A slow, quiet, reflective slice of beautiful animation from the tag team of Studio Ghibli and Oscar-winning Dutch director Michaël Dudok de Wit. The Red Turtle retains an essence of both parents: Ghibli's well-known inspection and celebration of small detail, plus the director's rich inward gaze and underlying acceptance of both the sweet and the bittersweet in life.

Our story tracks the fortunes of a castaway, trapped upon a remote island with enough native food to survive but nothing, save a family of crabs, for companionship. He settles and manages to make an unhappy life for himself until the arrival of a great red sea turtle leads to a sort of dreamlike reverie that lasts the rest of his days.

Lovely visual touches reinforce that sense of the ethereal, with a wide palette of shifting colors giving each scene a distinct character. We innately understand the passage of time through such subtle changes, almost as much as we see it upon the bodies of our small cast. It could be called artsy - the slow pace and complete lack of dialog would be enough to merit that backhanded description - so if that variety of film turns you off, look elsewhere. There's an ongoing storyline, but it's rather limited and sluggish. The real riches lie in the expert craftsmanship and the warm, almost fable-like, sense of fulfillment in what life is willing to give us.