Plot: After her father is jailed, a young Afghan girl must disguise as a boy to provide for her family.

With this film coming from the same company that produced the strangely brilliant 'A Town Called Panic' and the sweet and lovely 'Song Of The Sea', I had fairly high expectations of this.

While it is certainly different in its tone then the other two, the level of enjoyment and strength in its story is still the same. It covers quite a serious subject and yet makes it work as suitable family viewing. It also manages to be educational at the same time. So I can see this type of film being shown in school in the future.

Whilst absorbing the gorgeous animation, the heart-wrenching story is executed so beautifully and makes it effortless with its gentle pacing.
They introduce you to the Afghan landscape really well and the simple understanding how the country lives. It also incorporates native traditions in the animation which was great to see.
There are fantasy moments in a side-story that accompanies the main story which has really nice comedic value that added extra strength in my investment to the central plot. It also reminded me a lot of Kubo And The Two Strings.

There are so many great characters that you can easily root for and wonderfully gutsy protagonist. I also noticed all the voice actors seemed to be all from the films native setting of Afghanistan or at least have roots there.

So while I think the fantasy part looked to be director Nora Twomey strongest suit, the main part of the film is still a very moving and dramatic story that shows life in that part of the world so well that it manages to suitable for family viewing.

Rating: 8/10