Nothing frosts my ass more than a cartoon feature that doesn’t put to use the limitless imaginative possibilities of creating an animated universe made up entirely of pen and ink (and now, pixels). Not much happens in this story of a young runaway brought to act as an apprentice in “a thriving town of 10,000 beasts” that couldn’t have been achieved by actors in animal costumes. The schematic-looking backgrounds tend to dwarf director Mamoru Hosoda’s otherwise rheumatic character animation, reducing what’s on screen to something better suited as wallpaper for a child’s bedroom. Suffering through a film like this only helps to hammer home the fact that I am not the one whose advice you should seek when it comes to anime. (2015) — Scott Marks