Just like how Disney and Pixar has their magic, Studio Ghibli does as well and this film fails to bring in any of the magic; easily put it, this is the "Cars" of Japan. This whole film is a flaw and I am not exaggerating when I say this. Reading an interview in a Japanese website, the author the book, Ursula K. Le Guin, even said that she was confused as this animation starts off halfway through the series. I have not read the book so I do not know if the film does resemble anything near the book. However, from what I have seen, I found myself asking more questions and wondering what in the world is going on, rather than being amazed and entertained with the storyline.
To simply put it, you will not enjoy anything that happens in this film. The storyline is out of place and presents various details that you will not get because the film is based off of the 4th or 5th part of the book series. It's like watching the fifth installment of "Harry Potter" without watching any other part of the series. You'll be confused on why these grim reaper looking things are attacking Harry, who are the characters, who is Voldemort, what does he want, etc. You will be confused out of your mind as the film presents more questions to the audience rather than answering any of it. The film tries to have a little twist and some surprises, but what is the point of being surprised and being blown away by the twist if you do not understand anything that occurs in the film. There are plenty of loopholes in this film and you will lose interest toward this film as easily as a hot dog eater chugging down a hot dog.
Studio Ghibli film's always tend to use a cast of well known actors to portray the voices of the characters. They are usually pretty good, some do suck, but overall they are decent. The voices in this film was pretty decent. Okada Junichi who voiced Arren was okay; he had this adult voice when the character is 10 years younger than how his voice should be. Teshima Aoi voices the young mysterious heroine, Therru. Simply by listening to her, you can tell she is an amateur and listening to her voice is nowhere close to nails scratching on a chalkboard, but it isn't a good performance. She also sings the the ending song for this and you will think to yourself that she should stick to singing more than doing voice acting. My favorite character, overall, has to be Sparrowhawk, voiced by Bunta Sugawara. I don't know why, I like these wise characters and that is what you see in Sparrowhawk as he is wise, smart and a good character; despite not having no exact knowledge on the character.
The best thing about this film was the art as Studio Ghibli is quite creative and impressive with its art style. The art style was able to depict a very great fantasy world that is just fun to look at. The story maybe a piece of junk, but the art isn't; it kind of feels like a waste of paper though based on how horrid the story is.
It is sad to see that after "Howl's Moving Castle," Studio Ghibli is losing their touch on creating a great fantasy. Maybe it has to do with having Miyazaki's son to direct this film or because the great Miyazaki is losing his touch of creating an incredible fantasy world. With a blank plot and lack of explaining anything, not even the decent voice acting and great drawings can save this film from the catastrophe that it had bring.
To simply put it, you will not enjoy anything that happens in this film. The storyline is out of place and presents various details that you will not get because the film is based off of the 4th or 5th part of the book series. It's like watching the fifth installment of "Harry Potter" without watching any other part of the series. You'll be confused on why these grim reaper looking things are attacking Harry, who are the characters, who is Voldemort, what does he want, etc. You will be confused out of your mind as the film presents more questions to the audience rather than answering any of it. The film tries to have a little twist and some surprises, but what is the point of being surprised and being blown away by the twist if you do not understand anything that occurs in the film. There are plenty of loopholes in this film and you will lose interest toward this film as easily as a hot dog eater chugging down a hot dog.
Studio Ghibli film's always tend to use a cast of well known actors to portray the voices of the characters. They are usually pretty good, some do suck, but overall they are decent. The voices in this film was pretty decent. Okada Junichi who voiced Arren was okay; he had this adult voice when the character is 10 years younger than how his voice should be. Teshima Aoi voices the young mysterious heroine, Therru. Simply by listening to her, you can tell she is an amateur and listening to her voice is nowhere close to nails scratching on a chalkboard, but it isn't a good performance. She also sings the the ending song for this and you will think to yourself that she should stick to singing more than doing voice acting. My favorite character, overall, has to be Sparrowhawk, voiced by Bunta Sugawara. I don't know why, I like these wise characters and that is what you see in Sparrowhawk as he is wise, smart and a good character; despite not having no exact knowledge on the character.
The best thing about this film was the art as Studio Ghibli is quite creative and impressive with its art style. The art style was able to depict a very great fantasy world that is just fun to look at. The story maybe a piece of junk, but the art isn't; it kind of feels like a waste of paper though based on how horrid the story is.
It is sad to see that after "Howl's Moving Castle," Studio Ghibli is losing their touch on creating a great fantasy. Maybe it has to do with having Miyazaki's son to direct this film or because the great Miyazaki is losing his touch of creating an incredible fantasy world. With a blank plot and lack of explaining anything, not even the decent voice acting and great drawings can save this film from the catastrophe that it had bring.