Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

sophiapuppykisses Wow, was I disappointed. First, it was boring. The cat-ish thing made weird sounds and creeped out my sister. And the girl showed ABSELUTLEY NO STRONG EMOTION WHATSOEVER!!!!! And then she meets a kid for what, a day? And risks her life when he dies stupidly NOT THINKING AT ALL of her deceased father. Then she journeys into Agartha and they run into a creature. "Yay!! action, finally" I say. But no. They walk by the pointless creature effortlessly. *sigh* and we keep watching, comforted by the fact that its only rated PG. I honestly don't remember what happens in this chunk 'cause it was insanely boring. So shes having a dream now. and its comepletley pleasant until the guy reaches down to give the girl a hand up, she takes it, AND THE GUYS FREAKING ARM COMES OFFF!!!! my sister runs screaming into the other room and in the commotion I see a scene taken directly from princess mononoke. completely, 100 percent princess mononoke. And *beep*, this is where we stop watching the movie.

J-bot6 This film was a pleasant surprise to find and watch. The story is compelling, the Japanese voice acting is excellent, and the level of imagination is fantastic.I was struck by the sheer attention to detail in this film: gradual changes in daylight within individual scenes, subtle dirt and weathering, precise animation of water effects, accurate animation of wildlife, and excellent use of light and color. These little extras did not go unnoticed. All of this helps to create a richer visual experience.The characters were interesting and quite nuanced and the musical score suits the film well.Now here's what really surprised me.... This is the director's first full-length feature and first time working with the larger-scale studio system. Couple this with the fact that he's a young director and you have someone with a very strong career ahead of him.The style of this film is similar to that of Miyazaki, and this is intentional. Miyazaki's style was chosen because it is recognized worldwide and it has proved itself effective for dramatic story-telling. Watching the behind-the-scenes information for this film was fascinating and it was amazing to see how young the crew were. Certainly there is a great deal of talent in Japan today -- talent willing to make 'classic' high-production-value anime. And for that I'm grateful. The next generation is sure to enjoy animation of the level that I enjoyed in my youth.In summary, I like this film a lot and I highly recommend it. If I were to nitpick this movie, I'd say that a few scenes were cut short a tiny bit too soon. I recommend the director watch the director's commentary for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. In there is a discussion about holding the camera at the end of a scene and why it's important for dramatic shots. I should also mention that although this is an animated film, there are scenes of violence and some sequences that children may find frightening.So if you're a fan of Miyazaki's work or simply a fan of imaginative drama and fantasy films, be sure to check this one out.

wawee I had to force myself through parts of the film that were so blatantly Miyazaki rip offs. Almost every scene contained an obvious element of specific Ghibli films such as the blue crystal (castle in the sky), Shin leaving home (grossly replaying almost the exact scene from Mononoke), and Shun's unoriginal appearance and character that might as well be Howl (howls moving castle) thrown into a different film. The idea and plot line of the film was good but it is horribly lacking originality. Interactions between the main characters were cringeworthy and not well thought out. The only aspect of this film that I thoroughly enjoyed were the actions scenes like the bear fight in the beginning and the grey skeleton-esque creatures, and I usually prefer the slower scenes in anime.

WatchedAllMovies This anime has the same visual style as Miyazaki's animes (Studio Ghibli), same facial expressions, same hair, same running arm movements. Even one of the monsters kind of have the same look as the one in Spirited Away.As for the story, it's mediocre. The main characters do not have close relationships with each other, and there is no plot twist. Just a girl decided to venture into an underground world because a boy she just met was found dead and she thought she could revive him by going there.If I can only watch half the movie, I probably wouldn't miss the rest of it. It's a pity they spent all these effort to make an anime without first finding a better script. Perhaps it has deeper meaning for Japanese audience that I failed to see.