It’s at once a quietly funny depiction of small-town ennui, a sensitive observation of a frayed paternal relationship and a whirlwind adventure across multiple planes of existence.

Ghost Cat Anzu can be much too casual for its own good, but there’s a special power in the scope of its imagination, and in how that imagination is drawn in the service of a world that’s somehow both limiting and infinite at all once.

The film is both outrageously fun and, while largely family-friendly, feels like it genuinely shouldn’t exist: imagine Spirited Away via Viz comic.

An animated film about a young girl and her giant cat guardian can create certain "family film" expectations, but this whimsical fantasy has an unexpected edge.