Excess of Opinions

dude, i saw this movie 4 times in the theater. just couldn’t get enough of it. LOVED IT.

really pretty excellent! positively crammed with witty little parodic nods for adults, and the voice acting is really great (Miley is merely okay). a little hokey and predictable, but the movie makes it worth your while.

visually very well-done; i wasn’t too sure how they were going to animate Marjane Satrapi’s art, but what they arrived at was perfect. that said, it’s a bit…French. definitely a much different feel to it than the graphic novels. less hopeful and raw, more…French. but again, i suffer when i read the source material first.

awesome! visually gorgeous, well-paced and with great music and voices.
really pretty creepy, not necessarily appropriate for younger kids. the 3-D didn’t do much for me, but your mileage may vary.

so like, not a feel-good romp, so much. compelling and awful.
the animation is unique and absorbing, with terrific music. the animation helps draw you in to something you might not otherwise want to watch with both eyes open – although they’re not above sucker-punching you by dropping the most horrifying visuals in your lap with newsreel footage at the last. very effective.
a beautiful and important movie that i will never see again.

REALLY JUST A KIDS’ MOVIE! very cute and sweet and pretty and surreal, but not transcendent like other Miyazaki movies. actually, this is the first Miyazaki i’ve seen that *ONLY* functions on a kid level. so really kind of boring for grown-ups, but i think most kids under 7 would LOVE it.

SQUIRREL!!!!
how does Pixar do it?! they had the goddamn Midas touch – everything they do is funny and smart and sweet and beautiful, and yet each film is unique. the dog jokes had me peeing my pants, the music was terrific, and the 3D was elegantly done. just perfect. AGAIN.

had this movie come out, like…7 years ago? i would have liked it 25% better. but Pixar has set the bar much higher now, and this cute, earnestly hokey movie falls pretty short. there are a few laughs, and kids would _definitely_ like it better than adults, but it’s mostly just meh. comic timing is pretty off, and the whole thing is too mild to be engaging. i spent most of the time identifying the voice actors in my head.