Watch more reviews like this at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfNozbWd9SJYYwLK2zYn_AAChildren Who Chase Lost Voices directed by Makoto Shinkai is a coming of age story revolving around a girl and a man, who both have lost someone important and by inhabiting a crystal, it leads them deep into a hidden world in order to resurrect their fallen.A recurring aspect of Shinkai's work is the incredible cinematography, the protagonists and the message.The message is sweet, as it tells us how to let go of the ones we've lost, even though with some comments can feel a bit over the top at times, but Shinkai's art work and cinematography is always almost perfect.The way the clouds move ever so slightly, the sunshine just peeping behind the clouds to kiss the characters on the cheek, the way the tears are created, the gorgeous look of these creatures felt like you could touch them, the colourful world both above and under ground, it's all just breathtaking.The two protagonists work off each other nicely showing the yin and yang. Just like The Garden of Words two characters completely different ages work together and creating a great relationship, even thought he bond between the two here isn't as tight as the one in his other works.But the protagonists and the artwork can't always make a great movie, and there are more flaws to this film than I expected.To explain and explore is an important thing a director needs to do to not confuse the audience, but he forgot to do it!This "amazing crystal" that opens up portals and resurrects the dead, hasn't got a backstory. Where did this crystal come from, how can it resurrect the dead, why is it so scarce? Nothing is explained, just like the ending.In the touching end a loved one says, "find happiness" which was beautiful. But we don't know if the character does find happiness after the credits. There's stuff in between the credits but this character isn't seen again after the character says "I want to die." Did the character find happiness? It shows us people who were already shown fine but not the one who said they were going to kill them self. The characters that Mae it home and their family, don't look any different to ask where they've been. There might be an explanation somewhere that days in the real world don't mean anything to the underground world or something like that, but if it was explained, it was explained clearly. You might say it's thought- evoking, but I just think it's lazy.The pacing is so slow it's tiring, and this movie is almost two hours. But I have watched movies two and a half to three hours long without having a yawn or having to skip scenes! You can tell how much this movie wants to be magical like Spirited Away or My Neighbour Totoro by having long pans of colour landscapes and having the characters tearing up from the beauty. But it's not really that great. They leave a green land and come down to see, guess what. Another green land. They do this twice in the movie, I remember being half asleep when they did showed it a second time and I couldn't help but chuckle.The story is interesting and makes you want to learn more about everything inhabiting this world, because it doesn't show much of anything! It wants to a fantasy with mystic creatures and it shows us it in aspects. This big, huge creature that has charms and rubies on it is amazing to look at. But you only see it, twice. And a deer looking monster is gorgeous, but is only seen once. And the bear- things everyone calls this brown creature is only seen, once! Come on! Where's the fun? Show us more fantasy stuff like what it's trying to be.In a nutshell this movie had its shining moments, like the colourful and sweet cinematography, the characters and the message. But ultimately the lack of screen time for the creatures, the lazy non- explanation of important items and the poor pacing tends to loose its feel of this imaginary and mystical world it desperately wants to be.Overall - CWatch more reviews like this at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfNozbWd9SJYYwLK2zYn_AA

