[Prudence]

I am floating away, carried aloft by balloons of story-telling, movie-making bliss. This may be my favorite movie ever. I'm STILL crying off and on. And laughing. It was so beautiful. Every time I think the animation can't get better - it does. Every time I think the story-telling can't get better -- it does. I have some similar reactions to Heidi, which I will hide as well:

Spoiler:

My mom's parents are so in love. Sure, my grandmother was never a feisty, plucky tomboy, but they are still in love, and one of them is now leaving the other. I was in tears at that part of the montage, and I'm in tears again thinking about it. It was such a real human emotion, portrayed up there with pixels and magic.

And I think that's what I loved best about it. Emotional resonance, the Rat called it. It didn't beat me over the head with This Is How You Should Feel Now. Like the best of written stories, it presented the outlines and let me bring my own experiences to the story-telling and participate in the crafting. The emotions were natural responses to a very human tale.

Such an unlikely, wonderful film.