Dreamy, surreal - not bad!

Rating: Null/10 (14 October 2004)

(This may have spoilers)
From the first mention of this name I wanted to watch it. To me it seemed very interesting to see what the creator of Mononoke Hime would come up with next. He did not disappoint, but in my (humble) opinion, he did not quite surpass some of his earlier works. Some might claim the winning of an Oscar as the pinnacle - but having been a fan of anime and anything related for the last 5 or 6 years I know that it's only just about now that all of this is becoming appreciated, much like Hong Kong/Chinese kung fu movies that are coming out all the time now.
The designs, backgrounds and art was absolutely breathtaking - the storyline seemed quite straightforward (although children may not be able to understand it) and the only thing wrong about the whole thing is that it might have been a little slow. After 10 minutes (exaggeration lol) of seeing the water train travel, I just wished I had it on DVD to fast forward to the good bits. Some of the little side plots had morals - almost as if it was a storytelling (which would be in keeping with the dreamy Alice in Wonderland sort of setting). My favourite was the part where the River God rewarded the bath house with an ostentatious display of gold pieces (such as one might find in a river whilst panning for gold), but gave Sen the most valuable present (a ball of herbs) which didn't look like much, certainly tasted bad but in the end helped save a life.
All in all, brilliant design, innovative settings and a good storyline make this a good, strong and most importantly entertaining movie.