A bit less than anticipated

Rating: 8/10 (25 June 2005)

I guess I will start my short review by saying that I am a huge fan of Miyazaki since the 70's that is why I rushed to watch this movie. The movie, in short, is about a girl with low self esteem and poor self image. It is also about a selfish, egoistic and pampered boy who is too indulged with his beauty sometimes. Then fate brings those two, along with a lot of marvelous characters, together in a motivating, breathtaking adventure where each and everyone learns there weakness and strength through the other. Perhaps i was a little biased with the last two lines, because that is how i hoped it would be... The story line is somewhat weak, and if you watch it once, might look purposeless. The animation was great, but less than what he has achieved in Spirited Away. The English dubbing was good, yet weak when it comes to the fire spirit and the heroin. Overall: The movie is worth watching once in the cinema. And it is definitely worth getting the DVD to add it to the Miyazaki collection and to pay attention to those minor, yet powerful, details that one can never catch from watching the movie once.