Tokyo Godfathers (PG-13) (92 min.) - Though American filmmakers consider animation suitable only for fairy tales, Japanese anime has long used the art form for deeply serious, down-to-earth storytelling. Disney, DreamWorks and Pixar wouldn't draw post-Hiroshima dramas or plain-folk character studies. They certainly wouldn't go where directors Shogo Furuya and Satoshi Kon go with Tokyo Godfathers.
The film is set among Tokyo's homeless subculture, in filthy alleys and on rooftops overlooking despair. The film's title is a twist on John Ford's 3 Godfathers, in which a trio of outlaws saves an orphaned baby. Furuya and Kon change it to a trio of outcasts: the boozy bum Gin (voice of Toru Emori), a transvestite named Hana (Yoshiaki Umegaki) and Miyuki (Aya Okamoto), a young runaway from a stern father. They also find a baby, this one abandoned in a trash heap on Christmas Eve. Like Ford's antiheroes, they will find their lives enriched, their dreams rekindled, by what they must do to protect this child.
Gin's past glory as a racing champion is detailed, and we understand why he's such a grouch now that the cheers have ended - and why his transformation is so moving. Despite being a man, Hana has maternal instincts that lend another dimension to the foul-mouthed broad we first meet. Miyuki doesn't belong here except for adolescent stubbornness; of the three, she has the most to learn and the most to lose.
Tokyo Godfathers is sentimental, but with an interesting amount of grit. Kon's screenplay (co-written with Keiko Nobumoto) includes the sex, violence and profanity of the streets, albeit toned down to PG-13 levels. Danger is everywhere, from yakuza mobsters to a suicide jumper. Holiday spirit plays softly in the background as a sharp counterpoint to the misery, and Tokyo's snowy white streets could turn red any time.
Furuya and Kon's animation style is rich in background and character details - as naturalistic as The Triplets of Belleville was impressionistic - yet may look a bit clunky by computer-generated standards. Japanese anime is keeping the classic, hand-drawn, 2D technique alive because filmmakers realize that personal attention yields emotion, not just mechanized spectacle.
