Distant from the bustle and glitter of a downtown Christmas Eve, a homeless trio stumbles upon an abandoned baby. Convinced the parents must now be regretting their decision, the three set out to find the young-one's folks and along the way face their own regretted mistakes of the past. Stories of Christmas miracles, redemption, and unlikely surrogate parents are nothing new, but this version is entertaining and well told, making "Tokyo Godfathers" a welcome treat for the eyes and the spirit.

The strength of the story hinges on the three main characters. Middle-aged grump Gin (voiced by Tory Emori), male transvestite Hana (v. Yoshiaki Umegaki) and teenage runaway Miyuki (v. Aya Okamoto) make up their own dysfunctional family that keeps to the believable side of unconventional. The plot twists hang on a number of coincidences, but that’s all part of the Christmas miracle shtick. Plus, the twists are actually twisty and the humour keeps the film running smooth.

The animation is detailed and fluid, with realistic backgrounds and expressive characters. With no forays into fantasy worlds, epic battles, or stylized futures "Tokyo Godfathers" is a rare anime piece that could have easily been created with live actors but director Satoshi Kon’s choice was well made. This is a story of magic in everyday life and the animation helps that ring true.

The images are well transferred, as is the sound. English is available in subtitle only, which I for one prefer. There are some however who like foreign films dubbed and they will be left out in the cold, reading like the rest of us. At least the subtitles are well positioned and easy to read thanks in no small part to the widescreen format.

The only real extra on the DVD is billed as the "Making of" although it’s more of a "Let’s talk about". Of course animation doesn’t provide a great deal of opportunity for behind the scenes filming, so after the fact interviews with the principle players are fitting. It’s presented in a frenetic promotional style but occasionally dips into the incredibly casual, such as when an interview Okamoto is supposed to be conducting with Kon turns into a chat between co-workers. As usual there are also trailers on the disc, but in this case the other films look exceptionally good making the trailers are a lot of fun to watch.