Elijah Badgett

I am a huge, huge Studio Ghibli fan. This was the first film of theirs that I was able to see in theatres, and I was naturally extremely excited. Although I walked into that theatre with the highest hopes, love, and loyalty to the studio, I left feeling confused and unsatisfied. The Pros: The film has stunning visuals, incredible music, and amazing imagery. The voice acting is stellar, and I highly doubt any Ghibli film has had as star-studded a cast as this one. The Cons: It was incredibly confusing. Many plot elements felt thrown together, and entire storylines were abandoned midway through, leaving the viewer dissatisfied and confused. The characters were unlikeable and felt very empty, and had none of the normal Ghibli charm. The movie was very unsettling, and at time viscerally disturbing, with frequent cases of graphic gore, blood, and guts. Many plot elements felt superfluous and contrived, and the overall plot had little structure. To this day, I still have no idea why anyone did anything in the movie, or what even really happened in the plot. Overall, the impression that I got from this film is that its director, Hayao Miyazaki, knew that it may well be his final film. With this in mind, he assembled the best possible cast, beautiful music, and some of the best visuals of any Ghibli film. That said, he tried to cram too many plot elements into it, ideas which may have been good on their own, but once put together simply converged into a confusing, unsettling mess. If you love films for their beauty, 10/10. If you want to watch a well rounded, satisfying film, this isn’t for you.