He's right about the hand-holding, the terrible AI, and the slow rate of mechanic unlocks. Still, the game is charming and beautiful. The super-expensive version came with a fancy-pants "Wizard's Compendium" companion book, which adds to the appeal and immersion - too bad I couldn't afford it; my kid would love the hell out of that book, as much or more as she loves the game.
For a "kid's game", it's (eventually) complex enough for a general JRPG audience, and fairly hard if played on "normal". I haven't had to grind, but my daughter has (not that she minds - she likes collecting and leveling up a million familiars). It's basically Pokemon, but smarter, prettier, and.. let's just say better in every way (except it has no multiplayer). Like Shin Megami Tensei, except appropriate for kids and, well, yeah, it's not as good as Shin Megami Tensei. (It's actually nothing like Shin Megami Tensei - not sure where I was going with that.)
Anyway, if you know a kid between, I dunno.. age 7-12 or something?.. who likes/would like Pokemon or whatever the new "collect all the animal friends" craze is: they'd like this a lot more, they probably won't mind the flaws, and holy hell it's a kid-friendly product that's actually classy, for once. Well, mostly classy - some of the characters are poorly-constructed stereotypes, but almost any game (and especially one aimed at kids) is gonna be guilty of that.