Anssi Vartiainen 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.

henriquefarolopes-170-74084 ...well, was playing Bornout Paradise on PS3 when I stopped the player at almost exactly half the movie... it is a wonderful movie, a little strange, but wonderful... too bad I didn't had an English dub... And was very nice of this strange trio to rescue the child and try to deliver to his mother safely... which wasn't exactly the case... because they tought his mother was a robber... To finish, a resumed synopsis of the movie:Three homeless people — Gin, a former professional bicycle racer; Hana, a transvestite; and Miyuki, a run-away young girl — live together in Shinjuku, Tokyo. On Christmas Eve, the three discover a baby girl at a garbage dump. They head for the brighter parts of the city, where people are enjoying the holiday festivities, to look for the baby's parents. While the three search for the parents, uncanny luck results in their meeting other people while their adventures with the baby continue. Will the baby lead these three protagonists to their destiny? This small adventure lets each of the trio confront their own lives, which they almost threw away, while maintaining their dignity and happiness under unfortunate circumstances.

Sean Lamberger 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.

I B Director Satoshi Kon took his inspiration, and part of his title, from Jon Ford's western 3 Godfathers (1948), in which three rough and ready outlaws find themselves caring for a baby. At heart it's a Christmas card to Tokyo, and expression of good will and a reminder to spread a little kindness in a world that is increasingly cold and intolerant. The film mixes comedy, drama, pathos and action. There are, of course, Christmas references galore. There are also references to a Tokyo many anime fans may find as incredible as Santa Claus. Kon reminds us this is no fairyland, but a real, living city with 21st century problems that no robot army can solve - shanty towns, tramps scavenging in graveyards, predatory teenagers beating up old men, and illegal immigrants scraping a living in the black economy. Above all else, though, there's a happy ending, without which no Christmas film could possibly be a Christmas film. It comes, not from any flashy bit of magic, but from the everyday miracles in the hearts of ordinary people whose humanity redeems their failings. Kon captures the beguiling neon glow of Tokyo in the film's many night scenes, turning the city into a magical setting for a tale of Christmas miracles.