And yet, however considerable the film's charms (it's first - rate children's entertainment, to be sure), there's something just the slightest bit disappointing in how pro-forma it all feels: Ghibli geniuses Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki never clung to a
house style, making films with wildly different looks and tones over the course of their careers, whereas Yonebayashi's first post-Ghibli
effort colors well within the lines of stock Japanese
animation.