Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Best movie ever!

The first must-see film of the year.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It's Christmas time in Tokyo and as three homeless companions wander the streets, digging through trash for dinner, they come across an abandoned baby. The spirit of Christmas drives them to pick her up and the rest of the movie details their journey to find the parents of the little tyke.This might very well be the most down to earth movie director Satoshi Kon has ever made, which is saying a lot about his usual fare. It contains no supernatural elements, no crazy trips into the cracking psyche of man, nothing really out of the ordinary. Yet it is strange enough so as to be recognizable. The plot relies heavily on happy coincidences, but often enough those coincidences are so out there that they have to be intentional, making the seeming laziness of the script into a stylish feature. I certainly had no complaints, the whole story was a blast to follow, especially because you really couldn't predict where it was going.But, beneath all the craziness and oddness, Tokyo Godfathers is a character film and it pulls it off fantastically. All three of the eponymous "godfathers" are deeply layered, tragic, funny and, beyond all else, interesting personalities. Each one is as different from one another as day is from night, yet you can see what pulls them together. They're as interesting separately as they are in a group, but it's the group that drives the individuals to do pretty much anything. I was actually sad to see the film end, because it meant saying goodbye.Tokyo Godfathers is an excellent film on many levels. It is a superb animated film, fantastic characters study and actually a pretty neat Christmas film as well. Definitely worth checking out.

A John Wayne film from 1946 gives us the initial thrust of plot, three homeless bums discover a baby in the trash and take it upon themselves to deal with it. It's a film so full of coincidence and magic happenstance, the kind of which produces oddball but heartwarming scenarios for characters not ready to deal with the, yet at the same time it doesn't ever ring false because it's about miracles of life and miracles are only false if we don't believe in them. I'm not generally taken in by animation but Satoshi Kon does some amazing things here, the atmosphere of Christmas in a country that celebrates it only passingly is unique, the streets are empty and there's a faint bell going off in a Shinto temple somewhere in the dark, and the painted faces emote like real people, they pout and scowl and snarl like real people do. And I loved Miss Hana/Uncle 'Bag', she's one of the most interesting characters of the decade I think, a woman born a man who takes the part of both mother and wife but repudiates her roles as both in search of family. The film is trying to make us 'feel' Christmas, it wants us to not be the cynic onlooker who observes plot contrivance but rather be conflated with the contrivance so that it becomes meaningful. This should be one of the great Christmas movies, where things are bitter funny and snow whirls under the lamp posts of cold empty streets, then they're sad and faith-restoring but we know it's all a feelgood fantasy that says 'everything will be alright'. I like how Satoshi Kon injects complex human behaviour here, one of the protagonists is in drag, another takes us in through a weepy personal story which is later revealed to be the complete fabrication of a cowardly man, the girl is like a cipher of teenage rebellion, stabbing her father seemingly over a cat.

This was quite an amazing movie. The story kept twisting around while never being confusing, and stayed surprising till the very end. While childish in many ways it touched on quite adult issues in others. Homelessness and the various reasons for it, Japanese healthcare, Yakuza, Immigrants, Drugs, Violence in its many facettes and, as always in Satoshi Kons movies till now, the human psyche. While many of those issues are only touched briefly (including psychology), it seems like the director wanted to show a crossover through society. Thus the movie is quite packed, and thus the movie is quite entertaining to say the least. Strangely enough though, no sex whatsoever.The characters were unique in their own way and believable on the stage the movie provided. The character animation was OK. We've all seen better, but with this movie that's hardly the point. Satoshi Kon definitely overused the deus ex machina in this one, but then again he always does (altough I still have to see Paranoia Agent), so I was expecting it. Plus he always does it in such unpretentious ways that I can simply enjoy it. So what? Coincidences DO happen. Especially on Christmas. ^^ I wouldn't want to exchange the end of this movie for anything more believable, its just to... fitting.In short I could find nothing wrong with this movie. While it didn't get me thinking, it certainly entertained me from start to finish. Well... I didn't care for the dancing skyscrapers.8/10One other thing though. I'm utterly sick of hearing comparisons to Miyazaki. It's like fanboys comparing every Fantasymovie or book with LotR. Seriously, HOW, can anyone compare this movie, or even more, something like Perfect Blue with Totoro, Chihiro or Laputa? What mindbending techniques are necessary to accomplish this task, I ask you? Comparing Miyazaki with Kon is like comparing Spielberg with del Toro. They just make different kinds of movies. Miyazaki and Kon are both terribly talented Directors and writers, they both make brilliant movies and they both happen to work in Japan. The End

Usually (maybe if it was another film) I'd say that all those coincidences how the people meet and how all turns good during the whole film (It just happens a hundered times!) are SO KITCHY but no way! **ck it! It's GREAT! It's a pleasure to watch! It's **cking hilarious! I didn't think for one second that I was going to rate this one lower then 10/10 pancakes here.It's a masterpiece! Kitchy? No way, it's an x-mess film AND it makes us feel happy!Somehow totally reminded my of Night on Earth by Jim Jarmusch...What beautiful anime!If you're out for some VERY positive, funny, crazy film that has still an excellent feeling for serious drama (elements and bits) and a titanium solid story then your choice must be Tokyo Grandfathers!Description in one word: ENJOY!