Fil C – Google

I was looking forward to adding this to my Ghibli collection to complete the set but having watched it on Netflix i now can't bring myself to buy such a poor film knowing i won't watch it again. I just can't believe it's a Miyazaki film, it's very unfortunately awful and it seems a lot of critics are understandably in denial or are just being polite to an artist who probably deserves such politeness in fairness after giving us so many great works but it certainly doesn't deserve the praise it has gotten. He can of course be forgiven for one bad film but it's just such a shame for Miyazaki really as he deserves to go out on a high.

A classic case of unnecessarily trying to make something different and unique which didn't need to be different or unique. Happens all to often. I don't think I'm alone in just wanting a story to stay the same just with high quality presentation instead of a new take on an existing story which was perfect in the first place. Also, i know Yuji Horii and the creators of Dragon Quest games etc will have constantly heard from fans over the years how much the games have meant to them but to use that so openly as a major plot point is kind of like saying "hey look how great our games are". It's beneath Dragon Quest to "show off" in such a way and not something they have to publicise as the franchise is already so popular. Makes me wonder how much involvement Yuji Horii had in this movie as it really goes against his other work. I'm sure he must have signed off on the story though, right? Baffling. Maybe the "showing off" wasn't the intention and the writers were trying to pay homage to their fans support but it certainly didn't come off that way to me. Anyway in my opinion the film was great up to the ending although i think it would work better as a tv series or a trilogy of films as a slower storytelling pace like the games have would work better.