Isao Takahata has been more miss than hit for me, but his one big hit is one of the only films I’ve ever given five stars, Grave of the Fireflies. I wasn’t a fan of the pacing of Only Yesterday, I thought My Neighbors the Yamadas was just a bit weird and boring, and I was pretty miserable watching Pom Poko, probably because of my unfamiliarity with the culture surrounding that movie. I went into The Tale of the Princess Kaguya expecting something a little more akin to Grave of the Fireflies. Not rated as high probably, but something emotionally powerful.

Let me tell you what, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is most definitely a slow burn. I wasn’t bored and rarely checked the time, but the story definitely wasn’t in any hurry at all. I think it probably could have been cut shorter just a tad, but I wouldn’t say I thought it was too long. I’d put that aspect in the “mixed” category - some people will think it’s too long, some will not. The pacing was pretty good to be honest, and both the mysterious and fantastical feeling of the whole experience definitely helped.

I wasn’t sure about the animation style at first, as it reminded me of My Neighbors the Yamadas, which in addition to not liking that movie, I didn’t really like the animation style either. It’s pretty safe to say it was a perfect style choice for Kaguya though. The watercolor-style animation really suited the mystical feeling the movie had.

The start is definitely the slowest part of it all, but it does do a very good job of setting everything up. The scene where we meet Kaguya for the first time was very memorable, and seeing her grow at an abnormal rate added to the mystery of the story. I will say, I could have done without the “Little bamboo!” scene. That was definitely my least favorite part of the entire movie.

Once they leave the village is when the story starts to pick up. Kaguya becomes a much more interesting character and someone you feel for. By the way, the actress for her was definitely blessed with an absolutely beautiful voice, not even just for singing, but in general. A perfect casting choice for sure.

Even though this is when the story starts to pick up, I definitely would say I preferred the beginning of the movie. We don’t get a whole lot from the other characters besides Kaguya, and some of the directions the story took kind of puzzled me because I don’t see why they couldn’t have come up with something more interesting for it to go. I would have liked to have seen more of the earth parents and especially Sutemaru.

This leads into my biggest overall disappointment - the ending. Grave of the Fireflies shook me with an ending I will never forget because of how well everything was set up. You can tell this film tries to go for an ending somewhat similar, but I have to say I didn’t really feel much. I think it’s pretty obvious that focusing more time and attention on her Earth parents and Sutemaru would have made for a pretty huge impact, but again, the story didn’t do that.

This was definitely a good movie, but let me down a bit.