The summary you need before you watch it.

Rating: 10/10 (1 December 2013)

In my opinion this film is excellent. It has great animation, as all Hayao Miyazaki films. Within 20 minutes I developed a relationship with the characters and started care for them, in animation, this is incredibly difficult to do, and it is done greatly in this film.
As you may have guessed, this is anime. It is not everyone's cup of tea, though it is mine. This film has a lot of Chinese/Japanese culture in it, therefore has a lot of mention of spirits and suchlike. Because of this it may not be of interest to you. But bear in mind, trying something new is not always a bad idea, it may even be a kick-started to something nice. For example, I saw this film a year or so ago because it was the highest rated animated movie (and still is a the time of writing). And I have never been happier. This started my love of anime, that to this day is still strong.
Ratings:
Animation: 10/10
Storyline: 9.5/10
Background scenery: 10/10
Character personality:
10/10 Overall: 10/10
Thank you for reading.

Nik