Wolf Children

Wolf Children

Starring Colleen Clinkenbeard, David Matranga, Jad Saxton, Micah Solusod

Directed by Mamoru Hosoda

The Story:
Hana (Colleen Clinkenbeard) is constantly happy, and has a very positive outlook on life.  One day she meets a mysterious man (David Matranga) and falls in love with him.  He reveals his true identity to her: he is actually a werewolf, one of the last of his kind.  He fears Hana will leave him, but instead she loves him even more.

The two have two children together, Yuki (Jad Saxton) and Ame (Micah Solusod).  When a tragedy forces Hana to become a single mother, she has to deal with the fact that her two children are half wolves and half human, and stops at nothing to protect their secret from a prying world, going as far as quitting her job, ending her schooling and taking her children to a far away place absent from nosy neighbors.

As the years go by, the children grow and she begins making friends with the people in the community.  Yuki wants to go to school like a normal girl, and Ame wants to explore his animal side by learning from a wise fox in the forest.  As the two face the world in completely different ways, Hana learns that caring for children of special circumstance can be the most rewarding thing of all.


The Synopsis:
Mamoru Hosoda is one of my favorite Japanese directors, as I've been introduced to his stunning works "Summer Wars," "The Boy and the Beast" and "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time."  With his 2012 masterpiece "Wolf Children," he turns what seemingly is a simple chick flick movie into a moving, stirring masterpiece of animated cinema that pulls in the feels and keeps you glued to the screen in tepid anticipation of what comes next.

Once again, Hosoda gives us characters that are multi-layered and have their own source of inner strength and identity that you can't help but get involved in their story.  Hana is the girl that everyone wants to be their best friend.  She is constantly upbeat and positive, always having a smile on her face (including her father's funeral, which she got berated for because it seemed insensitive), and looking on the bright side of things.  She is someone you only wish good for, and sets you in a positive mood as well due to her overabundance of happiness.  Even though the bad times, she's still smiling and positive, and she's the best type of mother - one who sacrifices everything she knows and loves to give her children a better life than her own.  Even though she doesn't know it all (she often laments in not understanding her children's wolf nature), she does what she deems is best for her family.  One of the more humorous scenes in the film is when one of her children gets sick, and she's standing in the middle of the road wondering if she should take her to the doctor or the vet.  It's funny, but also touching as she really has no clue what she's doing, but she's still doing her best.

The children are polar opposites of each other, and serve as a traditional yin-yang diatribe that makes them so special and unique in their own way.  Yuki is your traditional girl - she wants to go to school, have friends, find love, and be normal.  As her mother tells her everyday before going to school, she will leave and come home a normal girl.  However, she faces her own issues as she falls in love with a new boy, and her animal nature comes out in a moment of rage.  She fears people will discover who she really is, and worries that her ideal picture-perfect life could be placed in jeopardy because of it.

Ame grew up being afraid of everything and hiding behind his mother.  He was quiet, subdued and still maintained a youthful innocence about the world and a general desire to know more about it.  When he almost drowns trying to catch a bird, he gains a newfound confidence and wants to delve more into his animal roots.  Much to his mother's chagrin, he drops out of school and retreats more and more into the woods, where he takes up lessons from a fox, who is the caretaker of the woods.  Hana is frightened for Ame and the world he wants to live in, but learns to accept that he doesn't want to live as a human, but rather thrive as a wolf.

Once again, the animation in the film is something to behold.  It's stunningly beautiful, hauntingly real and surrealistically modern.  Each frame was designed with care and attention to detail, and it helped greatly to get involved in the story since you were gifted with such lavish animation.  The children's transformations are so effortless and seamless that it's beautiful in its own right.

On a more visceral level, "Wolf Children" could serve as a metaphor for how parents deal with children with special needs.  Hana loves her children and wants only the best for them, but she fears people will shun them if they found out who they really were.  In the same way, there are parents out there who worry for their children, that others will see them as different and shun them because of it, but this doesn't deter them from letting their children live full, rich lives - and that's exactly what Hanna does.  While she does hide the children away, she allows them the freedom to fully explore who they really are, and what they want to be.  This once again shows how she is the perfect model for a parent - she's not perfect, but she shows great love and care for her children, no matter who they are or what they become - she just wants them to be happy.

And, in the end, the viewer was also left feeling very happy as well.

The Summary:
Mamoru Hosoda once again gifts the screen with another animated epic that connects on a deeply visceral level with the viewer and leaves them feeling happy and having a sense that all is right in the world - something we all desperately need to feel.

The Score: A