In continuing my trip into the late Satoshi Kon's all-too-small body of work (four feature films as director and one television series that is MUCH too hard to track down), I now come across this film, 2003's Tokyo Godfathers, which I unfortunately missed when it was first released and was actually the first time I had heard of the director.I was happy to finally come across a copy and pop it in... only to find that it was not at all what I was expecting from the director of such mind-benders as Perfect Blue and Paprika. This is both good and not-so-good. It's certainly not a bad film, nor one that is distasteful. It's a sentimental piece of pap that has the ambition to the Japanese anime answer to It's a Wonderful Life: a Christmas story that is not necessarily all about Christmas that has supernatural (or "miracle") overtones, and goes sometimes into dark places.The short of it: three homeless people, one a bearded guy with a family that he left behind, a transvestite who insists on being called a woman's name and is so flamboyant as to make Harvey Fierstein jealous, and a young runaway girl whose father is a cop. They come across a baby abandoned in a dump where they dwell at night, and decide to take it to the police... well, not unanimously anyway, the transvestite wants to hold on to it and mother it. But they come across some hijinks and problems along the way, including the woman who comes back to find the baby again.I could go on about the plot, but it should only be the short of it not so that I'll reveal anything so surprising, but there is TOO much to try and reveal in a plot synopsis. Like many anime films and series I can think of (on the action-side Dragonball Z and on the more adult side Princess Mononoke), the story can get complicated, if not impossible to follow. In this case though it's a holiday family film (yes, family film, despite its dark corridors its meant for ma and pa and the kids sitting around the fire), and in the last fifteen minutes or so complications, coincidences and/or contrivances get piled on, leading up to a big chase scene up a building.This would all be fine if the film itself didn't become so sentimental. It's hard to take that in Hollywood movies, but with Kon, and he has the best intentions believe me, it becomes a tale so squishy that you can feel it slipping from your fingers. It is pap, but not the kind of enjoyable pap that the original John Ford entertainer 3 Godfathers was back in 1948 (same premise, three men and a baby, but with the Duke in one of his best performances, but I digress it's good). Here the characters end up being more of service to Kon's 'Wonderful Life' tale, yet this does come after some time developing them. We get back-story, and later some contradiction to the back-story, and some visual aids such as a flashback to the transvestite's story as a singer who got in to a big fight with a heckler.Sure, the film has beautiful animation. Kon is one of the forerunners of Miyazaki as one of the greats in his time of modern anime in Japan, changing the game and surprising at many turns. At the least Tokyo Godfathers is pretty to look at, a kind of urban fairy tale with lots of snow and harder-edged buildings and grit, with some blasts of big humor and some deserved heart. If only the story didn't sink into its sappy moments so much - though for some this will be just the thing that will take them in, and I can't blame them. Perhaps it's the Grinch in me.

For me, Satoshi Kon's best film is Paprika. That said, all of his films are ones to be highly recommended, they Paprika especially can have a tendency to be challenging, which can delight or alienate viewers, but they are gorgeously animated, compelling and I think very unique. Tokyo Godfathers is not quite as good as Paprika but it is a truly beautiful film and of Kon's work I'd go as far to say that it also is his most accessible. The animation is beautiful and detailed if in a different way to the more surrealistic styles of Perfect Blue and Paprika, here very intricate with very expressive character design, and very fitting with the film's tone. The music is memorable and beautifully composed, complimenting the story perfectly. The dialogue is thoughtful with some humorous touches, matching the nature of the story that is full of charm and pathos- bringing some optimism and hope into a cold world and society- without ever feeling mawkish or dull. The story is slow-folding but in a deliberate sense. The characters are full of emotions and we identify with them no matter the flaws, in short they are very true to life, none of the idealistic stereotypes I've seen all too often. Hanna is the one that stood out to me the most. The voice acting is as dynamic as you'd expect, more so in the Japanese dub rather than the English. All in all, beautiful and highly recommended. 9/10 Bethany Cox

The most accessible film of director Satoshi Kon's all-too-brief anime career. Where Perfect Blue and Paprika are more adventurous and challenging, they're also difficult to sit back and enjoy in a traditional sense without falling into a deep state of analysis. This one, of three bickering homeless chums who find an infant girl in the garbage, retains the quirks, charms and emotional punch of Kon's other works without challenging quite so many conventions. Sweet, funny and grounded, it's constantly flashing a dry wit and, although it often tugs at the heart strings, things never get overly soft or weepy. The trio of leads are diverse and interesting, each with an onion skin of personal history to explore, and their hunt for the child's parents amidst the overpopulation of a major world metropolis constantly jolts out in surprising new directions. Beautifully written, drawn and animated, it can also be a bit static and randomly fortuitous.

Although not quite up to par to Miyazaki efforts, Tokyo Godfathers surprised with it's good story lines, entertainment values, and background animation settings.Lighting effects were very well done in many scenes while motion maybe not as much so but above satisfactory. Living in Japan before, maybe I'm a bit partial to seeing the wonderful wintry backdrops of Tokyo, but the movie had more going for it. I enjoyed each character's own story-lines and how they were interwoven and brought together. (spoiler) One loose end that was never brought up though was the old-man who died, what was his identity? Thought they would fill that in. The ending was very well and contained a great "wow" moment that might've been a bit over the top but nonetheless fitting.