Tokyo Godfathers

Demonstrates an idiosyncratic human touch. Kon is unafraid of the unseemly and unsightly. People are captured as they really might be.

When hope springs eternal, so does the film’s color palette.

A well-told story, forged on vision and delivered with heart.

This is a first-class film that will appeal to anyone who wants to see a plausible, witty, absorbing human story told well – indeed, told...

An animated film both harrowing and heartwarming, about a story that will never, ever, be remade by Disney.

Ends in magnificent fashion, with skyscrapers bowing to Beethoven’s Ninth. It’s a stirring ending to a sweet movie.

A singularly strange and affecting comedy.

Full of charm, grittiness and a solid storyline, the movie deserves an audience far beyond diehard animation fans.

Like the comic strips of Ben Katchor, Tokyo Godfathers artfully appreciates the beauty and humanity in junked lives and landscapes.

Unusual even for Japanese animation.

As with the greatest animated films, the triumph of Kon’s work lies not just in its beauty and singularly sophisticated storytelling but in h...

With its masterful grasp of comedy, pathos, social commentary and mystical weirdness, Tokyo Godfathers takes anime to a whole new level.

Demonstrates an idiosyncratic human touch. Kon is unafraid of the unseemly and unsightly.

A satisfying story that’s greater than the sum of its parts.

A gorgeous animated film that’s as avid a tribute to the Japanese capital as Lost in Translation.

A spellbinding piece of Japanese anime from one of the form’s new masters, director-writer Satoshi Kon.

Japanese animator Satoshi Kon has a striking sense of composition, but I’m more impressed by his storytelling skills.

Harrowing and heartwarming.

Tokyo Godfathers is the kind of old-fashioned, all-ages entertainment Hollywood used to churn out in live-action form before the era of niche marke...

Director Kon goes heavy on the schmaltz, but it doesn’t matter. He puts viewers in a comfy mode, where sentiment is a plus.

The film is as lively as a cricket and often very funny, but it’s not for the cyberpunk crowd.

Tokyo Godfathers stands as an excellent anime film and a really fun Christmas movie.

The combination of high animé style and old-school heart gives the film a broad enough appeal to merit a wide release. Not that it isn’t...

Gorgeous animated film.

A welcome exercise in anime weirdness.

A modern animé classic fit for rediscovery by both adults and kids-not to mention a stirring celebration of inclusivity that remains ahead of...

Part of the spell cast by this magical film is its ability to make an unvarnished political statement about economic reality and social alienation...

The story takes some kooky turns and, at times, delves into the supernatural.

For all its echoes of Frank Capra and Charlie Chaplin (as well as Ford), the movie is also a love letter to modern Tokyo, whose alleyways and...

Tokyo Godfathers just might be the equivalent of «It’s a Wonderful Life» or, to be hip and new-millennium about it, «Elf.»

It’s a touching movie that, like the best animes, transcends the limitations of the genre.

Artfully appreciates the beauty and humanity in junked lives and landscapes.

Social indifference and injustice plague the protagonists, as well as our own consciences. This may very well be the point of the whole exercise.

Japanese animator Satoshi Kon has a striking sense of composition, but I’m more impressed by his storytelling skills.