After a movie as dark as 'Tales from Earthsea', Ghibli studio once again finds the perfect balance with this lovely and cute, heartwarming tale, good for the whole family. Indeed, it's still one of Miyazaki more popular films, and it's probably the flip of the coin for overall cuteness, having 'Totoro' on the other side of things. The film opens with a once-human wizard named Fujimoto (George Tokoro/Liam Neeson) who now dwells underwater with his daughters, including one named Brunhilde, who seems to be bigger and a bit more advanced that the others. She decides to sneak off on the back of a jellyfish, only to surface trapped in a jar, found by a little boy named Sōsuke (Hiroki Doi as Sōsuke/Frankie Jonas) who names her Ponyo. It's soon discovered that Ponyo isn't like any other fish, enjoys the hell out of ham, and aftre tasting human blood (through a cut on Sōsuke's finger that she licks) tries to become human. Meanwhile, her father searches for her, desperately, causing tsunamis and other storms in the process. However, it is discovered that Ponyo has actually fallen in love with Sōsuke. Soon, Sōsuke is tested for his love, as if he doesn't love her in the same way, Ponyo will revert from being a human into, not a fish again, but sea foam. Meanwhile, we also have Sōsuke's mother, Lisa (Tomoko Yamaguchi/Tina Fey) helping out where she can, but one has to wonder at what cost. Seriously, watching her try to be a mother can be upsetting at times as she seems to wanna risk her own son's life just to try to go places. I mean, I guess it's supposed to be humorous as we're seeing this woman who just won't take any shit from anyone or anything, including mother nature, but at times it feels extreme. Just watch her drive, and you'll know what I'm talking about. I know a lot of people love this character, but I can't say I did. Her love and understanding of her son is there, which is nice, but if you saw this person in reality, you'd probably be questioning her mothering methods. Luckily, however, this movie doesn't revolve around her so much as the relationship between Sōsuke and Ponyo. And I have to admit to fully appreciateing Sōsuke's character, as he actually reminds me a bit of myself at a young age. He likes to explore where he's allowed to, likes to show off cool stuff he finds to people who will appreciate it, and there's just a lot of love in his heart as he's not only a good listener, but will go out of his way to help out who he loves as well. He's probably a bit more charming than I was back then, but still, pretty close. To me, this ends up mostly being a film about the contrast between puppy love (the love between two kids) and the convoluted responsibility that comes with taking care of someone you love. Interestingly enough, it does seem to work both ways here as well. We really see how much the two care for each other, and it's extra cute considering that they're both just children. All in all, I'd consider this to be one of Ghibli's best feel-good movies. It carries with it a cuteness, a sense of humour, and it really just doesn't get dark. Even 'Totoro' had the story of the sick mother, but this one, at worst, covers the fact that the father isn't really able to be around for Lisa and Sōsuke due to his job. So if you need a pick-me-up from a depressing day, I have to admit that despite a few of my nitpicks, this is a great place to start. It put a smile on my face, anyway. 4/5
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This particular Ghibli film tells a bit more of a story about the Baron (Yoshihiko Hakamada/Cary Elwes); the small, charming statue from 'Whisper of the Heart' that Shizuku uses for her story. However, this time around, a different take is told, as we enter a fantasy world full of cats. This tim around, we have a young lady by the name of Haru Yoshioka (Chizuru Ikewaki/Anne Hathaway) who, one day, saves a cat's life from an ignorant trucker, about to run him over. Here, we find out that she has the ability to communicate with cats as well. As a thank you, Haru is soon showered with gifts, and involuntarily set up with Prince Lune (Takayuki Yamada/Andrew Bevis), whom she is suddenly destined to marry. As a result, a mysterious voice tells Haru to visit a cat named Muta (Tetsu Watanabe/Peter Boyle) who will guide her to the Baron for assistance in the matter. So what we have here is almost a Cary Elwes typecast. Between 'The Princess Bride', 'Robin Hood: Men in Tights' and this, he's always playing the charming hero who rescues the girl from her fate of being married against her will. The thing is, all three of these movies are great as their own thing, and it's not like it's just another repeat of the same junk. This one is a lot more on the fun side of things, which I have to appreciate. It's simple and short, at only an hour and fifteen minutes, and for the most part, it's actually a lot funnier than I'd have imagined. It's not at all what I'd call typical for a Ghibli film, and I have to appreciate that one doesn't actually have to sit through 'Whisper of the Heart' to understand what exactly is going on here. This one currently