Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

A Letter to Momo Blu-ray Movie Review

A very special delivery.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 20, 2014

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 begins with what appears to be a story in media res, with Momo and her mother aboard a ferry approaching the island that is evidently going to be their new home. Not much information is doled out in the early going, but what seems to be a light dusting of rain turns out to have considerably more meaningful consequences as the film wends on. Three individual raindrops bounce off of Momo as they descend from the heavens, and they have an inherent appearance of somehow being sentient. When they follow Momo and her mother off the ferry, there’s little doubt that these are not ordinary water molecules.

The film actually only hints at what’s going on with the little droplets, taking its time in developing the backstory of Momo and her mother and their new home. In a very brief sequence of flashbacks, it’s shown that Momo had an argument with her father, which was followed in short order by his tragic death, and that the young girl is obviously nursing some deep feelings of guilt. Increasing her trauma is the fact that she discovered a letter her father had started to her in the wake of their dispute, a piece of paper upon which he inscribed only two words: Dear Momo.

Playing out against this sad history is Momo’s halting adjustment to her new location. Her mother does her best to acclimate Momo, but Momo is extremely introspective and reacts in near horror when her Mom calls out to a young boy who is about Momo’s age. Momo very slowly starts to reach out to the group of kids she’s introduced to, but their habit of jumping off a nearby bridge into the water is too much of a risk for the young girl to take, and she sees herself as a failure yet again.

Meanwhile there are strange doings around Momo’s new home, seemingly emanating from the attic where Momo’s grandmother keeps a bunch of old manga featuring characters from Japanese folklore. A number of odd incidences occur, including food being eaten and more troublingly vandalism at various places around the island, and Momo is considered a prime suspect, not just by the villagers but by her own mother.

Finally at a rain drenched shrine to the departed the truth is revealed. Without spoiling too much, consider the case of Clarence in It's a Wonderful Life, an angel sent to show a traumatized and despondent George Bailey the way. Those three little water droplets do turn out to be spirits “assigned” to Momo (and even to her mother in a way), though these are not affable if occasionally klutzy angels like Clarence. And this is where A Letter to Momo generates much of its comedic substance. These Yōkai, for all their good intentions are trouble makers and dunderheads, stumbling their way through the earthly plane with larceny and eating primarily on whatever little minds they possess. The very fact that they dropped onto Momo on the ferry was itself a mistake, and makes the little girl able to see them, much to her initial horror and confusion.

Momo’s interactions with both the spirits and the other kids on the island provides the bulk of the story, though Okiura does delve into a bit more melodrama for the third act, when a dangerous typhoon and Momo’s mother’s asthma collide in near tragedy. A Letter to Momo is sweet but melancholic, offering some salient lessons about the transitions family members need to make when one of their relatives dies, but doing so within a decidedly whimsical context featuring comically inept spirit “protectors”. Even the hardest heart imaginable may be at least temporarily softened by the tearjerking finale, where Momo finally gets a heavenly dispatch she has obviously needed to hear.

A Letter to Momo Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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.

A Letter to Momo Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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.

A Letter to Momo Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Making of A Letter to Momo (1080i; 38:18) contains a lot of interesting information and some charming interviews with writer-director Hiroyuki Okiura, who seems very shy about talking about his project.


• Foreign Trailers and TV Spots (1080i; 5:48)


• U.S. Trailer (1080p; 2:03)

A Letter to Momo Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.