Not my favorite Miyazaki

Rating: 7/10 (3 June 2016)

I was so excited about this film after reading all the glowing reviews, but it was a real disappointment. It's one of Miyazaki's earlier works, and that may explain it, but I just couldn't enjoy this film even though I really wanted to. I know it sounds funny to say, but it was simply just too "cartoony". The beginning of the film is pure magic and for the first 15 minutes or so, I was engrossed in the story and looking forward to the rest of the film. But soon after that, it degraded to almost Saturday-morning cartoon levels of predictability, relying on exaggerated and typical villains and supporting characters. If you liked this at all, you owe it to yourself to check out more of Miyazaki's films. He is a true artist and is capable of much better than this.