(This film was viewed at the 2009 Ottawa International Animation Festival.)
It's extremely rare when a movie critic is surprised by joy: a film that's so unexpected and wonderful that you sit, mouth agape and heart swollen by the spectacle unfolding before you.
Madhouse Studios' Mai Mai Miracle (Maimai Shinko to Sen-nen no Maho in Japanese) unleashes such a reaction. The tale of two girls unearthing a thousand-year mystery in a tiny village, it's a sweet, big-hearted anime that's influenced by Hayao Miyazaki's magic realism without slavishly imitating the Old Maestro.
Sunao Katabuchi Writes and Directs Mai Mai Miracle for Madhouse Studios, Based on Nobuko Takagi's Book Maimai Shinko
In the spring of 1955, 9-year-old Shinko Aoki is obsessed with the history of her small town. She discovers that, 1,000 years ago, a 'princess' named Nagiko Kiyohara had lived in her village for a time. Deciding she must learn more about this mysterious figure, Shinko recruits several friends, including a newcomer named Kiiko Shimazu (the daughter of the local doctor), to help her discover the village's intriguing past.
What follows is a G-rated adventure that juxtaposes the past's magic realism against the trials of the present day.
If Mai Mai Miracle's characters and story resemble a Studio Ghibli film, rest assured that this movie earns such comparisons honourably. In addition to directing several episodes of Madhouse's well-regarded Gunslinger Girl, writer/director Sunao Katabuchi also assisted Hayao Miyazaki on 1989's Kiki's Delivery Service. Mai Mai Miracle's lyrical simplicity has much in common with that classic anime, but develops its own unique voice.
One of the film's strengths is that Katabuchi accurately conveys the joy, passion and thoughtlessness of childhood. Shinko is capable of incredible kindness and cruelty: she will break her little sister's doll in one scene, then make friends with the shy new girl in the next.
Katabuchi also spaces his gags for maximum payoff. A sequence depicting 3 children's misadventure with a box of liquor-filled chocolates is smartly stretched. When the inevitable occurs, it's much more satisfying than if Katabuchi had cut immediately to the punchline. it's those little details that sell Mai Mai Miracle's forays into magical territory, and take this film into the realm of the sublime.
The Final Analysis
You know a Japanese film has something when an audience member turns to her companion after the screening and says, "You know, I liked this better than Ponyo!"
It remains to be seen whether Katabuchi has become a better director than his former boss, or is merely on his way to equaling the senior Miyazaki. Either way, Mai Mai Miracle is proof that – if there's anyone who can take the throne once Hayao Miyazaki finally retires – Sunao Katabuchi has a serious shot at the title of anime's premiere director.
Mai Mai Miracle gets a 10/10.
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