“I’m just a balloon, floating in front of a boy, asking him to love me.”
A beautiful thing about this movie is how it leaves space for interpretation while still telling a complete story. A boy meets a magical balloon that behaves like a pet. Other people have a problem with this, and the boy tries to juggle protecting his magical friend and taking care of his regular world responsibilities (like going to school).
It’s sweet. The Balloon shows real personality, and its movements are graceful and playful. It’s a great lesson in giving emotions and personhood to a nonhuman character.
There’s a timeless quality, too. Even with all the shots of the city that place it in its present day, the simplicity of the narrative makes it a story focused on childhood, and not just on a child in this time and place.
Flight and film go hand in hand when thinking about spectacle. A balloon on its own provides a little bit of wonder for a very small child, straining against the rules they already understand about gravity and falling. Now let that balloon maneuver like an animal with cognition and control—dipping, dodging, teasing, and soaring—and you have an object that can captivate all ages.
This Builds Character 
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