Animation feature film “Little Amélie or the Character of Rain”, which recently won the Best Animation Film Award from the LA Film Critics Association, is colorfully charming as steadily sticking to its little heroine’s viewpoint. As she tries to process and understand the world surrounding her, we are often amused by some whimsical details popping around here and there, and we also come to sense more of whatever is beyond her limited sight.

The opening part of the film is inspired by an old Japanese belief. The Japanese believe that children are born as gods before eventually becoming humans at the age of 3, and the opening sequence shows us how Amélie (voiced by Loïse Charpentier and Emmylou Homs) becomes conscious of her existence even when she is still in her mother’s womb. To our little amusement, she regards herself as a god, and we see how she decidedly stays inside her own little world even after she is born later.

Needless to say, her Belgian parents, who have lived in Japan for years because of Amélie’s father’s diplomatic job, are rather worried at first, but they have been already quite busy with taking care of Amélie’s two elder siblings, so Amélie are mostly left in her “vegetative” state during next two years before something eventually happens. A little earthquake occurs on one day, and this somehow bursts Amélie’s little world. As a result, she becomes much more active and communicative than before to her parents’ delight, but she soon turns into a little terror to them due to her hyperactive behaviors.

Fortunately, there comes some help from two unexpected figures. One is Amélie’s grandmother who has just come from Belgium for visiting her son and his family, and she instinctively knows how to calm down her little dear granddaughter. The other one is a local nanny recommended by the landlady of the house where Amélie and her family reside, and she instantly befriends Amélie right from their first encounter and then becomes someone to lean on for Amélie when Amélie’s grandmother eventually returns to Belgium later.

Leisurely moving from one episodic moment to another along with its heroine, the film doles out a series of lovely visual moments worthwhile to watch from big screen. As she grows up day by day, Amélie becomes more conscious of the world surrounding her, and she often explores more of whatever exists in the surrounding environment of her family house. The film cheerfully wields a lot of stylish touches to be savored, and we come to feel more of her daily joy and excitement.

In the meantime, more serious story elements come to linger around the main narrative. At one point, Amélie sees her father becoming quite emotional, and that is how she comes to know a bit about a certain inevitable part of life. We also come to sense that Amélie’s nanny has some painful past behind her gentle appearance, and we are not so surprised when she reveals that to Amélie later in the story, though Amélie cannot fully grasp how much her nanny still feels hurt because of that. In case of the landlady, she seems quite harsh and frigid at first, but then she turns out to have her own deep sadness behind her back.

Simply letting us gather whatever is going on at the fringe of the story, the film continues to focus more on the gradual emotional maturation inside Amélie’s unadorned state of mind. When she comes to learn that there will soon be a big change for her as well as her family, she certainly resists, but, of course, there is nothing she can do about that, and this leads to a big emotional turmoil for her in the end.

The screenplay by directors Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han and their co-writers Aude Py and Eddine Noël, which is based on Belgian novelist Amélie Nothomb’s autobiographical novel “The Character of Rain” (The meaning of the title is explained by one key scene in the film, by the way), is sometimes a bit too thin in terms of plot and characterization, but this weak aspect are mostly compensated by a lot of mood and details generated from its charming animation style. Although the animation style of the film initially looks quite simple and broad, it often dazzles our eyes with the deft utilization of vibrant colors, and that is particularly evident in case of the amusingly grotesque presentation of Japanese carps during one particular scene. While we can clearly see how much our little heroine is repulsed by them gobbling up their feed, we can also appreciate the stunning technical aspects of this striking scene, and you will admire more of the efforts of Vallade and Han and their crew. Although this is their first feature animation film, you can clearly recognize their considerable skill and talent, and it will be interesting to see what may come next from these two promising animation film directors.

In conclusion, “Little Amélie or the Character of Rain” lightly passed by my eyes during its rather short running time (77 minutes) at first, but its distinctive style and mood grow on me after that. While many of Hollywood animation films were not particularly new or fresh during last year except, perhaps, “KPop Demon Hunters” (2025), there were fortunately a number of good animation films outside Hollywood such as “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” (2025) and “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle” (2025), and I can assure you that “Little Amélie or the Character of Rain” is one of such enjoyable works from last year.