A good movie

To be honest, even though I have seen all the movies directed by Hayao Miyazaki, I'm afraid I have never been a really huge fan of his work. Still, he remains a really interesting director so I was really eager to check his last (and probably final) directing effort. Well, first of all, as usual, the animation was just mind-blowing. Indeed, it was really gorgeous to look at, proving that there is still some value in the lost art of the hand-drawn animation. Concerning the story, I was expecting some monsters, ghosts and fairies to show up at every corner but, this time,  Miyazaki decided to deliver a realistic period piece which was a welcome surprise. To be honest, I'm not sure I really cared about this tale though. I mean, it was cute and charming, even really romantic and poetic at some point, but it never really grabbed me, I'm afraid. Above all, the main issue I had was probably the fact that the main character was just so nice, smart and gentle (same thing with his fiancee). It is definitely a trademark in Miyazaki's but, I don't know, maybe I'm just too cynical, but I miss some conflict, some dark layers in his characters and, as a result, I find them rather dull. Still, even though it didn’t completely blow me away, it was still a really nice animated feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Hayao Miyazaki's work.

7/10