Kenneth Turan of the "Los Angeles Times" called it "straight-arrow and subversive, made with simplicity as well as sophistication," writing, "it feels like a classic even though it's just out of the box." Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, and compared it, both in story and animation, to the works of Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki, summarizing the film as "not just a cute romp but an involving story that has something to say." "The New Yorker" reviewer Michael Sragow dubbed it a "modern fairy tale," writing, "The movie provides a master class in the use of scale and perspective—and in its power to open up a viewer’s heart and mind." "Time" Richard Schickel deemed it "a smart live-and-let-live parable, full of glancing, acute observations on all kinds of big subjects—life, death, the military-industrial complex." Lawrence Van Gelder, writing for "The New York Times", deemed it a "smooth, skilled example of animated filmmaking." Joe Morgenstern of "The Wall Street Journal" felt it "beautiful, oh so beautiful, as a work of coherent art," noting, "be assured that the film is, before anything else, deliciously funny and deeply affecting."