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A Letter to Momo

Play trailer Poster for A Letter to Momo 2011 2h 0m Drama Anime Play Trailer Watchlist
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80% Tomatometer 30 Reviews 75% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Momo is recovering from her father's death and her mother's decision to move their family from Tokyo to a remote island when she discovers a message from her father that causes strange events to occur.
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A Letter to Momo

A Letter to Momo

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Critics Consensus

Sweet, sad, and visually striking, A Letter to Momo is a hand-drawn experience for animation fans to savor.

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Critics Reviews

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Tom Hughes Guardian The hit-and-miss English dub flattens some of the dramatic beats, but this is still a rather lovely piece of work. Rated: 4/5 Apr 30, 2015 Full Review Tirdad Derakhshani Philadelphia Inquirer A sweet, heartfelt, yet never maudlin story about an 11-year-old girl's coming to terms with the loss of her father. Rated: 3/4 Sep 5, 2014 Full Review Thomas Lee San Francisco Chronicle It's difficult to imagine any children's movie retaining the attention of its intended audience for two hours, but this movie feels especially monotonous. Rated: 1/4 Sep 4, 2014 Full Review Ard Vijn ScreenAnarchy Yet the stunning artwork and detailed description of daily life on the Japanese islands sure makes this one worthy of a few visits. Highly recommended! Jan 14, 2020 Full Review Brian Gibson Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Alberta) Here, magic-realism and emotional realism run together. The story can lapse into jokiness or drag its heels a little. But when Momo's anguish bursts, and she soon realizes how sad her mother's truly been, the film bursts to life. Jan 9, 2016 Full Review Katherine McLaughlin SciFiNow This accessible and heartfelt anime charms because of its honesty and impressive attention [to] detail. Rated: 3/5 May 7, 2015 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Tom F Swinging for the Totoro fences here, and reasonably successful at it. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 06/07/24 Full Review Audience Member I kinda have fun with it pretty good tho Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Audience Member With a lot of fascination with Japanese obsession with death, goblins, guardian spirits and the grotesque and the macabre, Hiroyuki Okiura's 6th feature film examines how a young girl come to terms with the death of her father. The unusual fascination with death and ghostly realms is a bit odd for non-Japanese audience but the reference to old-style mangas is inspired and comical goblins and their antics breaks the emotional heaviness of the story. Okiura revels in the beauty of the Japanese landscape and gives a story that has a lot of tenderness and a dose of slapstick comedy. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review camille l Le gros problème de Lettre à Momo vient du fait qu'on a déjà vu cela auparavant en beaucoup mieux. En effet, en l'état, il n'y a aucun problème avec cette histoire de fillette qui découvre qu'elle peut voir des Yokai alors que personne d'autre ne le peut. Mais il n'y a rien de réellement original dans le film d'Okiura Hiroyuki, que ce soit dans l'animation, dans les personnages ou dans le script. Bien que le film parvienne parfois à être touchant, il l'est autant qu'il est ennuyeux dans son développement. Les rebondissements dramatiques sont attendus, les yokai particulièrement agaçants, mais il en reste que Lettre à Momo possède un certain charme lorsqu'il se concentre sur les humains. Difficile alors de l'envoyer paître totalement. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member This is a great surprise. So emotional and made me laugh and cry a lot. It can be cerebral at times and subtle at other times but I loved the message behind it which struck me at my weakest points. I can describe it as the half sibling to Spirited Away. Should not be missed out on! Must-watch material â?¤ Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Audience Member While A Letter to Momo can feel occasionally slow at times (especially in the first 40 minutes), the film soon picks up considerably once the goblins are introduced as they are arguably the best part about this film. Seeing their shenanigans throughout the course of the film was downright hilarious at certain points (my favourite being the dance sequence). The humour is totally off the wall, but it really works and the goblins were very likeable characters. I also admired the amount of detail that was put in drawing the mannerisms and facial expressions of the characters, as we do see a bit more movement than most of the expressions from Ghibli protagonists. What was also great about the film was the amount of emotion the narrative had, particularly in the final act as you really felt the connection between Momo and her mother & father. Overall, A Letter to Momo is a solid coming-of-age Anime film with plenty of emotion, laughs and great animation to boot. I'm looking forward to buying the Blu-Ray and re-watching the film. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Read all reviews
A Letter to Momo

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Movie Info

Synopsis Momo is recovering from her father's death and her mother's decision to move their family from Tokyo to a remote island when she discovers a message from her father that causes strange events to occur.
Director
Hiroyuki Okiura
Screenwriter
Hiroyuki Okiura
Production Co
Bandai Visual Co. Ltd.
Genre
Drama, Anime
Original Language
Japanese
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 6, 2016
Runtime
2h 0m
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