Tokyo Godfathers Reviews

Great animation can delight children or adults; truly great animation may delight both. But Tokyo Godfathers seems unlikely to enthrall either -- or be remembered much past the flicker of its final cel.

Full Review

The result is only occasionally pathos, the tone Kon seems to be striving for.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

Kon deserves credit for attempting to animate a genre that has historically been best served by live action. The effort isn't entirely successful, but for an industry that rarely seeks to break free of tradition, that's already a quantum leap.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5

Has just enough astringent touches to keep it from sliding into sloppy sentimentality.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5

As visually accomplished as Tokyo Godfathers is, the story is the most primitive form of drama, one that counts on improbable coincidence to propel the story to its sudden, implausibly symbolic conclusion.

Tugs at the heart more than it warms it...a lovely-looking film, but hardly the emotional powerhouse some are suggesting.

Full Review | Original Score: C+

Harrowing and heartwarming.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

Pure Dickens by way of pure Capra. It's a wonderful life.

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A director's material is only as good as its presentation and Kon needs some lessons in streamlining his product.

Full Review | Original Score: B-

Losing little in translation, the anime from director Satoshi Kon uses sentiment and sharp writing to shatter whatever cultural barriers may block its path.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

this is a movie about Tokyo as much as it's a movie about three friends and a baby.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5

A schmaltzy story gets grit from an unlikely place: animation.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

A delightfully rambunctious holiday fable about the vital importance of family.

Full Review | Original Score: B+

A well-told story, forged on vision and delivered with heart.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5

Despite the story's inherent sentimentality, Satoshi balances everything splendidly, occasionally guiding the mush into humor, or fantasy, or noirish realism.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

The score grates in places but the script hits the mark, with the potty-mouthed vagrants certain to be a hit with older children.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

... a sentimental fairy tale with a social conscience twist, brimming with practical "angels" who guide our homeless heroes through their harsh world.

Full Review | Original Score: B

while Satoshi is packing his film with all kinds of deeper meaning, he also has time for car chases, offbeat laughs and a climatic rescue right out of a Jackie Chan movie

Full Review | Original Score: A-

Tokyo Godfathers is one of those rare little gems of a film that comes along only very occasionally.

Full Review | Original Score: A-

Depois do brilhante Millenium Actress, Kon conta uma história bem mais simples, mas igualmente tocante e mágica, brindando o público com uma belíssima animação de tirar o fôlego.

| Original Score: 5/5