I was really surprised by this one. It starts off kind of childish - and it is a film made for kids - but there's a surprising depth to this film that you don't see until later. Multifaceted characters, an excellently paced and written plot, and a message that reaches both kids and adults. The stakes feel real. The highs are soaring and the lows will have you genuinely fearing for the characters, and there are points where I had no clue what was going to happen next. I was crying by the end. It really is a special film. And of course, the visualsare sublime - Ponoc took the signature Ghibli style and made it their own, swapping out the blocky colours for shading and detail. It still feels like a drawn animation, but has the flexibility of CGI. The music is fantastic, the voice acting in the English Dub is on the level of any major children's film. It really does have everything.

I absolutely recommend it.