But I don't really have a lot of positives in terms of the story itself. It just felt bloated and the surprise child abuse reveal for the third act just comes off as disingenuous because the build-up to who Dragon was was so full of red herrings that the reveal of the kid was just a "Dafuq, really?" moment, but it also was clearly used to strike emotional climatic beats instead of being a natural part of the narrative. As a result of that and other things going on throughout the movie including Suzu avoiding her dad majority of the film, it doesn't feel like Suzu really grows outside of being able to have the courage to sing around people again as herself. That's not an engaging character dynamic.
Also I'm sick and tired of Mamoru Hosoda putting in visual and storybeat references to his previous works into his movies. Stop reminding me of Summer Wars, The Boy and the Beast, Wolf Children, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and even Our War Game and be more original in story and art (if there were any references to Mirai, I missed it because that movie didn't really do much for me). You want me to watch Belle, don't you? Reminding me of these other movies isn't helping in keeping my interest.