Directors: Neil Boyle, Kirk Hendry

Voices: Aaron McGregor, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, Sally Hawkins, Raffey Cassidy

Scripted by Frank Cottrell Boyce, this animated adaptation of the Micheal Morpurgo novel is a slow burning but stirring tale of universalism 

as well as a plea to conserve the ecology. 

Michael (voiced by McGregor) is a pre-teen boy who, along with his elder sister Becky (Cassidy), has been whisked away on a round-the-world yacht trip by his parents (Murphy and Hawkins) after dad loses his job. Michael, who has smuggled his beloved sheepdog Stella onboard, is told that he is still too young to take on grown-up duties. During a storm in the Pacific, Michael falls overboard and wakes up on a misty beach on a deserted desert island. Thankfully, someone leaves food out for the helpless boy. He is revealed as Kensuke (Watanabe), an old Japanese soldier. Initially Kensuke is proud and reserved, but gradually a friendship develops, not through speech (neither speak the other’s language), but through the sketches they make of their respective families. The pacing is broadly stately and serene, but the burgeoning friendship is nicely developed with the accretion of character detail adding up to a moving conclusion. The watercolour-hued animation is lovely, particularly a lyrical flashback sequence rendered in sepia hues where Kensuke is shown bidding farewell to his family for the last time in Nagasaki and going off to war.

David Willoughby

Follow David on @DWill_Crackfilm