Purely Joyful Movie!

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

I have nothing against films with little dialogue or a slow pace. I do, however, have a problem with films that are boring. I barely got past the 15 minute mark before stopping. I'll give this movie credit for its visuals, for the most part its a nice-looking movie. Other than that the story clearly takes way too much time to start. The beginning at least spends too much time meandering and hoping that the occasional upbeat tune and unnecessary dissolving zoom will keep the audience entertained when we know nothing about the world or its characters.

Like The Prophet and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, this movie was a gift from my brother, who I viewed it with today. Given it was an adaptation of a Japanese children's book, we hadn't any idea what to expect. Almost all the way through the movie, my mind was all over the place from all the deep thought-provoking ideas it presents us with. The assortment of strange symbols, like all the Atari style vector graphics that appear periodically across much of the plot, left me absolutely confounded. The story was superbly adapted from its source aside from making the characters cats, although this is an artistic liberty that I appreciate in the sense that it gives it a rather distinct identity. It was certainly told better than The Prophet was. The characters left me in just as much confusion as everything else that occurred, since I never really understood why they, say, just vanish from this train that is supposed to represent a path to the afterlife. They were all fascinating nonetheless, especially given that I almost immediately recognized Giovanni as sounding like 4Kids Ash Ketchum. The animation most certainly shows its age due to 1985 CGI and areas that lean more monochrome to be cost effective, but it does a fair job of depicting what the characters of Fantastic Mr. Fox would describe as a mental and psychological "cluster cuss". The "monochrome" parts do also offer some of the most creepy and amazing parts of this film. What I can say overall is that if you do watch this film, prepare for absolute mystification from all its concepts. Personally, I appreciated it, though casual animation buffs should heed the following advisory: you may completely miss important stuff from this film because it puts you in thought nearly all the way through. Your emotions may also roller-coaster, as mine did. I would recommend it overall, especially for cat fans, anime otaku and fantasy fundamentalists. For others, though, I would keep my aforementioned advisory in mind.

Beautiful at times, but sick at heart. Watch it for the graphics and sometimes-aura, not for the Christian death-cult sentiments and moralizing, unless you want to have a view into the psychology of some of the Japanese/Christians.

This anime was so bad it caused a friend of mine to crash his car when he left the viewing. Don't ever see this garbage. Even for an art film it is bad. I love cats but I couldn't bare to sit through this bomb again. I even love art anime but this one almost made me sick. Too much art not enough plot. Read the book if you want but don't watch this anime.