It's the latest film from Makoto Shinkai (Your Name, Weathering with You)... hang on, I still haven't yet seen Weathering with You. I must rectify that. Anyway, Your Name was an international hit and the third highest grossing Japanese film of all time (either live action or animated), which it deserved because it's very good. So what about this?

It's inspired by the 2011 Touhoku earthquake and tsunami. That's when its protagonist (Suzume Iwato) lost her mother. Suzume was only four years old, so she didn't really understand. Now, she lives with her unmarried aunt and wants to be a nurse like her mother. She's not gloomy or anything. She's normal and fun. She'll do well in life.

One day, though, she meets a hot boy (Souta) who's looking for a door in a ruin. Suzume follows him for no reason except the obvious and finds the door... which is free-standing in a mysterious pool of water. No walls. It's just standing on its own. If opened, it'll show another world. Unfortunately, there's also a sort of Cheshire Cat and a giant earthworm that can cause once-in-a-generation earthquakes.

The cat does something amusing to Souta and we learn that there are other doors across Japan, any of which might unleash earthworms. Welcome to a fantasy road movie. Suzume sets off, to her aunt's displeasure.

The visuals are gorgeous. Imagine giving Japan's best animators the kind of budget that expects 300 million US dollars at the international box office. That's pretty damn good. I don't just mean action sequences, but also simpler things like the beauty of an abandoned town. (Incidentally, this film starts in Miyazaki prefecture, but that's not a reference to a certain anime director because Japan really does have a Miyazaki prefecture.)

We see lots of abandoned places, because that's what attracts earthworms. These places are always new and specific (school, amusement park) and Suzume will feel the ghosts and memories of the people came there.

The finale's more about emotional resolution than plot. This works. I feel sorry for Daijin. The relationships are what's important, which is mildly wrong-footing because the film ends up talking about Suzume, her mother (dead) and her aunt (left behind for most of the film). This might have felt more organic if they'd had a stronger presence in the rest of the film. The road movie ends up sort of sidelined, although Souta's definitely not forgotten. Incidentally, Shinkai's found an amusing, original way to sidestep the teenage romance angle he'd done in his last two films.

Mind you, Souta's best friend smokes right next to people and no one tells him to piss off.

This is a charming, sometimes funny film. It's as beautiful and fantastical as Miyazaki, but there's a conversation between Suzume and her aunt that's more real and painful than anything Miyazaki did. It's also very much about Japan itself, its scenery and its changing world. I enjoyed the abandoned places and the local accents. This is a quieter, offbeat film that I don't imagine will ever get an English language live-action remake (whereas Paramount and Bad Robot have one in production for Your Name).

But there's a lot to love here. It might be particularly interesting on a rewatch, when you're paying less attention to the plot.