This is by far one of the darkest movies I've ever watched. Within the first 10 minutes of the movie witness the delusions of Stockholm Syndrome. Not long after, comes the complete meltdown of a war vet alienated by PTSD. "IT'S MY FUNCTION," as he puts it.

Continue watching for allusions toward the superficial and lonely stage of a Hollywood star (or should I say, flower), organ trade (pawnshop), and my favorite part of the movie where a junkyard, featuring the song, "Worthless" serves metaphor to retirement homes.

Retirement homes are presented as a junkyard in this movie. Think long and hard about that before calling this a children's movie.

The antagonist is a child, "Master" of a group of home appliances each suffering from unique mental illnesses including but not limited narcissism, anxiety/panic attacks, depression, dissociative identity disorder, and co-dependency.

It's a disturbing tale brilliantly disguised as a children's movie.

This is excellent stuff, thank god for Channel 4 in the UK for showing it from time to time. I caught it one early morning, straight after a night of serious zonked-out clubbing - probably in the "right" frame of mind for it, you could say - and ten minutes into it I was hooked. Funny, witty, crisp and unusually dark for a cartoon kiddies story, it does work throughout, bar a couple of plodding moments. But the points the film makes and the motives it revolves around, although not new or original, are well placed and executed - companionship, callousness, bonding, slip shoddiness, arrogance, transience and loyalty are all treated in a way which justifies even the occasional lapses into exaggerated sentimentality.

What's even more interesting is to see how the film works in the setting of it's own initial premise - that is, an "older" apparatus, with cruder animation, compared to the marvels of CG graphics which nowadays we take as set standards. And even there it's an overall winner, it shows that one doesn't need a high flying budget, the latest technology or big name voice characterisations to make a point and come up with a thoroughly enjoyable and heartwarming cartoon flick.

Whether this will become a true children's animated classic is yet to be seen, but it's on the right path, and it's ageing really well. Recommended for pre-teens and their parents everywhere, plus just about anyone who gives it a chance. True, there are a few moments of horror which very young children might find upsetting (I myself never really got over my first viewing of "Bambi" all those years ago -even my mum was in tears) - but that's the deal.

Watch it, highly recommended.

I saw this for the first time when I was four or five, and I've loved every second since. It's more than a kids' movie; it's actually incredibly funny and insightful. (My mom started cracking up when she heard the 'They couldn't. I lied' part when I was watching it last week.) Great work from the entire cast, great animation, great script, great, well, great everything.