Critic Reviews
59
Metascore
Mixed or Average
positive
7(54%)
mixed
6(46%)
negative
0(0%)
Showing 13 Critic Reviews
100
The plot is often bewilderingly complex and the dense layers of subterfuge hard to follow, but by the climax the fairy tale has been twisted into a fascist fable of realpolitik mercenary opportunism.
90
Where Okiura leads the art of animation into truly uncharted territory is in his character work, the precise behavioral strokes that bring people to life in two dimensions.
80
A superbly crafted science-fiction fairy tale that's both Grimm and grim.
80
Offers a violent but compelling vision of what an animated feature can be.
75
The film is built to quaver and buckle along with its victims and martyrs. In an almost soulful way, it bespeaks the reality lingering when the final fantasy ends.
63
Its plot and political symbolism manage to be both over-familiar and confusingly muddled.
63
I liked the idea of the movie more than the movie itself -- though sections of it are mind-blowing.
50
Characters are undermined by the inexpressive animation that mars the majority of animated films: Their haunted inner lives are clearly meant to take center stage, but their faces are blank and two-dimensional.
50
Dubbed for U.S. audiences, the film has suffered in translation.
50
It's a gorgeous albeit depressing mess, as distancing and despairing as a realpolitik wipeout.
