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the audience applauded

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

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.

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

This film is unlike the late Satoshi Kon's other films in that the viewer doesn't wonder if what they are watching is meant to be taken as real or if it is a dream, fantasy or delusion; here it is all real. The fact that it has a traditional narrative doesn't mean it is any less engrossing than his other films though. Set in winter in Tokyo this film follows the lives of three homeless people, one an alcoholic gambler, one a transvestite and one a runaway teenaged girl. On Christmas Eve they find a baby, which they call Kiyoko, abandoned amongst the rubbish and decide that they must return her to her parents. Their self-given mission will lead them to confront they own pasts and the reasons they are homeless and find redemption with those they have wronged. They may be on the bottom rung of the social ladder but for this one week they seemed to be blessed with amazing luck; a man they help just happens to be the future father in-law of the former employee of Kiyoko's mother, a nurse they meet in hospital in the daughter of one of the men and the teenager's father is the policeman who brings Kiyoko's parents to the homeless trio when they want to thank them.This was another brilliant film from Satoshi Kon; it is a tragedy that this brilliant director died so young. It is impossible to imagine what he would have gone onto achieve. The story, which he wrote as well as directed, is genuinely moving without ever being overly sentimental. The characters are well designed and the animation was first class throughout. While this isn't a comic film there are plenty of moments that made me laugh as well as one or two that almost made me cry. Even if you aren't usually a fan of animated films I'd recommend this.These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese with English subtitles.

I will admit right at the start, I'm not a big fan of subtitled anime. I always prefer to watch with an English dub track, unless the dub is really bad. I prefer to watch what is happening on the screen rather than having to constantly flick between the picture and the words.For this reason, I put off watching Tokyo Godfathers for a long time. I had seen Satoshi Kon's other releases. I found Perfect Blue very uncomfortable to watch. Millennium Actress used clever storytelling but I felt a bit too distant from the story itself (I suspect this was because there were a lot of Japanese cultural and historical references in it). Then I found Paranoia Agent and thought it was excellent (despite the strange ending). In the end I bit the bullet and watched Tokyo Godfathers and wished I hadn't put it off for so long.The story may be a little unconventional, both for anime films and also Christmas films, but Kon makes it work. This film will certainly go on my "must watch at Christmas" list, along with Nightmare Before Christmas (another unconventional animated Christmas film).Some reviewers have criticised the number of coincidences that occur in the story, but personally I feel that the viewer can interpret this however they want to. If you believe in a higher power you can take the numerous references to 12-25 and the event that saves Hana as an indication that a higher power is pulling the strings. If you don't believe in such things, you can take it as serendipity or just a story with several happy endings.The film itself is a little different from Kon's other works. It doesn't try to blur the line between fantasy and reality (except for one short dream sequence). Despite the subject matter (three homeless people) it's actually a pretty happy film on the whole, with only a couple of slightly unpleasant scenes. It'll make you laugh, it'll make you cry, it'll make you go "awww".I do still hope that one day this film will be re-released with an English dub track. But even with subtitles the dialogue moves slow enough that you can take in the film and the subtitles without feeling you're having to rush your reading or that you're missing some beautiful visuals.I am now eagerly awaiting seeing Kon's next film - Paprika.