This movie is what happens when someone actually respects the magical girl genre enough to give it a budget. The action sequences don't apologize for scale, treating beam cannons and aerial combat with the same weight as any mecha show, while keeping the character bonds that make you care who wins. If you watched the TV series, the streamlined pacing and HD animation make this feel like the version that always should have existed. If you haven't, this is the cleanest entry point to a franchise that refuses to treat its girls as less important than the stakes they're fighting.

Nanoha Takamachi is an ordinary third-grader who adores her family and friends. After dreaming of an injured ferret, she finds that same ferret in real life and rescues it. He is Yuuno Scrya, a mage from another world hunting 21 scattered Jewel Seeds before they can do serious harm to the universe. Too weak to gather them alone, Yuuno gives Nanoha an intelligent device named Raising Heart and starts training her as a mage. Her task grows harder when another young mage, Fate Testarossa, arrives set on claiming the seeds for an unknown and sinister aim, though something in Fate's solemn gaze makes Nanoha suspect there is more to her. The film retells the first season's story with new battle animation and a new transformation sequence, blending magical girl action, fantasy and science fiction with drama.