7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Following the death of her father, who left her a letter that never got beyond a greeting, Momo struggles to come to terms with her grief and guilt, and finds herself distanced from her mother. When the two move to a new home on a remote island in the Japanese Inland Sea, Momo befriends a young boy and his perceptive younger sister, a timid postman and three rascally goblins. With their help Momo prepares to take the plunge into her new life on the island.
Starring: Karen Miyama, Yuka (II), Daizaburo Arakawa, Toshiyuki Nishida, Yűichi NagashimaForeign | 100% |
Anime | 89% |
Drama | 1% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
There is no dearth of anime offerings where a lonely adolescent leaves the hubbub of the big city to experience a kind of exile in more agrarian locations. And there are even several anime where this predicament is engendered by some sort of family catastrophe, with the kid meeting new relatives in his or her new location. Perhaps even more saliently with regard to A Letter to Momo, there are even a few anime that feature Yōkai, the alternately lovable and bizarre spirit creatures that are a major part of Japan’s folklore. But despite the surface similarities that many of these anime properties share, few if any manage to work up the considerable emotional heft that A Letter to Momo does. This is a rather unassuming “little” anime, one that concentrates on the minutiae of everyday life while it examines both the physical and emotional transition a little girl named Momo goes through after her father dies and she and her mother return to her mother’s place of birth, an isolated island where (horror of horrors) there’s not even a shopping mall! Coming from G Kids as it does, some may assume this is a Studio Ghibli outing, and while there is an undeniably Ghibli-esque feeling to much of A Letter to Momo, including in its somewhat languid pace and its depiction of a young girl interacting with spirit creatures, this is a film that is surprisingly sui generis, especially considering those surface similarities alluded to above. Sweet, often quite uproariously funny and ultimately incredibly moving, A Letter to Momo will certainly appeal to those who consider Hayao Miyazaki’s creations a paradigm of contemporary animation excellence, even if this film is the perhaps surprising brainchild of Hiroyuki Okiura, who is probably best known stateside for the decidedly different Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade.
A Letter to Momo is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cinedigm and G Kids with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. While there are no real issues of any import with this high definition presentation, some viewers may be slightly disappointed with the film's tamped down palette, one that only rarely pops when, for example, Momo or other characters are around water, which scintillates with little glints of light across a deep blue background. Otherwise, the film is rather pale and almost monochromatic at times (recalling in a way another relatively recent Cinedigm animated offering, Ernest & Celestine ). Ironically, this makes occasional elements, like one of the spirit's kind of disgusting yellow teeth, look perhaps more impressive than they would otherwise. Line detail remains crisp and problem free throughout the presentation, and some effects, like the lantern filled straw boats that cap the film's final scene, are quite evocative looking, despite the fact that nothing really "pops" in any traditional way. Contrast is strong throughout the presentation, and aside from some very minor banding in some of the lightest gradients there aren't any issues to cause concern.
Much as with the video element, A Letter to Momo's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks (in the original Japanese or a very good English dub) don't really draw attention to themselves with outright "wow" moments, but instead provide subtle and consistent surround activity. A lot of this activity is due to well placed ambient environmental sounds, including trickling water, breezes and what I'm assuming are meant to be the incessant chirp of cicadas, a background noise that provides surprising aural depth to several sequences. There are some neat set pieces in the film, including a great chase featuring wild boars, that do up the sonic ante considerably. Dialogue is very cleanly presented on both tracks, as is Mina Kubota's lovely score.
Fans of Studio Ghibli will probably cotton to A Letter to Momo instantly, despite the fact that this film has a relatively more tamped down palette and reserved animation style. The story unfolds on the languid side (as is the case with Ghibli offerings, too, at times), but for those willing to just take a deep breath and let Momo's adventures reveal themselves, this is an incredibly sweet, heartfelt film that deals with some fairly deep emotions in a beautifully natural way. The three dunderheaded spirits are a delight, and it's easy to imagine them being recycled in future adventures with other hapless humans. Technical merits are very strong, and A Letter to Momo comes Highly recommended.
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