Great watch, would watch again, and do recommend.

The animation in this beautiful, and some of it reminds me (vaguely) of "Spirited Away", but makes more sense. I'm sure the relation is the sense that "Spirited Away" is Miyazaki's display of the Japanese fey, though it is apparently in several other movies (e.g. "My Neighbor Totoro", "Ponyo").

This is a movie of great tragedy and powerful feelings, but ultimately is about appreciating your family and people while they are there. There is charm and uplifting feelings to the entire situation: you're not just going to be depressed or moved.

As the introduction of the fey start, it is very unclear what is real and what is magic, or if the magic is real. That surreal attitude to this child's adventure seemed to add to the charm of dealing with the situation.

The only problem I have with the movie is this ambiguity, there are so many parallels (that often occur in fey stories) to reality that you can't tell if this is a story of how a boy imagined an adventure, or if it's a fey story full of hidden magic.

The details they go into are amazing if you look. Even the tears shared between fey and human are different. The details go on, and while I'm not sure if the quality is better, worse, or just different to a Miyazaki film, I feel it was made with the same consideration for how the audience is supposed to feel as they watch in the same way he created.