'Mia and the Migoo' is animated, but lacks lyricism

With the voices of Whoopi Goldberg, Matthew Modine. Animated adventure of a young girl searching for her father, aided by forest spirits (1:34). PG: Some peril. At the IFC Center.

This French production, dubbed into English by an able if uninspired cast, shares a spiritual link to the Japanese works of Hayao Miyazaki but lacks his films' narrative drive and magical overlay.

Here, director Jacques-Remy Girerd's heroine, Mia, needs to save her father from a construction-site accident and enlists large forest spirits called the Migoo to help her.

It turns out there's a reason the Migoo — who appear playful, in the style of Miyazaki's Totoro, but may seem more malevolent to kids under 5 — have gotten involved. But we have to get past a lot of less-than-charming scenes for the journey to start, and though the animation can be transporting, its lack of lyricism is disappointing.

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