teeters on my Top 10 list, as I appreciate a lot more of what this film has to offer in its simplicity as opposed to some other titles in the lineup. It's a bit closer to what I'm used to with its short running time, and all around sense of humor. Which is not to say some of the more complex titles are bad, but it's nice that you can almost just throw this one on when you feel like it. Some other titles I can see having to be in more of a mood for. Being that this is a comedy just as well as a fantasy makes it easy too. 4/5 Sandwiched right in between two of Hayao Miyazaki's most famous titles lies this fun, cute, quirky family comedy that is seemingly largely overlooked by Ghibli audiences - at least those who I associated with. The funny hing is, there's no one who seems to actually fully dislike it either. It just happens to be that little movie in between two of the most talked about titles, 'Mononoke' and 'Spirited Away', so I imagine it kinda gets the skip-over quite often. All the film really is, is another "slice of life" movie told with a series of short sketches that highlight the lives of one particular family, dwelling in Japan. It covers some of the lighter and comedic aspects of family life, but touches on some of the more intense moments as well. I have to also give the film thorough credit for still remaining relatively lighthearted when it does get serious. The whole idea behind this movie seems to be, at least to me, "this is family life, and anyone can relate." It seems to be the Ghibli answer to an all-around family film that isn't actually some sort of fantasy as well. This one is also about as real as it gets without being somewhat lame and predictable like 'Ocean Waves' or 'Only Yesterday'. Another thing I have to give this title credit for is that it seemingly rocks its more primitive-looking animation. Believe me, what you see in the poster there is what you get, and the backgrounds and scenery are very lightly done at best. It's just a different stylistic choice to the regular mind-blowing animation, and following the absolutely breathtaking scenery that was 'Mononoke', it's a decent place for it. It's almost like taking a break from the typical. And trust me, I LOVE the typical, but it's an interesting breath of fresh, light air, just as well. The more interesting thing about the animation aspect of it all was that director Isao Takahata made the creative choice for the film to be the first of the Ghibli series that is completely digital, and done in a sort of watercolour format. That means that all the incredibly amazing animation up to this point was still largely done by hand. That, in and of itself, is pretty mind-blowing. Anyway, getting back to the film itself, there really isn't a whole lot more to it than what I've mentioned. The voice cast includes the likes of Touru MasuokaJames Belushi, Yukiji Asaoka Molly Shannon and Masako ArakiTress MacNeille as the Father, Mother and Grandmother, respectively, but that's about all there is more to say. It's about as simple as it gets, but I have to admit to liking this one more than a couple of other simplistic Ghibli films, despite their overall better animation. This one was able to get a few laughs out of me, there were moments I could genuinely relate to, and in the end, it's just a nice, light-hearted and fun flick, even if it is one of Ghibli's lesser titles in the long-run. It still impressively enough accomplishes what it sets out to do, and illustrate the life of an average family quite well - even if it does go ever so slightly over the top at points. It's a 3, but the higher end of a 3. 3/5 Another Ghibli title that seems to meet general audiences somewhere in the middle, this is a delightfully strange, comedic, adventure-filled movie that's altogether a lot of fun - that is, if you can make it past all the raccoon testicles. And no, I'm not kidding. Our story starts in Japan during the 1960s where a suburban development begins threatening the lives of the wildlife around it. In this case, the main focus is raccoons. Picking up several yeasr down the line, we see the raccoon tribes fighting amongst themselves for property, food, and other resources that have faded away drastically since the erection of New Tama (the suburban development in question). Eventually, these raccoons learn that they shouldn't be fighting amongst themselves, but waging war on the humans who have taken their land and resources away from them. This mainly consists of trying to scare them out of town due to the uncanny raccoon capability of shape-shifting. This movie has one hell of a range to it. Some moments are adorable, some are really quite serious, but the whole thing ends up being the age-old environmental message in the end. It largely has to do with development driving out wildlife. But I must admit that what I saw here was a much more interesting take on the concept as opposed to other movies like 'Avatar' and any other movie like it. This story consists of a rather original concept altogether, and I have to give it credit for what it manages to accomplish in the process. The end of the movie is kind of