As much as I preferred this movie over the TV series, this is the one thing in the PMMM franchise that even its fans admit had problems. Quite a number of problems. From the very fact that it's a sequel to an already conclusive TV series.

1 ) The first half hour.
The whole witch barrier world thing is probably the second most polarizing thing about the movie. By this point in the Madoka franchise's life time you already know what kind of series it is. No one's going to buy the idea that these characters could ever be in a happy and normal world, especially when the trailers show things like Mami and Homura's fight or Homura holding a gun to her head.

We already know that this ridiculous world is fake, we just don't know exactly how. So either you're enjoying the fanservice of watching these characters get along in a happy world, or you're waiting for the story to actually kick in. It spends way too much time meandering around this silly idea that people refer to as some kind of imitation of traditional magical girl shows.

2 ) Too much information withholding.
Much like the TV series, the movie relies heavily on characters dancing around each other with information and hiding it until the most  dramatic moment possible. In the case of Homura it's understandable because the movie highlights her flaws: That she's unable to communicate with others or rely on them, and that she's too irrational to realize that a witch wouldn't just trap them all in a fantasy world.

But with characters like Sayaka, and especially Nagisa, there's no excuse. Did they need to wait until Homura realized what was going on of her own accord in order to explain everything to her? Why couldn't Nagisa have just changed back when Homura was attacking her and explained everything? Why did she wait until the point that she did to explain what we the audience don't get to hear because they're setting up another DRAMATIC REAVEAL! ?

3 ) Lack of substance.
Par for the course in a movie that exists as 40% fandom pandering, there's so much stuff that is just thrown into the movie without any kind of weight behind it. Kyouko and Sayaka holding hands and talking about how Sayaka's one regret is leaving Kyouko is great for the shippers, but consider we saw almost nothing of their friendship prior to Sayaka's death, it feels hollow.

Same goes for that fight between Mami and Homura. There's no emotion behind it. Aside from the simple fact that Homura was trying to attack Bebe, there's nothing that really drives either character into such an intense conflict. It's just a fancy display for the audience. At least the fight against Homura's witch form had more meaning behind it.

4 ) Lack of explanation.
Most of the time Rebellion Story is pretty easy to follow, but when we get to the end, things get a little crazy. I watched the entire thing, and I still feel like I'm lost on a lot of things.

All of tumblr's PMMM fandom: Durhur you missed the point! Did you even watch the same movie?

The biggest example is all about the twist at the end. The movie doesn't really make it clear HOW Madoka, Nagisa and Sayaka appear in the real world when at least the former is supposed to not be able to exist. HOW Homura is able to physically handle this non-existent concept, and what exactly happened to Homura's Soul Gem. Those things being corrupted by "love" as Homura puts it is something they've never been established as possible, not to mention this apparently allows her to hijack Madoka's ultimate powers?

And what exactly did she do? We see Madoka get separated between human and ultimate forms for a second and then fancy effects!

And of course there are so many other things that just go unexplained, like what the role of megucas in this new world is, what Kyubey's role is, and so on. I get that it's left intentionally vague to make room for a sequel, but that in of itself is just bad writing.

5 ) The ENDING
You all saw this one coming. I've already mentioned in a previous thread how I believe that Homura's actions were a result of a huge misunderstanding between her and Madoka. How Madoka did not have the memories and experiences to make such a powerful, self-sacrificing wish willingly. And how the way Homura words her "dream" leads Madoka to believe that she would be completely detached from those she cares about.

Tying into pretty much all of the above this ending comes together to slap the viewers in the face and say "how will this mess get fixed? Keep watching and find out!"

It's very clear that this world is not entirely a good thing. It was made with somewhat good intentions, sure, but if this world of Homura's was a good thing, then the ending would have been perfectly conclusive, Madoka wouldn't have to be essentially imprisoned in this world, and we'd know what the heck is going on with the law of cycles.

I could also talk about how the movie "ruins the TV show's ending" but that's for the PMMM fans to determine.

Personally and I'm going to get so much grief for this, but I finally got to watch this and I liked it. I know that it doesn't really fit in with the show but really most of the amine movies from shows don't fit well into the established storylines so I didn't go in expecting this one to be any different. The fact that in a really round about way that they even tried to fit it in to the established story from the show was cool in it's messed up way. 

All that aside I thought that the movie was a unique way to give the fans what they wanted(some of us wanted anyway) and have the girls together. Yeah it was more about them just being Happy, and I can't say that it was a bad thing at all. In fact I liked how they got to have a little bit of happy, I think the characters earned it after all they were put though in the show. Do i think they did that part right? not really but hey it was cute and fun for a while, then it got dark and messed up as I expected something from PMMM to be. 

