Lonely Castle in the Mirror

There are times when it loses some steam, but for the most part, it's an intriguing mystery. It's another anime film where there's a deluge of emotion for the last twenty minutes or so, but hell, it hit me hard. Sure, the animation is pretty typical and the characters aren't that deep, but I don't think it needed extraordinary animation and the characters bonding over trauma is all that was necessary because that's what the film is about.

Had me interested at the start. Nearly lost me in the middle. Won me back toward the end. From what I can tell, it comes with some valuable lessons on friendship and life in general, but for it to happen in such a magical world and not feel more magical feels like a fault somewhere. Might be me.

I liked the idea and the story but I found that it didn't hit on an emotional level.