Movie review: 'Letter to Momo' is about 100 minutes too long
Updated 3:19 pm, Thursday, September 4, 2014
A Letter to Momo
Drama: Starring Karen Miyama, Daizaburo Arakawa. Directed by Hiroyuki Okiura. (PG: 120 minutes)
Time seems to stand still for Momo, the main character in the Japanese animated film "A Letter to Momo."
Despite leaving Tokyo for a new home, Momo (voiced by Karen Miyama) is trapped in a single moment of regret, a fight with her father before he tragically dies. Momo and her mother may have a new address, but their grief remains achingly familiar.
Unfortunately, "A Letter to Mona," directed by Hiroyuki Okiura, embodies this sense of frozen time with a tedious narrative punctuated by occasional bursts of sentimentality and hard-to-penetrate humor. 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.
The movie does boast a strong setup. Before he dies, Momo's father starts to pen a letter to his daughter. But he never gets a chance to finish it, much to the distress of Momo, who would give almost anything to know what her dad wanted to say.
While settling into her new house, Momo encounters three goblins that only she can see. The goblins make life difficult for Momo by constantly stealing food and causing general mischief. But the goblins hold the key to Momo's eventual reconciliation with her deceased father.
In one overlong and completely unnecessary sequence, Momo attempts to find wild food for the goblins so they won't have to resort to thievery. Things go awry when the goblins decide to steal baby boars, much to the anger of their rather large parents who chase Momo and her supernatural companions all over the island.
So how does this advance the main story? It really doesn't. Strike the extraneous material from "A Letter to Momo," and the remaining narrative might make a compelling 20-minute film.
Don't let the title fool you. "A Letter to Momo" feels less like a letter and more like a clunky first draft of a fantasy novel that desperately needs an editor.