bittersweet, and all the way through the movie, we're shown interesting ideas - not the least of which is seeing just how far these raccoons can go with their shape-shifting. If you can find a clip, it's well worth watching these guys execute something called "Operation Specter' - and no, it's nothing to do with James Bond. All in all, I sort of meet this one in the middle though, as at about 2 hours, there's almost just too much going on here. That said, there's really no massive lulls of time between things. The film is paced well, and anything that may be considered a bit boring is quickly replaced by something really cool-looking, or something comedic. As mentioned before, there's actually quite a wide emotional range to this one. So, I can happily recommend this as one of the better Ghibli movies altogether. There's likable characters, there's unlikable characters, it can get a good laugh here and there, and I think "Operation Specter" is one of my favourite scenes in the Ghibli series thus far. Maybe it's due to me being such a Halloween/'Ghostbusters' fan, but that whole bit really spoke to me on a personal level, as odd as that may sound. This may not be at the top of everyone's list, and I'm not sure it's near the top of mine (yet) either, but I definitely had more fun with this one that a couple of previous titles. Check this one out for yourselves though, because if nothing else, there's still a bunch of raccoon testicles on the screen to discuss among your fellow Ghibli fans. 4/5 Well Ghibli, you've done it again. I have to openly admit that among seeing pictures of a pig flying around in a sea plane, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. Was this gonna be a comedy, or something to be taken a little more seriously. In actuality, it's sort of both, and the whole pig thing is more symbolic than anything else. All we really get is that it's some sort of curse. The film takes place in the early 1930s, where pirates have taken over the skies. Porco (Shūichirō Moriyama/Michael Keaton) takes up the job of bounty hunter, and becomes a known hero among the general population. We get all of this in a nicely done opening scene that sets up the whole spirit of the film. We soon also get to know that there's a history between him and a hotel owner named Gina (Tokiko Kato/Susan Egan). However, an American pilot by the name of Donald Curtis (Akio Ōtsuka/Cary Elwes) sees competition in Porco for the affections of Gina, and the two begin a bitter rivalry that leads Porco to crash land. He then finds help in his friend Mr. Piccolo (Sanshi Katsura/David Ogden Stiers), and his granddaughter, Fio (Akemi Okamura/Kimberly Williams-Paisley). Giving way to the symbolism of Porco's literal pig-head, we learn that he initially has a sexist attitude towards Fio (among a whole group of women) helping to repair his plane. And in case you're wondering, yeah, we kinda find out why he's a pig, but it's actually a pretty sad story. As silly as the whole thing seems, if you dig a little deeper into things here, you can walk away feeling like you've just seen something sort of profound. Only speaking for myself, I managed to see themes of a character feeling like he's accepted the kind of person he is, there's no changing him, and he feels like he deserves what he gets for being a "pig". So yeah. It's not just some pig in a plane. To lighten things up, however, there's actually plenty of comedy that keeps things flowing lightly. I have to admit there were a few pleasantly surprising laugh out loud lines throughout this movie, and it felt like a near-perfect balance. As a bonus, if you enjoy good flying scenes, this movie is full of them, and the flow of the animation is really quite nice, especially for 1992. I have to admit, I see this on a lot of favourite Ghibli movie lists, and I don't think my list would be any exception. I'd have to claim this as one of my favourite I've seen so far in the series. A lot of that lies in the contrasting characters as well. I have a tendency to enjoy the loner type of character that is Porco, but Fio is really quite likable as a female character who is often shunned, but proves herself perfectly capable and superbly intelligent at every turn. She's not that strong female character right away, but she manages to blossom into it (early enough, not so much a spoiler), and it's really good development of a character overall. It sort of reminded me a bit of an old 'Disney Afternoon' show called 'TaleSpin', in which Jungle Book characters flew seaplanes and fought air pirates, first running in 1990. But even if it did come first, this movie was just better overall. Of course, I'm a sucker for the strange and unusual, especially if it can be interpreted symbolically, so this movie was kinda just up my alley. Overall, it was a pleasant surprise. 5/5 |
AboutAs anime is an all-around untapped resource for my viewing pleasure, I have decided to explore the Ghibli titles, one-by-one. It seemed good a place to start as any. I'll be focusing on these titles throughout the month of August. ArchivesCategories
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