The Girl Who Stole Time

THE GIRL WHO STOLE TIME 🔅

As the credits rolled, I sat back in my seat, staring at the screen, trying to make that rare feeling of having watched something I fell in love with, last.

THE GIRL WHO STOLE TIME is my favourite movie of the year. Not ‘favourite genre-specific movie,’ not ‘favourite animated movie’… favourite movie, period.

It is a fantasy-adventure, enemies-to-lovers story with shades of The Notebook (2004) that moves through time to reclaim what was lost as if it were cut from the same cloth as Your Name (Kimi no Na Wa—2016).

My gateway into appreciating animation started with Japanese anime, but over the last few years, China has gained my undivided attention by pairing some of the most inspired use of 3D animation with incredibly heartwarming stories, which include works like Deep Sea (2023), Chang’an (2023)—and now THE GIRL WHO STOLE TIME.

The story follows Qian Xiao, a girl from a fishing village who wants more out of life than to be cooped up on an island watching visitors come and go as they please. She daydreams of getting lost in the big city, exploring the world, and finding adventure, and after a terrible accident, she may have found exactly what she was looking for.

When done well, time travel stories can make you feel nostalgic for a time that was, have you appreciating the time that is, and leave you hopeful for everything yet to come. This is able to playfully incorporate all of that in ways you wouldn’t even begin to expect.

As fun as it was watching this wide-eyed girl manifest her whimsical daydreams into a reality, the timeless love story between her and Seventeen ends up being the gift that keeps on giving. Initially the no-nonsense Seventeen and the mischievous Qian Xiao are at odds, but over time their relationship blossoms into something that is undefinable. From frenemies to forever, it doesn’t matter what their relationship morphs into; they both know whatever they can be is better than nothing at all.

That story and the colourfully charged world inspired by 20th-century Shanghai was a dazzling, lush escape that I wish I could experience over and over again.

It’s worth noting that this movie does feel like it has an infinite amount of endings. Every single one worked for me in ways I think others will feel aren’t definitive enough. I’d push back on that notion because I think each one adds an extra layer to the concept of time used throughout the movie and makes the dynamic between Qian and Seventeen that much stronger.

This story may be about a girl who steals time, but the magic of this movie is rooted in a romance that will steal your heart.

THE GIRL WHO STOLE TIME will have its North American premiere at the upcoming Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal. 

Enjoy!

8.6/10 🍿 🎥

Runtime: 1hr44mins

Where: The 2025 Annecy International Animation Film Festival

The Girl Who Stole Time Review (2025) The Richmond Reviewer - June 27th, 2025.

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