Satoshi Kon never made a bad anime, and sadly passed away before ever getting the chance. His work should all be cherished and seen. "Tokyo Godfathers" is a strange piece compared to his others, though. It's a little more casual and humorous, and less awe inspiring and surreal than his others. But its storytelling still comes across as something of a miracle, which explains why so many will declare this one of their favorites among Satoshi's films.Not many films feature homeless people as the main characters. Even more so, few feature a homeless drag queen, homeless middle-aged grump, and homeless teenager brat. But that's the case here, and arguably this alone makes the film worth watching, for having the one of the most unique casts of any animated film. This strange band of associates find an abandoned baby among the trash on Christmas Eve, and while trying to decide what to do, they eventually decide to use the accompanying photos to find the real parents and confront them for leaving their child behind. Such starts their journey across Tokyo, a wild goose-chase while passing a slew of other fascinating characters with their own problems and stories. All the while, we slowly learn the truth as to why our heroes are homeless to begin with, and get some resolution to that. While it is all over the place, the story writing and pace is not unlike live-action classics like "Forrest Gump," or "Slumdog Millionaire." It's filled with cute moments and miracles, making it a fantastic holiday movie. The jokes are mostly funny, and the more serious dramatic moments hit hard, the story as a whole plays out like a very well-written stage play. But having seen the brilliance of "Millennium Actress" and "Paprika," both of which were much more ground-breaking and inspirational, I feel confused about this one. It's not bad at all: in fact, it's still better than most other films, animated or live-action. But it seems more cute than amazing, and is currently my least favorite of his films, despite being the only one of his works that could be classified as a comedy. My personal opinion isn't met to suggest the film is bad, it just underwhelmed me after seeing what else he had made.Animation is also less impressive than the other films, although that's because of the setting and themes more than a statement of the animation studio Madhouse. One scene in the second half seems to use a wild sketch-y style, which I like, but it is jarring to the rest of the movie. Exaggerated facial expressions help give some much needed personality, though, and the city as a whole has a good sense of place. The audio is good, but again less memorable than his other films. The Japanese dub is pretty good, for which I am thankful since there is no alternative dub in English. 
"Tokyo Godfathers" is a great Christmas movie, but I'm hesitant to recommend this over the other films Satoshi Kon has made. But his other films are strange things, so maybe this is actually a better choice for newcomers (once you get past the strange central cast, the rest of the film is quite sweet). And if you've already seen everything else, of course this is a good story worth watching that still holds a place higher than most films ever could. If you still have any doubt, remember that the film was licensed by Sony Pictures for home video in North America, and like most of Kon's movies, it could go out of print without any warning.