Highly Overrated

Rating: 6/10 (1 November 2015)

Don't get me wrong, I love Miyazaki. But that maybe reason why I was disappointed by this one. It is a good movie but I guess I had too much expectation. I'd rate it towards the bottom of Miyazaki movies. My daughter also loves Miyazaki. Her favorites are Totoro and Ponyo. And this one was fairly highly rated so we watched it together. Well, this one is neither for kids or for adults. It's like adult story told by a kid.
My daughter was mortified by all the brutal beheadings and body parts flying around. My wife didn't appreciate animated women showing off their cleavages and hitting on a child. And I didn't like how literal the storytelling was. It was basically explaining everything instead of implying it for viewers to think about.
The basic plot was good. I even wonder if James Cameron got the idea for Avatar from this movie. The visuals are great and I loved how much detail he put into everything. But that's about it. This movie had so much potential.