Step Aside, Tangled: Japanese Paper Lanterns Light Up a Stunning Animated Scene

The French-Belgian co-production Little Amélie or the Character of Rain has arrived in theaters with little fanfare — the kind of quiet rollout common to animated features outside the Disney and DreamWorks orbit. Still, it’s a film worth catching on the largest screen you can find. The movie — which took home the Audience Award at the 2025 Annecy International Animation Film Festival — has earned widespread acclaim for its visual beauty and is being talked about as a potential awards-season contender. Critical response has praised its artistry and delicate storytelling.

Directed as a feature debut by Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han — graduates of the renowned Gobelins animation school — Little Amélie adapts a semi-autobiographical novel by bestselling author Amélie Nothomb. Set in 1960s Japan, where Nothomb lived between the ages of two and five, the story follows the young daughter of a Belgian diplomat as she awakens to the world: first sensations, emerging language, family dynamics, and simple delights such as the taste of chocolate.

Festival materials describe the film this way:

As a baby Amélie feels like an inert digestive tube until a pivotal awakening propels her into childhood. She discovers language, family, a radiant garden, passions (including a love of Japan and water), dislikes (notably carp), the rhythms of the seasons, and the passage of time. By age three, the foundations of a human life — joy and sorrow alike — are already being laid.

Polygon, via GKIDS, shared an exclusive clip in which Amélie experiences a scene that may remind viewers of Tangled: her nanny leads her to a lantern festival, and the child is mesmerized by the floating lights. Little Amélie or the Character of Rain is playing in limited release across U.S. theaters and is available for pre-order on Amazon and Apple TV, though no official streaming release date has been announced.

Source: Polygon