I had a lot of expectations for this film, even with their new 3D animation style. Rather, I was looking forward to it. But honestly, the animation is a bit clunky at times, and the occasional lack of textures just looks strange.
If it was just that, it would've been fine since I mainly watch Ghibli films for the plot, and yet, all I can say is that my expectations were thoroughly betrayed. The plot was messy and full of holes. Even when there were 10 minutes left, I thought "wait what? it's almost over?" because it doesn't feel like there had been any real plot at all. I felt like there was little to no progression within the narrative the whole course of the film.
Even with my bias view toward ghibli films, I can say confidently that this was probably their worst film so far plot-wise.