NOT for the kids!!

Rating: 10/10 (6 January 2003)

For some reason animation can move me more than any feature film, real life people acting, are just that, and you know that deep down, no matter how good they are, but succesful animation will really have you believe you are in another world, and for 90 minutes these people are real, and their emotions can be expressed within one single brushstroke. Good Animation is life exagerated and condensed into one great art form. And a film like Grave Of The Fireflies, is one example of animation doing what film could never ever do. Sure the scenes could easily have been shot as live action, this isn't Akira. In fact as a feature film, it would cost next to nothing to make, but it just wouldn't have the ability to even come close to capturing the dream-like beauty and utter emotion of it..
Next to Monster's Inc this is probably the only animated feature in recent years to really move me to tears, though while i could watch Monster's Inc again and again, and with no moral concern with a bunch of kids, i could not watch Grave Of The Fireflies again so easily, and definately not with a youngster. It has humour, but there is a very dark and real-life message, and it's told so simply that any child will get it, and it will depress the hell out of them. I'm 21, and during the whole second half and the few hours before going to sleep i was just numb, no other film has EVER done that to me, and i've seen my fair share of movies!
In fact i've seen mostly all the war greats, but this for me has to be by far the most effective anti-war film i've ever seen. If you're an adult, i would recommend watching this film with my highest praise. (PS- make sure you don't watched a dubbed english version, it sounds like a saturday morning cartoon! ) IMDB compares the film to Empire Of The Sun, and the setting and themes are pretty similar, that film as a kid had my eyes open and aware of the peril of war, but that film is Disney compared to this.. Parents you have been warned!!
And definately make sure you watch it in the right mood. It will be one of the most beautiful, depressing and moving 90 minutes you'll ever spend sitting down in front of a screen.