Visually stunning, story line rambles like Mulholland Drive

Rating: Null/10 (15 April 2004)

A fine quality piece of Japanese animation! I have watched this movie twice. The animation, visual effects, colors, and voices are all outstanding. I'd be surprised if it had not won any awards for production quality. However, the story line leaves something to be desired. It's like watching Mulholland Drive...it's interesting, characters are fascinating, the events are dreamlike...you WANT something to happen, you WANT all the wierdness to make sense in the end, but when the end arrives, you see it was just a bunch of surreal adventures all strung together. It has a happy ending but it's still a bit of a letdown at the end. It held the attention of my 6-year old but it wouldn't for most. I would recommend it more for 7-12 year olds, if it's not important to them for the story to make any sense (which isn't for most kids). I rate it 6 out of 10.