It has all the classic Urusei Yatsura slapstick comedy, and all the familiar characters are well portrayed and developed. However, it adds a brooding, serious, dreamlike quality missing from the TV series and the first movie, and it manages to ask some serious questions about time and existence.

The story, with the characters trapped in a dream world, takes some of its inspiration from the Japanese legend of Urashima Taro, who spent more than a century in the Dragon Palace without aging; the characters refer to Urashima explictly.

The animation is very well done for a show of this age. It's fluid and has some wonderful artwork in it. If you are familiar with Rumiko's work (Ranma 1/2, and Maison Ikokku) then you will know what to expect. What really makes this movie is the direction and the mood setting animation. This is a dark looking film with some wonderful dream-like elements to it. If you've seen Director Mamoru Oshii's work before (Ghost in the Shell), then you can definitely see the influence here in this earlier work. Combining the dreamlike images with some creative sound design helps further the story and the pull the viewer in.

The story is very well thought out and executed. This movie gets better with each viewing and the Japanese voice cast does a very good job with the script. I'd avoid the dub of this film. It is not very good at all, and has been known to cause severe pain.

Most of the score does well in supporting the film and adds to some of the eerie moments and to the comedic moments equally. The end theme is appropriately catchy and light.