You are Umasou

Where to begin with this post, where indeed. I have just had the pleasure of watching a masterpiece of a children's film. The title is "You are Umasou", translating to "You are Delicious-looking." It was almost as astonishing as my experience with Brandon Sanderson's "The Way of Kings," which I will review soon. The main character is a Tyrannosaurus Rex raised by an ambiguous plant eater. Heart, our T-Rex hero is found as an egg floating down stream. His adoptive mother finds him and takes the egg in, protecting it from the elements and from a scavenger dinosaur attack. Once he and his mother's remaining egg hatch, it is discovered that he has jagged teeth, meant for the eating of flesh. The village elder attempts to trample the baby Heart, his mother intervenes and then is promptly ordered to abandon him. She almost manages to do so, but finds the silence after his wailing cries to be too much. She goes to him and it is revealed later that she chooses exile from the herd rather than leave him. Heart grows up with his brother Light knowing nothing at all about what he is. He cannot eat plants or acorns like his older brother, only red berries and as a result he is malnourished and tiny. My synopsis stops here. Because mentioning anything from this point on will ruin the movie. All I can say is that Heart becomes a T-Rex of the Kung Fu wielding variety and somehow it is not ridiculous. I cannot do this tale justice. Alas. What to do with my inadequacies?

Umasou by upnahdon (Deviant Art)

 This film is an interesting blend of nature settings almost photographic in their detail and cartoonish dinosaurs. The effect is jarring and more than a little comic. Oh and that cute beyond words thing that I posted above (you see what I did there? You see what I did?!) That is the title character Umasou, Heart's adoptive son. Without ruining too much of the film, I can say that the struggle Heart endures over his meat-eating nature, the way he was raised and his resulting self-loathing and fear of his own instincts are the most authentic and heart-wrenching I have ever seen in an animated film. Of course, not many films deal with self loathing over one's need to eat flesh to survive...but you understand my meaning. All in all, for it's deep look into the meaning of family, I give Umasou an empire sized stamp of approval. Find a copy of it in the depths of the internet near you. This post will be added as a comment to my "Let's go to the Movies," section