, which sooner or later are revealed. But it feels like it's not enough. I wished for more background information to each character to be able to better understand them. Which sadly, I didn't all the time. As for the main character, Kasumi; Especially for her I hoped to get a little more information. There are some flashbacks, each time longer than before, and each time delivering you another piece of a puzzle to put together. But as I said; You don't really know enough about the characters to be able to do so. But, even if the characters won't make a lasting impression on you, they're not unlikeable.
ENJOYMENT:
I was plagued by lots of WTF - moments. But as I said, I enjoy those very much. :D There are also few but very well placed shock moments. And blood. ;)
OVERALL:
If you wanna watch a good, in its storyline very twisted movie, I would recommend it to you any time. But if you easily get confused by these kinds of movies, you should avoid this one. You might only be frustrated after watching it. As for my part, I admittedly WAS confused. But it left me thinking about it, about the possibility for something like this to actually happen someday. Scary and fascinating at the same time.
Also, I once had this strange thought, the exact same as it was mentioned in the movie but long before I watched it. SPOILER; What if we're all just a dream or imagination of only ONE living being? This thought still freaks me out and I love the movie for addressing it. :>
