The film, the poster, trailer, even the title, will immediately suggest Studio Ghibli. And the good traditional Japanese story ones, not the European ones that not always hit the mark. You have the strong female protagonist, the magic of side streets on hills, cats, magic, hidden worlds and best of all: emotional growth while confronting one's needs and desires. So what went wrong? I don't know. It all just felt like a very well done forgery, a knock off, Pepsi to a Coca Cola drinker. And exactly like that, it may all just be in my head.
I did enjoy the film, it wasn't bad, but something did feel off. Maybe the pacing, or the dialogues that revealed too much, maybe the artificially weird characters, maybe the fact that most of the motivations people use to do things are their pathological codependencies with other people. There are profound lessons to be glimpsed in the story, yet it all felt like someone glued them on there.
So bottom line: a well done animation in the beloved Ghibli style, enjoyable, but feeling a little bit fake.
I did enjoy the film, it wasn't bad, but something did feel off. Maybe the pacing, or the dialogues that revealed too much, maybe the artificially weird characters, maybe the fact that most of the motivations people use to do things are their pathological codependencies with other people. There are profound lessons to be glimpsed in the story, yet it all felt like someone glued them on there.
So bottom line: a well done animation in the beloved Ghibli style, enjoyable, but feeling a little bit fake.