The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (movie recommendation)

This post is part of 52 anime challange - I'll be recommending one anime/manga per week that I've recently watched. I won't be writing about stuff that I've watched long time ago and that I don't fully remember.
Also, check out my video about Hosoda's style.

 “Toki wa Kakeru Shoujo” can best be described as a "good" film. It fits perfectly into that word because it performs well in every aspect, but "outstanding" in none. It follows the usual patterns, executes them well, and at the end it leaves the viewer with a smile on his face, because it delivered a simple, enjoyable and properly executed film in every aspect. Movie for the whole family, without any experiments.

Plot:

The main character, Konno, gains the power of time travel. That's really the whole premise... and all the description I can think of, which was already included in the title.

Therefore, I would like to talk about the course and pace of events, which are "good" and follow patterns related to time travel. Yes, I'm aware that the film is a loose adaptation of the 1967 novel, but I'm not going to pay any attention to it - let's just focus on the film.
I mentioned that it follows existing tropes for a reason.  

The movie presents us in order:
-The peaceful life of the main character
-The mysterious event of discovering a power within herself
-The fun of the new power in a humorous/friendly tone
-Problems with the new power
-Trying to fix them
-A build-up of emotions, approaching the finale, preparing viewer
-Climax - burt something has gone wrong
-Catharsis - the main problem is fixed, the viewer can breathe a sigh of relief
-Total descent of emotion, showing resolution of all subplots
-END

What work have I just described? 90% of cinema. Is it bad? NO! Just because the emotions and the plot are built as in the vast majority of works or because a well-known theme is chosen and carried out in a typical way, doesn't mean it's a bad movie. Because, as it usually happens, it's the implementation that matters and in this case everything is in its place. It's like ice cream. Reaching for the vanilla flavor you will never be disappointed, and this Hosoda's movie is exactly that.

Voice acting:

Halfway through the movie I had two conclusions - the voice acting is really cool. The second conclusion - the seiyuu of the main character's sister is an amateur. As for the second one, I wasn't wrong, because this is the only role of this voice actress. However, I was surprised by the fact that almost the entire cast consists of amateurs who haven't done anything anime related before. And I’m not complaining - it's quite possible that the director's goal was to achieve a specific effect by choosing inexperienced anime voice actors, or he was just looking for specific voices that would fit characters perfectly.
The fact is that I love the acting of Mamimi from FLCL, whose voiceover seiyuu also starred exclusively in one production, and almost the entire cast consisted of amateurs. There's something about that unpolished acting that lacks the mannerisms of professionalism that I love. Maybe it’s just my thing, maybe I'm wrong, but the voice acting in this film is really nice.

Art/music:

In my memories, Hosoda's movies looked better. Admittedly, this is his first film (One Piece and Digimon I don't count), and yet it comes off (here again the key word) - **good**. I don't really care about the considerable simplification of characters in unimportant sequences, because when it really matters, we get high-quality animation and detailed characters in front of beautiful backgrounds.
Is it worth watching just for the graphics - definitely not. "Wolf Children" and "The Boy and the Beast" are better in this aspect. Of course, if my memory isn't wrong (note: this review has been written before I rewatched all Hosoda’s movies).
"Mirai" and "Belle" at the time of writing this review I haven't watched yet.

The OST works and fits the scenes. There are a few moments that play well with silence. I don’t think there are songs that are memorable and stayed with me. There is no second "Okaasan no Uta" here, just correctness once again.

Summary:

The correctness and being "good" is something that just 6 years later, Hosoda would eliminate in "Wolf Children" and rise above and beyond. And another 3 years later he would attempt to repeat the story of the perfect parent with slightly worse results (The Boy and the beast).
"The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" is a solid start to a standalone directorial career that has had its downfalls (Summer Wars), but I would recommend anyone to check out this work. The film is light enough to watch with almost any mood, especially since it can lift the viewer's spirits a bit and cheer them up.

(Editorial note: at the time of writing this, I haven’t watched Mirai no mirai yet. Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s a good movie, but other than Mirai and Summer Wars, I recommend you watching all of Hosoda movies)