The film follows an extraordinary boy who has special talent after an illness can leave the confines of his body. He meets Alex, a New York City cop in hospital and then they team up to save their city from destruction.
For those willing to make allowances, there's a definite artisanal personality to the visual style, and an undertow of emotion as the boy's unknowing family fear they'll lose him forever.
It's one of the best not-just-for-children animations in theaters this summer -- an action-packed, yet kind-hearted adventure featuring an ailing kid who doubles, in his imagination, as an invisible flying hero.
It has an interesting premise and seems to be about the dark subject of death and childhood, but then backs out nervously towards cops'n'robbers banality.
Phantom Boy is simply drawn -- no computer images here-and frequently funny, whether it's the bumbling cohorts of the villain or a couple of scenes that parody The Sopranos.
There's an appealing quaintness to the storytelling that calls to mind the Tintin books of the artist and writer Hergé, especially that series's old-world charm.
