Little Amélie or the Character of Rain centres around the titular girl, opening with her explaining that she was born, she thought she was a God, assuming centuries have passed since her birth before she speaks her first word and learns to walk on August 13th 1969 as she reaches two-and-a-half years old, but… no, like the rest of us, she’s a human.
She’s part of a Belgian family living in Japan, although here is all she’s ever known, and whilst also going through the “terrible twos”, it’s also this moment where white chocolate from her grandma made her feel ‘born’, but the adults among us know that while we hope our parents stay with us for a long time, there’s nothing quite like grandparents. They won’t be with us anywhere near as long, you don’t spend as much time with them – despite being related, and it’s them you’re going to miss for the longest time when the unfortunate harsh realities of life come crashing down.
On a happier note, though, like all Japanese houses, they have a genkan, where you leave your outdoor shoes and enter the house, usually changing into slippers if you’re barefoot, or stay in socks if you’re not. The choice is yours…
However, since there’s running around in this house entrance, anyone running shoeless in that area as they go in and out of the house quickly will soon end up with dirt on their feet usually reserved for their outdoor shoes! Ewwww!
But a lot of Little Amélie is seeing the world through her eyes, and experiencing her imagination from how rain is silent and tempestuous, even to how she thinks that God might be the vacuum cleaner, as it’s a “disappearing machine“, leading “vacuum cleaner” to be is her first word.
The film also takes in various family experiences including her Mum’s home made food, which reminds me of the Spaghetti carbonara my mum often made for me, as well as my grandma – or “Nana” as we called her, making “Nana biscuits”, which had icing and were shaped into Xmas trees and other items.
Add in the girl’s nanny, Nishio, as well as her own mother, Kashima, who seems to hate anyone who’s not Japanese, and Amélie leads a surprisingly packed life as she heads towards her 3rd birthday, including when she discovers rain, then tries to command the water at the beach, only to find it’s not a great idea.
But most of all, even though I can’t remember being that specific age, and my youngest memories being from around the age of 4-5, Little Amélie reminds you of what it was like growing up… and how you’ll never have that time back again.
Yes, that’s a bit depressing, but as a film, this is the most incredible 77 minutes you’ll see so far this year, and it’s a crying shame that almost no-one’s gone to see it. I know that there’s far bigger films that families will go to see over the half-term holidays, but when I saw this on Tuesday, there was just me and one of guy in there. I looked at the seat maps for the four remaining screenings up until today, and they were completely empty.
It also does far more with those 77 minutes, than James Cameron could bother to do with the 300 hours, so far, from his tedious Avatar trilogy, which did get those audiences but didn’t deserve them.
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain is also up for Best Animated Feature Film at the BAFTAs and Oscars. I do hope it wins, despite competition from Elio, which was a great 3D experience – albeit largely ignored by the target audience because Disney shoved it out while Lilo And Stitch was still doing far better business than it deserves, and Zootopia 2, which was boring AF.
NOTE: There is some content during the end credits, as well as a brief post-credits moment. Check out the video below!
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
In the meantime, you can buy the Original Soundtrack on Vinyl.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 77 minutes
Release date: February 13th 2026
Studio: GKIDS
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Rating: 10/10
Directors: Liane-Cho Han, Mailys Vallade
Producers: Edwina Liard, Henri Magalon, Nidia Santiago, Stephanie Sheh, Michael Sinterniklaas
Screenplay: Liane-Cho Han, Aude Py, Mailys Vallade
Music: Mari Fukuhara
Based on: Métaphysique des tubes by Amélie Nothomb
Voice Cast:
Amélie: Loïse Charpentier
Nishio-san: Victoria Grosbois
Kashima-san: Yumi Fujimori
Claude, the Grandma: Cathy Cerda
Patrick, the Father: Marc Arnaud
Danièle, the Mother: Laetitia Coryn
Juliette: Haylee Issembourg
André: Isaac Schoumsky
Doctor/Radio: François Raison
Additional Voice of Amélie: Emmylou Homs
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.