A cheap imitation of a Ghibli anime, this features all the typical clichés, but without eliciting any real emotion. You have the young spirited girl, the magical world she discovers, the strong emotions generated by her fridged mother, the cute companions, the important quest that for some reason depends on her efforts only and the dark villain. But at almost any level the main character is unsympathetic, her friends are pointlessly obtuse and without any credible reasoning for their actions, the villain is a shapeless blob that does absolutely nothing than lurk around and the quest is mired in feudal godly bureaucracy and small island mythology.
Bottom line: remove the fake Miyazaki veneer and all you have is a unlikeable girl running around because she enjoys it, but can't get herself to admit it because her mother died.
Bottom line: remove the fake Miyazaki veneer and all you have is a unlikeable girl running around because she enjoys it, but can't get herself to admit it because her mother died.