Review of A Whisker Away

Probably an unpopular opinion but I was really looking forward to this movie but was honestly underwhelmed. The mask seller started off as creepy and mysterious, but just turned out to be an idiot. He should have been a more ominous character although his reason for selling masks wasn't too bad but sort of cliche. Muge didn't really have anything to like about her. I would have liked her more as a character if they showed her Dad dying and her Mom leaving to see the pain. Also, the confrontation between Muge's old Mom and new stepmom was downplayed a lot. The music took awayall the drama from the moment. Hinode was kind of just a bland character who didn't really struggle too much. We didn't really get to experience how important pottery was to him apart from the maybe 5 total minutes of screen time the pottery shop got. I think something that would really have elevated the level of the movie, was some flashbacks to back some of the pain that they went through. I found they focused too much on the love and romance part of the movie instead of any sort of character development which is what makes viewers attached to the story. The character/plot development was sooooo cliche. Boy doesn't like girl, girl loves boy, he thinks they have nothing in common and doesn't like her, comes to a realization immediately (instead of more gradually showing his feelings) that that girl is important, instantly falls in love. they had one scene in the entire movie apart from the last 20 mins that showed that he was starting to like her, which was when she jumped out of the tree. Regardless of the cat premise (which I found was interesting seeing the trailer and really thought there was so much potential), the studio just kinda used it as a side plot instead. There is a lot to like however. The soundtracks are great, and the animation is amazing. Apart from that, this movie is blehh.