Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

mahimaryal A girl who grief in her father's loss shifts with her mother to tokyo where three goblin or the sky gods have been sent to fulfill their task. It is a slow movie.

Naomi Chiba The film is a story about a girl's spiritual growth and overcoming difficulties in a new life. Momo Miyaura, a sullen 11-year-old, encounters three goblins from an old Edo-era's comic book. The goblins are Iwa, Kawa and Mame. Iwas is large, clumsy and honest; Kawa is middle, manipulative and greedy; Mame is small, slow and infantile. They are mischievous, sloppy and dull.Their appearances are reminiscent of "Kyoka Hyakki Yakyo," an illustration of goblins in an Edo-era comic book called "Kibyoshi." "Kibyoshi" is a precursor of 'manga.' In the Edo era, various images of goblins entertained readers and told valuable lessons.The film is set in Shio Shima, Inland Sea, an allusion to Yasujiro Ozu's classical film "Tokyo Story." Momo moves from Tokyo to the small island after her father's sudden death. While she is boarding a ship, three drops of spirits come down from the sky and land on her. The drops are the goblins or guardians, which help her reconcile a sad memory about her father. She regrets criticizing her father before he passed away.In the film, the legendary goblins and Momo develop strange but warmhearted relationships that unite the past and present, or this world and afterlife. A motif of connectedness appears at various levels and creates a poignant but cheerful story. First, it shows continuation of time in Japanese popular culture by making a connection with the funny goblins emerging from a "kibyoshi" and in Momo's contemporary life. The past is linked to the present via 'manga.' The emergence of old 'manga'unfolds a history of Japanese popular culture, which intertwines with her daily life and symbolizes continuity.Second, the connectedness illustrates the relationships between the spirits and humans in a spectacular way. Various types of spirits such as orchard spirits, ocean spirits and forest spirits assist Momo. This is most memorably exemplified when the spirits collaborate to help her in the midst of a fierce typhoon. Thanks to their support, she overcomes a difficulty. Demonstrating collective forces, the animating spirits generate a harmonious and splendid message that life is working with others. Nobody can live alone.In addition, the scene also gives us a lesson. Each one of the vigorous spirits provides her with a tiny power that is almost negligible, but its contribution is valuable and finally brings a tremendous result to aid her. It reminds us that selfishness and indifference do not bring anything good. The significant message is that everybody has a role to play in the world. The scene is a pivotal moment of her spiritual growth.Furthermore, the connectedness with the spirits also underlines a powerful animistic note that we are part of nature, which exerts enormous power and is larger than us. Nature and humans can coexist harmoniously in this world. The connectedness is the key that keeps our lives going.Third, the connectedness demonstrates that death is not the end of life. The goblins have been sent from Above in order to watch over the living. Their special mission is to rally round Momo and report about her life to Above. Their mission expresses a vastness of time in human life, including the afterlife. In short, the dead also have a mission to do in this world. A person's life in this world is finite, but one receives another mission to complete in the afterlife. The amicable relationships between the hilarious goblins and her imply that the deceased can also return to this world and work together with the living. The connection between the dead and the living indicates a culture of ancestor worship, emphasizing the relationships between ancestors and offspring, or the past and present.Accordingly, the story offers a strong viewpoint that it is possible that we can be befriended by spirits or the deceased. A sense of infinite life is an unforgettably emotional moment and contributes to her psychological relief that she has another chance to make up with her father. Finally, the togetherness ameliorates her hardship. All the connectedness is linked to a process of her reconciliation with her regret.This film would be particularly appealing for victims of the unprecedented great earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in 2011. Many people unexpectedly lost their loved ones and everyday lives. They were totally unprepared to suffer such tragedies, let alone time to bid farewell. Later, they left their familiar lands and have been struggling with new environments.In the film, such sentiments are clearly illustrated. Momo's father had an accident at sea and never returned. Her relocation to Shio Shima is an outcome of the loss of her father. The abrupt loss echoes Japanese collective grief and sorrow for those affected by the unbearable incidents.Likewise, Momo's struggle is part of their struggle. Her feeling of sadness is theirs; her tears are theirs. Eventually, her achievements foreshadow their hopefulness. The story captures her shuttered heart as a reflection of theirs. It epitomizes Japanese psychology – many people hesitate to talk about their tragedy because it is negative.The film finally offers a moment of catharsis and kindles a flame of hope. Consequently, underlining the importance of familial bonds and hopes that keep them going toward their future, "A Letter to Momo" is a letter to those victims.More importantly, the story conveys Japanese Gambaro spirit that is an encouragement for people to work hard. The spiritual essence cultivates a sense of esprit-de-corps and persistence. Gambaro spirit is a sense of working hard together and for others, who will help us sometime and somewhere.Ultimately, intersecting beings from the afterlife with this world, the film informs us of a traditional belief that invisible spirits live together in this world in order to help us.All the deceased are our guardians, so chin up!

