Review of Suzume

Saw the movie yesterday at my city's theaters, and it was an all around enjoyable experience. Prior to this movie I had already watched all Shinkai's movies and animation shorts, and after watching Suzume no Tojimari I can safely say 5 Centimeters per Second it's still his best movie. For like the 6th time Shinkai presents the same type of story we got to see in all his other movies, every time with some different elements, but of course the main themes of disaster and impossible love are still present. This time the movie uses the earthquake, a theme that's really important to Japanese people,to convey its message, especially having central to the story the earthquake of Kanto in 1923 and the recent disaster of Fukushima (most of those who didn't study Japanese history won't probably understand it's Kanto's earthquake when it will be slightly mentioned, not that it's that important to the plot itself). The first three quarters of the movie are really slow, while having some good scenes, and kind of light hearted, not that it's a bad thing on its own, especially after the emotional burdens that were forcefully placed throughout Kimi no na Wa and Tenki no Ko. The plot itself becomes relevant in the last part of the movie that, I have to say, is actually really good, while I still think that the supporting main character Souta could have been flashed out in a better way. Apart from him and Suzume herself there's also a cat in those characters worth mentioning, yet it's character is kind of misterious throughout the entire movie, and also by the credits roll it's not really clear what was its objective, I have my theories but I'll let the watcher think for himself. In the end, the plot is nothing incredible, but it's enough to support the movie. I noticed, like in his past work Children Who Chase Lost Voices, that Shinkai took some inspiration from some of Miyazaki's works, this time mostly visually rather than movie structure wise.
The production quality is incredible as the other movies, with a great music score, even though not as good as Kimi no na Wa and Tenki no Ko, and even better animations than his previous movies, with also a really good use of CGI, present in those classic visually breathtaking Shinkai's action scenes.
All around it's still the same exact movie we have seen multiple times, there is really nothing new to the formula, but it's still worth watching, because it's really enjoyable. The most I can give it is a 8/10, I hope Shinkai will try to spice things up in the next movie