Let's begin with the positive.
This movie is undeniably well crafted. There's more animation in a woman folding her shirt than there is in an entire episode of Naruto.
The music was nice, but scarce and often held quite a similar theme throughout the film.
The story was good, mainly a character driven plot, with some enjoyable dream scenes. I liked how throughout the film it shifted between dream/imagination and reality. Sometimes I questioned whether this story was set in the real world or some alternate universe, with subtle differences.
Now a few negative comments and why I had to drop three stars... I personally felt it was a little bit too slow. This doesn't mean to say I wanted something fast paced, because it almost felt like the pacing of the film reflected the beautiful calm of souring through the sky in a plane.
But some scenes really did feel far too slow, and I felt there was far too much animation, I hate to say it, wasted on fleshing out scenes when it could have been put to much better use adding to facial animation (which I'll get to in a tick) or even making another movie!
The emotional content felt like it was poorly executed in places and could have had a much more jarring effect. A good way to put it is anticlimactic, not in content just execution. Their faces also didn't really show much emotion; usually if someone was sad, they'd keep the same expression and tears would form. Perhaps this lack of facial expression throughout the film could just be the culture of the Japanese and not an issue with bad acting, yes animators are actors.
Also, it was quite void of music which isn't necessarily a bad thing but it might have made it that much better with an amazing score.
All in all, I left the film fairly satisfied, it was a pleasure to watch but I won't be going out of my way to recommend this film, unless I was speaking to someone with a love for animation. After the hype has died down I think it'll average out to around 7.4-7.7/10
This movie is undeniably well crafted. There's more animation in a woman folding her shirt than there is in an entire episode of Naruto.
The music was nice, but scarce and often held quite a similar theme throughout the film.
The story was good, mainly a character driven plot, with some enjoyable dream scenes. I liked how throughout the film it shifted between dream/imagination and reality. Sometimes I questioned whether this story was set in the real world or some alternate universe, with subtle differences.
Now a few negative comments and why I had to drop three stars... I personally felt it was a little bit too slow. This doesn't mean to say I wanted something fast paced, because it almost felt like the pacing of the film reflected the beautiful calm of souring through the sky in a plane.
But some scenes really did feel far too slow, and I felt there was far too much animation, I hate to say it, wasted on fleshing out scenes when it could have been put to much better use adding to facial animation (which I'll get to in a tick) or even making another movie!
The emotional content felt like it was poorly executed in places and could have had a much more jarring effect. A good way to put it is anticlimactic, not in content just execution. Their faces also didn't really show much emotion; usually if someone was sad, they'd keep the same expression and tears would form. Perhaps this lack of facial expression throughout the film could just be the culture of the Japanese and not an issue with bad acting, yes animators are actors.
Also, it was quite void of music which isn't necessarily a bad thing but it might have made it that much better with an amazing score.
All in all, I left the film fairly satisfied, it was a pleasure to watch but I won't be going out of my way to recommend this film, unless I was speaking to someone with a love for animation. After the hype has died down I think it'll average out to around 7.4-7.7/10