I can't say that I went into the movie expecting much as others apparently. I didn't have a problem with much till the end which seemed really forced to me. Oh let's make her a Witch and have Madoka come and save her at the end where she then gets fucked up herself. yeah really fits with the plot there. Honestly I could have accepted that it was like a AU movie or something, instead of what they gave us. I think I might have liked that better, just fighting the Nightmares, or whatever but I get the feeling that I'm the smallest part of the fandom. *Shrug* and the Utena move was so freaking great too. oh well.

Chat de la Lune wrote:

Personally and I'm going to get so much grief for this, but I finally got to watch this and I liked it. 

GRIEF. Hah.

But yea, it's perfectly fine to like it. I actually didn't loathe the movie the way I did the TV anime proper. It was no Different Story, but it was alright.

For one I liked the fact that it had an actual story going for it. There's a mystery going on and it ends up being this big plot by Kyubey and a big counter-plot by Madoka, Nagisa and Sayaka. It wasn't just "Being a magical girl is a horrible thing!" repeated over and over.

Second, no one except Homura suffers. I expected this to be 200% misery porn ilke the TV anime where everything is so bleak and miserable that it gets suffocating and exhausting, but no. Aside from the reveal of what's going on with Homura, everything else is of an okay mood. Madoka never even cries once.

Thirdly is the overall better portrayals of the characters, particularly Kyouko and Sayaka. Kyouko is much less hostile and Sayaka is less stubborn and judgmental. She even seems to have some understanding of Homura, up until the big plot twist.

I also liked the fact that Homura's behavior is portrayed as FLAWED. Her dedication to Madoka is obsessive and self-destructive. Without being able to repeat the same month we see that she's very irrational and impulsive. The TV anime excused her behavior and treated her like the most wonderful friend a person could have.

Nagisa... while I agree was a pointless addition, was largely a harmless character. I saw no issue with her, she's a likable, friendly character and even though I would have liked to know SOMETHING about it, I welcome a character who doesn't act like she's better than everyone else.

Kyubey finally getting some retribution for all his dickery was pretty satisfying. Again I felt like the anime justified his behavior and at best enforced some sort of compromise. It made it seem like humans and incubators could co-exist, but nope, Kyubey is ultimately humanity's enemy.

And above all, I think the biggest reason I'm more tolerant of this movie than the TV show is because by this point all of the major secrets are out in the open. They can't pull as many cheap shock value stunts because we already know what kind of work this is, and what the magical girl system is like. Plus all of the girls have already made their wishes, so we don't have to see their lives getting ruined by them.

RLinksoul wrote:

4 ) Lack of explanation.
Most of the time Rebellion Story is pretty easy to follow, but when we get to the end, things get a little crazy. I watched the entire thing, and I still feel like I'm lost on a lot of things.

All of tumblr's PMMM fandom: Durhur you missed the point! Did you even watch the same movie?

The biggest example is all about the twist at the end. The movie doesn't really make it clear HOW Madoka, Nagisa and Sayaka appear in the real world when at least the former is supposed to not be able to exist. HOW Homura is able to physically handle this non-existent concept, and what exactly happened to Homura's Soul Gem. Those things being corrupted by "love" as Homura puts it is something they've never been established as possible, not to mention this apparently allows her to hijack Madoka's ultimate powers?

And what exactly did she do? We see Madoka get separated between human and ultimate forms for a second and then fancy effects!

And of course there are so many other things that just go unexplained, like what the role of megucas in this new world is, what Kyubey's role is, and so on. I get that it's left intentionally vague to make room for a sequel, but that in of itself is just bad writing.

This was my biggest problem with the movie. I'm glad to know that I wasn't the only person who was confused by what happened at the end. Because of the way the PMMM fandom acts, I honestly felt like I was just too stupid to understand it, but...

Now that I think about it, that's probably the intention of the writers, isn't it? By making it confusing on purpose, people won't understand it, and then they'll automatically think it's just "too deep" for them, when in reality, it just made no sense.

All of your other points were spot on, by the way. I agree 100%.

One more thing that occurred to me recently.

It seems like the movie was going for some kind of Aesop about Homura trying to do everything herself. The movie points out Homura's flaws pretty clearly in that she cannot explain herself to the others, she refuses to ask for help and tries to shoulder all of her burdens alone.

The movie goes out of its way to have the characters reach out to her and tell her that she doesn't have to be alone.

So how does the movie end? Homura hijacking Madoka's powers and imprisoning her and the others in a fantasy world where she's in control. Maybe I'm just overthinking things. 2deep4me.

I had a similar problem with the TV series where it seemed like it was repeatedly trying to say that Madoka's life is precious and she shouldn't give it up, only for her to do exactly that.