So this is by that Hayao Miyazaki dude, who you may remember from such films as Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. It’s one of his earlier works, I believe, but that doesn’t translate to bad in any way.

This is a VERY unusual movie. It has little plot and less conflict, and is really just a sort of semi-idyllic portrait of a family moving to the countryside and discovering that they have magical vaguely cat-like forest spirit neighbors.

The movie is gorgeous, the characters charming, and if the plot rambles a bit, well, it rambles in an amiable and good-natured way, and you’d have to be slightly soulless to really be bothered by it.