Charming, witty, made for children but severe enough to maintain adult interest, the first Cardcaptor Sakura movie pits Sakura against her first truly formidable foe. However, it isn't brute strength or magical prowess that saves the day but rather Sakura's human compassion.

As fate would have it, Sakura's spring recess from school is occasioned with her winning an all-expense-paid trip to Hong Kong, the origin of Clow Reed and the magic of the Clow Cards. The moment she arrives, the vibrations of a dark magic begin to invade her dreams in the form of a beautiful but angry woman. When this astral presence cuts through her dimensional prison and takes Sakura's friends hostage, the amateur cardcaptor summons all the strength she can to subdue, pacify or appeal to the ghost.

Smacking of the classic horror conceit made famous in Nightmare On Elm Street - where the protagonists can only combat their nemesis within their dreams - Sakura embraces complex, and sometimes scary, themes, trusting that its young audience is willing to follow. However, as precocious as she is, Sakura maintains the mentality, sentimentality and broad-based innocence of a child, serving as an accessible conduit between the intentionally young audience and the grand ambitions of the story. The Sakura of the TV show does this as well, but never has Sakura been faced with such a challenge.

MADHOUSE's animation is fluid, beautiful and well conceived. The visuals of the dreamscapes deftly navigate the whimsical line between Sakura's conscious and sub-conscious thoughts, establishing a firm reality into which elements of the surreal creep. At times the audience, like Sakura, is unsure if the images unfolding before them are part of the reality or part of the dream, a testament to director Morio Asaka's handling of the delicate story.

And even as Sakura arms herself for the final confrontation with the spirit menace, she is driven more by uncovering the mystery of this magic than bludgeoning the wielder of it into submission, making for an emotionally stirring and character rich climax.