Mamoru Hosoda
2012, Japan, 117 min., in Japanese with English subtitles
“Wolf Children” is the brilliant third feature from Mamoru Hosoda,
whose “Summer Wars” and “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” have
established him as one of the world’s top creative forces in animation.
The film begins with a romance between student Hana and a mysterious
outcast who sits in on her college lecture. It turns out that Hana’s
beau is actually part wolf, but love conquers all differences. However,
when the couple has children, Ame and
Yuki, they follow in their father’s pawprints, with the rambunctious
bundles of joy transforming into wolves when excited. Circumstances
eventually force Hana to raise her changeling children on her own, and
it proves no easy task. To maintain the family secret, Hana escapes to
the country, turning a dilapidated farmhouse into a loving home, where
each child is free to pursue its wolfish and human sides. “Wolf
Children” is a stunningly animated and heartfelt fable about growing up,
growing apart, and the choices faced along the way.
Recommended for ages 9 and older.