pinkarray

Another overrated project from Studio Ghibli. Their movies have not
been up the standards of movies such as My Neighbors the Yamadas or The
Cat Returns since 2012 with The Secret World of Arrietty. While The Cat
Returns wasn't that great, The Secret World of Arrietty was so
sentimental, it's painful. With the exception of Wind Rises, the movies
were overrated with simplistic Tale of Princess Kaguya (at the beginning,
of course). I was pretty skeptical about this one. While it started off
with a great beginning, it got boring and annoying when Sayaka showed
up. She is a forgettable character who was kind of mean, yet so nice,
she's clichéd.

Anna bothered me for some reason, it was because of her boyish clothes
but it was also something else, I don't know. Maybe she's just a
stereotypical pre-teen. Marnie was the standout character of all the
characters, she was perky, friendly, and mysterious.

Anna befriends Sayaka which drops the ball because a lot of movies have
characters befriending the clichéd nice girl. The art and animation
were still amazing as usual, but I am very disappointed in Studio
Ghibli for ending up like Pixar. The movie of course got cloying as it
went on whether it's between Anna or Sayaka or Anna and Marnie. It also
ended in a sentimental way. Maybe if they brought Hayou Miyazaki back
to directing, he would save the studio and bring it back its glory.

Also, I thought Sayaka's voice acting was a pretty bad job. The themes
just didn't click with me, it was boring and sometimes not empathetic.
Studio Ghibli tried too hard by throwing in creepy parts and an
emotional ending to be like their other movies. The creepy parts did
not blend well and ruined the pacing of the film.