A recently widowed mother moves her daughter from Tokyo to a small island community. There, the young girl is befriended by a trio of gas-passing goblins. The richly articulated background drawings can’t help but call attention to the static character animation and rice paper-thin plotting that plays out before them. “We’re cartoon characters,” Heckle said to Jeckle, “we can do anything we want!” Too bad director Hiroyuki Okiura didn’t take the magpie’s mantra to heart. One scene — the ghouls band together to protect Momo from a storm — calls into action the absolute power of animation. Other than that, very little happens throughout the course of the film that couldn’t have been achieved with a camera and costumed actors. Why trace when one can film? And just when you think it’s over, the thing goes on for another 15 minutes. At least they spared animation junkies the pain often associated with sappy, running time-padding musical numbers. (2014) — Scott Marks
This movie is not currently in theaters.