Critics reviews

["Weathering With You"] is beautifully animated, achingly romantic, and thoughtfully incorporates elements of Japanese folklore... [It] explores the myriad effects of climate change on our industrialized society, but I think its message is one of simultaneous resignedness and hope: The natural world has intentions of its own, and our lives don’t matter very much at all—so we better enjoy them while we can.

While I can’t spoil the ending, I have to offer my applause for its stubborn and somewhat bleak fairy-tale logic, which proudly ignores the selfless and heroic acts typical of such animated allegories. Instead, "Weathering With You" sticks to its guns all the way to the finale.

Shinkai’s follow-up to his international hit "Your Name" keeps the warm, bright visuals, but adds even more detail, to the point where it rivals Studio Ghibli’s films for richness... You can count the individual leaves on shrubs as the characters walk by. The setting feels almost excruciatingly real, like a vivid sort of reality-plus.

Not a clichéd composition can be seen in the near-two-hour running time... Shinkai’s portrait of a boy who must stay true to his deepest feelings gives Weathering with You haunting glimmers of depth.

“Weathering With You...” has the same spark of ingenuity and consistency of vision as [Shinkai's] earlier work. Which is especially impressive, given that “Weathering With You” feels much bigger conceptually... than it does on a narrative level... Shinkai’s brand of peppy magical realism is attractive, and “Weathering With You” is a perfect entry point for animation fans who are still looking for the next big Pixar or Hayao Miyazaki.

The story flows like all the running water, particularly in its fast-moving first hour... The pace is sometimes so rapid that you scarcely have time to look... That’s to Shinkai’s purpose. As streets, homes, rooms and faces hurtle by, a textured world emerges detail by detail, one that looks like life yet is also expressionistic.

It brims with emotions and wears its watery heart on its sleeve, but it’s a decidedly minor-key, more melancholy affair than its predecessor ["Your Name"]... at his best, [Shinkai] capable of evoking a sense of ecstatic yearning that feels uniquely his, and also uniquely adolescent. Weathering With You comes across as YA in the best possible sense, in that the film’s audience never has to stretch too far to get back to the feeling of being the age of its characters.

As irresistibly romantic as it is awe-inspiringly gorgeous, “Weathering With You” on the whole satisfies the craving for more of what “Your Name” ignited in viewers, yet with slightly less impact... But an imperfect offering from a titan of the medium still easily defeats most of the soulless cash-grabs that studios market as cinematic nannies for young moviegoers.

I’m not sure how far environmental catastrophes in Shinkai’s films reveal an anxiety about the planet. They may be there simply to ramp up the emotional intensity... Still, I remember watching "Your Name" with a heart-squeezing feeling. This movie didn’t leave the same impression; maybe second time around it doesn’t have quite the same impact.

Shinkai may be dipping his toes in his own pre-tested global market. But "Weathering With You" rises gracefully above its copycat blueprint, and not least because it offers a fresh vision of grungy urban beauty, shrouding the otherwise garishly lit city of Tokyo in a watery grey-blue palette featuring rising fog below and gorgeously menacing cumulonimbus formations above.

If not the phenomenon that "Your Name" was, it’s more lighthearted and comedic than its verging-on-solemn predecessor. But it’s not exactly a departure: Once again two teens fall for each other amid supernatural hoo-ha, and once again it’s set against a backdrop of swooning, Instagram-ready beauty.

While mileage may vary with Shinkai’s particular brand of melodrama, there’s no denying the pleasures of the film’s tactile, detailed and beautifully painted animation... It would be a mistake to think that "Weathering with You" is strictly about climate change, as this is a fantasy romance first and foremost.