Michael's Movie Grade: B
A fun animated dramedy from Japan.
This movie is about a young girl who has to live with her grandfather when her dad tries to pay off some debts he can't possibly pay. Her grandfather has a ghost cat, in other words a cat that walks and talks like a person and lives forever. For the first two acts, this film is a wonderful combination of a slice of life story and an over-the-top fantasy comedy. This film works best when handled in this vein. The mixture of a realistic coming of age tale and these more fantastical elements is simply charming. It makes you feel like you have traveled to this world and just living there in a way that movies that are pure fantasy oftentimes don't. It also gives the majority of this film a laid-back feel that makes it a pleasure to watch. This also works because our main characters feel real to us. While we do like them, they are not without their flaws and these flaws just make them seem more real. The humor in this movie may not always be laugh out loud funny but it did make me smile and it fits the laid-back nature of most of this film.
The problem with this movie is in the third act when it drifts fully into the fantasy realm. Here it becomes your typical action/fantasy anime with little to make it stand out. The action scenes also make this movie lose its laid-back charm. It is during these scenes that the film kind of lost my interest. Luckily after all this, the film does have a strong ending.
Despite a weak third act, the rest of this movie is a pure delight.
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