Review of The Boy and the Heron

Three of us went to see this movie today (Sat 12/30/23). Preface: we LOVE Ghibli movies (we have watched 15+ of them) and have never watched one that we didn't enjoy... until today. First the good: animation was fantastic, voice work good, and music was good. But the script. OMG, the plot is a train wreck. The character development is nonexistent. Is there clear motivation and a compelling adversary? Nope. The ending was abrupt and unsatisfying. I will not spoil anything nor reveal any of the plot, but more WTF plot moments/elements than all other Ghibli movies COMBINED. We all rate it worse than Valerian. Two out of tree of us rated this movie THE WORST MOVIE WE HAVE EVER SEEN IN A THEATER, no joke! ~~You have been warned~~