Wolf Children: A Little Creepy ... Yet Endearing

The three principle characters of Wolf Children Ame and Yuki.
L-R: Yuki, Hana and Ame.

Wolf Children: A Little Creepy ... Yet Endearing


Even a man who is pure in heart,
And says his prayers at night.
May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms,
And the moon is full and bright.

Not quite.

Boy meets girl.

Boy and girl fall in love.

Boy shows girl he's a werewolf.

Say ... WHAT!?

Girl marries him anyway.

Say ... WHAT!? ... Again?

They have a couple of kids ... Who are also werewolves.

O ... Kay ...

Boy dies from an unspecified accident while out hunting, leaving girl to take care of the kids.

Complications ensue ...

And therein hangs the tale.

Yuki and Ame as toddlers.

I'm glad I got this film. The latest from Mamoru Hosoda (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Summer Wars.), Wolf Children is a heartwarming , Disneyesque, coming of age film about two kids with a "problem" and how they and their mother cope with it.

Yuki and Ame argue about identity (Are you human or are you not?)
just before their knock-down, drag-out dog fight.

As they get older, the daughter assimilates into the world of humanity while the son heeds the "call of the wild". Thankfully, there are no Lon Chaney moments in their seeking of identity (Unless you count one incident of an overly insistent classmate.) so no terrorizing of the neighborhood. It's mostly on their interaction with humankind and the finding of acceptance within themselves.

There is one (very) brief "love scene" early in the film where the specter of beastiality is seemingly brought up. Yeah, he's a wolf only from the neck up but the creep factor makes its' presence felt.

Except for the above scene, I have no qualms about teens seeing this. It has a PG rating mainly for animal violence and incidental nudity (Wolves aren't ones to wear clothing.).

They don't make werewolves like they used to. Lon Chaney Jr. in
a publicity shot for The Wolf Man (Universal Pictures, 1941.).

Wikipedia article on Mamoru Hosoda here.

Wikipedia article on Wolf Children here.

Wolf Children trailer on You Tube here.

My Summer Wars review here.


Go to Jays' Tee Vee blog main page here.