blackmamba99971 Almost like the movie spirited away. Except in this case, it's not a girl who wanders with her parents into a Yokai domain, but the Yokai busting into the human world. This was a good film about a girl who moved with her mother to Shio from Tokyo. Both have strained themselves to keep the memories of their Husband/father alive so they can move on with their lives. But instead, Momo lingers on with an unfinished letter from her father who wanted to apologize for going on an excursion on the night of a family date. Seeing as this clearly upset Momo, she practically cursed her father out of spite, and lost him in a horrible accident. Since the move however, her grandmother introduces her to a small room, called the sky (Attic) where memories are kept intact in forms of statues or books. With a curious eye, Momo reads one in particular about a group of Yokai who watched over her family for generations. Seeing as this presented no problems, she begins to hear and see the real thing which questions her sanity. Since nobody else can see them except for a smaller girl, Momo decides to allow them to stay inside her house on the condition they stay in the sky room. But as will all Yokai, they cannot keep still for one moment, which then leads Momo on a remarkable trip of self discovery. This was a fresh approach to how kids dealing with pain in the most minute details. For Momo, not being able to say goodbye properly to her father after his death gives her a new resolve. More so, because on a particular night, a typhoon ripped through Shio while Momo was exposed to the elements. Her mother of course who suffered from asthma starts to fall ill to her condition because she couldn't find her. Momo and her new friends struggle to help save her mother from certain death to go out into the typhoon, and reach the hospital as soon as possible with the help of a neighbourly mail man. Soon all the Yokai help her to attain that clearance to let her reach her goal. And with their help, saved her mother in time. The story was well done, as well as the music. I found this film rather slow at first, but when it picked up later the laughs, tears started to roll like clock work. I think all ages will enjoy this film for its humour, its back story lines, as well as seeing the tragedies become less impactive to those who were closest to it. Momo struggled hard, but with her Yokai friends life was more bearable to endure seeing as demons of ghosts know a lot more about death than humans. Memories are made, and memories fade, with Momo her memories of her father became clearer, and with the help of her demon buddies, got a message at last from her father who simply said,..... Well you got to see the movie for that. Highly recommended to all.

Alison Young Momo Miyaura (voice of Karen Miyama) and her mother Ikuko (voice of Yuka) leave Tokyo and move to a remote Japanese island following the accidental death of Momo's father. Aside from feeling outcast and out of place, Momo also feels guilty because her last conversation with her father was an angry outburst; he started to write a letter to her, but after, "Dear Momo," no other words were written on the page. Once in the small fishing village, the children of the town, especially Koichi (voice of Takeo Ogawa) and his little sister, try to include Momo in their activities, but she isn't ready to deal with other people yet. Her mother is off on training courses or in the orchards all day, leaving Momo feeling even more alone. But then she starts to hear three voices in the house when she's apparently alone; these turn out to be three former gods turned goblins, including the Ogre with a huge rectangular mouth Iwa (voice of Toshiyuki Nishida), the frog-like and flatulent Kawa (voice of Koichi Tamadera) and tiny, childlike Mame (voice of Cho). Unlike most humans, Momo can see and interact with these beings, and although they get off to a rocky start, soon enough they find that they need and care for each other, in more ways than one. How the goblins help Momo resolve her feelings about her father's death, her mother's distance and her complete change of environment is all part of the charming and gentle "A Letter to Momo." This lovely film was written and directed by Hiroyuki Okiura, who devoted seven years to crafting this film, using the skills of artists to create an almost entirely hand-drawn, 2-hour animated film. The scenic landscapes are, as usual in Japanese animation, beautifully rendered, and the characters are all lovingly drawn with great attention to detail. I'm not very familiar with Japanese mythology, but the three goblins, in particular the rectangular-mouthed Iwa, looked familiar to me, suggesting that they might have more resonance with a Japanese audience than a North American one. Regardless of the depth of knowledge of the audience member, almost everyone is sure to be entertained, and touched at times, by this lovely fable.