Romantics and hopeless romantics should really enjoy this movie, that converges two typically regular teenage life stories, with a fantastical element that adds a very entertaining twist to the plot. Story elements of history, traditions, self identity, friendship, social standings, romance, the passage of time, risks, proactive action, and longing, make for a familiar but engrossing tale that should keep your attention from beginning to end. The beautiful animation also helps a whole lot in getting your eyes glued to the screen as well, and wow are there some amazing imagery in this anime movie, with a few sequences that actually play off like music videos.
I really liked the premise of this movie a lot. Although it may pander to the audience a little too much at times, and may rely too much on your own knowledge of some typical and predictable anime tropes in the plot progression, I found myself absolutely charmed by the story anyway. It's sense of adventure in the mundanity of a teenager's life; plus the fantastical premise, it's sense of humor in the more ridiculous aspects, and it's ability to raise the emotional level when needed, all together makes it easy for people to fall in love with the movie. The characters are also very endearing, especially the two leads of Mitsuha and Taki, as well as the supporting cast of friends. You're going to want to root for all of them to achieve a happy ending.
While it's very easy to praise this movie for it's accomplishments, there are a few factors that will determine how much you will really enjoy this movie. Those would be the fact that there are quite a few major plot holes and plot conveniences, that kinda forces you to have a huge suspension of disbelief for this movie, and asks that you don't question the logical flaws that effects the plot and characters of this story. While it's also easy to root for both the primary leads equally, I felt that the character of Mitsuha was simply more developed than Taki was. The romantic angle of this movie was also frankly a little bit rushed, and I would have liked more exposition to completely buy into it.
As a feel good movie, it's hard not to find it very appealing. It's heart is absolutely in the right place, and that's what will resonate the most with an audience.
lovedit ENJOYED IT itsokayitsmehitsterrible