So this girl sees these monsters and is saved by a boy from the underworld. And she goes there, and she is chased around by some freaks and… What is the point of all this? Disappointed! This is how I felt after I finished this film. Wanna know why?1) The director Makoto Shinkai is quite famous for his tragic romantic tales. Voices of a Distant Star and 5cm per Second are among st the few romances even an uncaring bastard like myself enjoyed. So it was reasonable to expect yet another film regarding a tragic romance. Because, duh, Shinkai never made anything else. And to my amazement he now did. And it wasn't good.2) The studio Studio Comics Wave is new but has made an impressive work so far. The thing is, with this film it feels like it is trying to rip-off Ghibli Studio instead of trying to find an identity or style of its own. I had to check three times to make sure this WASN'T a Ghibli production. I mean, IT IS SO ALIKE! In my mind there can be only one Ghibli and now I see someone trying to become its copycat? This is an outrage! Yes, pretty damn good visuals and soundtrack, but they all look and sound like a damn robbery from one of the most famous studios around. I couldn't enjoy the overall film because of it.3) The story You think the similarities to Ghibli stop only at the visuals? Heck no, the story itself was a mix of various Ghibli works. At the same time it is hardly as captivating as those films, with far less context, complexity, interesting situations, and plot. So not only it is an imitation, it is also a bad one. If you just sit back and think of the plot of the film you will immediately realize how linear, simple, and eventually forgettable it was.4) The characters Not even one of the characters in the film is memorable or interesting. They all play their generic roles to the fullest yet none of them manage to stand out from their counterparts in a myriad other children fantasy stories. To the most part all you see is the heroine being chased around by monsters and being saved by a handsome fighter from a magical land. It couldn't get any cornier. I saw fifty times more in the far similar premise of Escaflowne, where everyone there was far more complicating than he appeared to be at first. And in case you try to excuse it by saying this is a movie and not a series to demand drastic character development, then I will reply that in this case a movie should not be full of useless characters. Yet look at this, there is a whole school filled with children, a whole village filled with people, a whole magical land filled with creatures and you get nothing out of them. They are just standing there, irrelevant to the main plot, and boring since they are not doing anything.5) The motivation There is no clear goal for most of the movie. The characters are running around almost apathetically, without really caring or making us care about whatever they want to accomplish. And even when they accomplish it, it feels hollow and pointless, without nothing interesting for you to remember about. There is absolutely no emotional engagement with whatever is going on in it.6) Plausibility Furthermore, the movie hardly tries to convince you of whatever happens. Monsters attack our world, the army attacks them with helicopters, and nobody in the surrounding areas besides the heroine takes notice of them. And then the movie ends and she returns and her mother has apparently popped in the story, and she keeps living her life like nothing matters. So what was the point of all that?Although most viewers will probably just stare at the cool visuals and vote this a 9 or 10, I am a far harder to please man. I expect emotional engagement, development of the initial concept, some plot twist to be taken back for a few seconds, some characters who manage to escape their stereotype, something that doesn't feel like a lesser rehash of older productions. Well I got none of the above in this one. It was hollow, boring, and made Makoto Shinkai to look like a failed Miyazaki wannabe when he always had his own style and identity. His specialty always was tragic romances, he was so good at it, he had no reason to stray off to something far more childish and stupid like this. Although he tried to pull of something similar here with the myth of Izanami and Izanagi, he failed completely to make it plausible and engaging. His previous works were all quite realistic to the most part, without silly magical powers to offer panacea to any problem encountered. But this? This is a stupid romantic fairy tale for little girls (yes, girls, not even boys) and one so generic that you will forget as soon as you watch the next generic fairy tale that comes along. Heck, watching a low-budget stupid Barbie 3D movie is more than enough to get over it!Completely disappointed! Go back to realistic romances Shinkai! Leave behind there stupid magical lands! And above all don't try to grow a beard and act like Miyazaki. Be yourself.

This film was a pleasant surprise to find and watch. The story is compelling, the Japanese voice acting is excellent, and the level of imagination is fantastic.I was struck by the sheer attention to detail in this film: gradual changes in daylight within individual scenes, subtle dirt and weathering, precise animation of water effects, accurate animation of wildlife, and excellent use of light and color. These little extras did not go unnoticed. All of this helps to create a richer visual experience.The characters were interesting and quite nuanced and the musical score suits the film well.Now here's what really surprised me.... This is the director's first full-length feature and first time working with the larger-scale studio system. Couple this with the fact that he's a young director and you have someone with a very strong career ahead of him.The style of this film is similar to that of Miyazaki, and this is intentional. Miyazaki's style was chosen because it is recognized worldwide and it has proved itself effective for dramatic story-telling. Watching the behind-the-scenes information for this film was fascinating and it was amazing to see how young the crew were. Certainly there is a great deal of talent in Japan today -- talent willing to make 'classic' high-production-value anime. And for that I'm grateful. The next generation is sure to enjoy animation of the level that I enjoyed in my youth.In summary, I like this film a lot and I highly recommend it. If I were to nitpick this movie, I'd say that a few scenes were cut short a tiny bit too soon. I recommend the director watch the director's commentary for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. In there is a discussion about holding the camera at the end of a scene and why it's important for dramatic shots. I should also mention that although this is an animated film, there are scenes of violence and some sequences that children may find frightening.So if you're a fan of Miyazaki's work or simply a fan of imaginative drama and fantasy films, be sure to check this one out.

This anime has the same visual style as Miyazaki's animes (Studio Ghibli), same facial expressions, same hair, same running arm movements. Even one of the monsters kind of have the same look as the one in Spirited Away.As for the story, it's mediocre. The main characters do not have close relationships with each other, and there is no plot twist. Just a girl decided to venture into an underground world because a boy she just met was found dead and she thought she could revive him by going there.If I can only watch half the movie, I probably wouldn't miss the rest of it. It's a pity they spent all these effort to make an anime without first finding a better script. Perhaps it has deeper meaning for Japanese audience that I failed to see.