Parents' Guide to Where Is Anne Frank

This fantastical animation is a truly unique and fascinating route into a story many of us already know so well. Where Is Anne Frank tackles the young diarist's story through the eyes of her imaginary friend, Kitty, who magically finds herself in modern day Amsterdam. What this approach, and this perspective allows, is for the viewer to try and understand what happened to Anne Frank through the eyes of someone who had no idea what had occurred. Kitty is oblivious to the horrors and cruelty that swept across Europe during World War II, learning about them for the first time and trying to make sense of them. Through these innocent eyes we see the atrocities of WWII in a simplified form, which makes the devastation seem even more profound and upsetting -- the sheer tragedy that kids were killed for no other reason than their race.

Yet Where Is Anne Frank also strives to highlight the lasting impact that Anne left behind, the sense of humanity she gave to an otherwise inhumane period of history. Tying the Holocaust to the ongoing refugee crisis feels a little heavy-handed, though it's difficult to be too critical of a story that hammers the importance of love over hate. To top it all off, the animation style is striking, adding to a film that will enlighten and capture the imaginations of both kids and adults.