I really wanted to like this movie. I think it was well made, but I think this is a case of where the concept was uninteresting and ultimately made the movie difficult to watch. The production design was fabulous. Well, everything (aside from the "yellow face" -- more in a minute) was top notch. Unfortunately the concept killed it for me. Perhaps CLOUD ATLAS was better as a book, but I really think this is a case where there's so much stuff that people lose track of what the real meaning is. For me the biggest problem is the meaning of the movie is just flat.
I will probably watch this one again to study the production design and attention to detail, but the movie is very long and the story, well, isn't much of a story at all. Altering time in an attempt to create mystery is an often useful and valid method of storytelling. I think my biggest problem with the movie is the story is a bunch of random bits with purported greater purpose. It's a nice goal, but the weak payoff isn't worth the labor of the watching the rest IMHO.
My advice: Proceed with caution if you decide to watch it.