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
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Well, this is pretty much THE Ghibli title according to the rest of the world. It's as though it poses as the end all, be all of the whole collection. The most probable case for it, is that it's not only the first Ghibli Studio film to be nominated for a Best Animated Feature Oscar, it also won. Of course, that year, its biggest competition was probably either 'Ice Age' or 'Treasure Planet'. So yeah, this totally deserved it. Since then, however, Ghibli has kinda gotten the shaft for winning those Oscars, but that's a whole other subject. 'Spirited Away' tells the story of a young girl named Chihiro Ogino (Rumi Hiiragi/Daveigh Chase) who is on her way to her new home, along with her parents. They get themselves a bit lost, taking a path towards the house, and happen upon a tunnel. They go through the mysterious tunnel, only to find themselves at what appears to be an abandoned park of some sort. Upon smelling some delicious food, the parents locate it, eat the hell out of it, and turn themselves into pigs. It's then up to Chihiro to work for an imaginatively created bathhouse for spirits in order to save her parents, and get back home safe. The whole time she is also seemingly stalked by a mysterious spirit known only as "No-Face", who is one of the creepiest characters of the Ghibli universe, at least for my money. There's plenty of imagination and creativity going on here, and knowing the way my mind works, it's no surprise that there's a big part of me that likes this film. It's a truly original concept for a fantasy film, it's kinda dark, and it's loaded with imaginative characters and ideas. The entire concept, at least as far as I can tell, has a lot to do with greed and the contrast of hard work in order to accomplish what you need to, and it's done quite cleverly. But if I missed the point entirely, feel free to call me out on it. That said, I have to confess that there's a small part of me that also nags about how slow it feels at times. I really can't lie, I didn't end up finding this one terribly exciting. Its charm certainly lies most in its creative aspect, and overall originality, for which I give it full credit. I just kinda feel like there are much better Ghibli titles out there, three of which already include 'Mononoke', 'Castle in the Sky' and 'Porco Rosso' - but that's ONLY speaking for my taste, please do not come to my house with torches and pitchforks. This one, to me, meets me right around where 'Pom Poko' did. I actually still really like it for what it is, but it just doesn't blow me away like some of the other titles. If I'm honest, I remember liking it a lot more the first time I saw it a couple of years ago. It was also my introduction to Ghibli studio films, so at the time, I was a little more mind-blown by its animation and originality than this time. Now, I've seen a bunch of other films on the list, so it's just not as crazy awesome to me anymore. But again, still very good, and still a title I'd highly recommend to anyone starting the Ghibli thing out. 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 Going from almost absolute innocence to total darkness, this film caught me slightly off-guard as to just how epic it actually is. I mean, I always expected good things after hearing about if from a few people, but I didn't expect it to honestly have the potential to end up on my personal list of all time favourite films. Believe me, I know how abrupt that must sound, but this title has so much going for it that its scale can almost be compared to that of 'Lord of the Rings'. That's surely heavily debatable, but that's honestly how taken I was with this movie. It's likely to reach the #1 spot on my Ghibli film list. We begin in an Emishi village where the last prince of the village, Ashitaka (Billy Crudup) takes down a demon-possessed boar, and in the process, has a curse placed on his right arm. The arm allows him superhuman strength, but he is told that it will ultimately consume him with pain and kill him in the end. His only hope is to head west to try to find a cure, and he is ultimately now dead to the rest of the village. To make a long story short, Ashitaka soon finds himself caught in the middle of a raging battle between San (Claire Danes), a.k.a. Princess Mononoke, along with her wolf pack, and Lady Eboshi and her warriors. The most interesting catch behind it all is that, much like with a movie like 'Nausicaa', we can sort of see the villain's side of things when it comes right down to it. Where San is trying to protect her pack and the surrounding wildlife she can openly communicate with, Eboshi is trying to protect her people. It's one of these movies where you can almost find the good as well as the bad in every character. The only truly good character here all around seems to be Ashitaka, as he has thins tendency to assist both sides. The thing is, the challenging side for him to help out ends up being San's - who we ultimately view as the "hero side". The exection of it is really quite interesting, and it shows the human side of the characters more than good vs evil. On top of everything, this title also holds with it some of the best English dubbed voice acting, animation with absolutely breathtaking scenery, a truly epic soundtrack that totally sets the mood, and a whole load of originality and imagination. The whole movie is almost like watching some fantastic dream unfold on the screen in front of you. Let's also not leave out the fact that this title is ballsy enough to throw in some pretty heavy blood and gore at time, along with some cursing here and there. For my money, this is the most epic Ghibli title of the collection so far. It runs approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes, has a solid PG-13 rating with good reason, and if anyone out there reading this thinks these films are childish just 'cause they're animated - please just give this one a watch. It honestly kinda blew my mind with how thoroughly good it was. Indeed, I'd recommend it before a lot of other big 'Ghibli' titles I've seen. If you're looking for an epic-scale Ghibli title to check out, it's right here! 5/5 Following along the line of some of Ghibli's lesser films (at least in my opinion) comes along 'Whisper of the Heart'. Another one that's just very basic in its overall plot, and though carries with it a sort of originality, it's still mostly just a tale of finding love, in the end. However, I have to admit to appreciating its overall execution. This one tells the tale of a 14-year-old high school student named Shizuku Tsukishima (Yōko Honna/Brittany Snow) who has a bit of an obsession with fantasy books, and aspires to become a writer some day. Upon a regular trip to the library, she realizes that the majority of the books she reads have most recently been checked out by the same mystery man, known as Seiji Amasawa (Issei Takahashi/David Gallagher). Of course, Shizuku wonders who this guy is, and we can figure it out for ourselves very abruptly - he's the guy who keeps giving her a hard time when he passes by and teases her. However, the more charming parts of the movie lie in the relationship Shizuku ends up having with Seiji's grandfather, Shiro Nishi (Keiju Kobayashi/Harold Gould) who shows her around an almost fairy tale-like antique shop, and encourages her to sort of find the light within herself, based on following her dreams of writing. It's also within this antique shop that we find a statue of a cat called "The Baron" who, even I recognize, will eventually come back in 'The Cat Returns'. This is who she bases her story on, and much of the movie has to do with the struggles of being a writer just as much as it is about a love interest. Again, I consider this one to be a bit of a lesser film in the Ghibli collection, but it was definitely better than I expected it to be. It's just another charming little slice of life film, and if you've ever tried writing a day in your life, I feel that there must be something here that you can relate to on some level. Writing seems a hell of a lot easier than it really is. Unfortunately, director Yoshifumi Kondō passed away in 1998, and it's evidently known that he was largely being looked to, to succeed more famous Ghibli directors, Miyazaki and Takahata. Admittedly, a pretty worthy-sounding successor, in my humble opinion. This film had some beautiful backgrounds that give one a new appreciation for the beauty of Tokyo, and it's frankly an overall relatable subject for a lot of people. Though there's not much to it, it's another nice little film to check out on a Sunday afternoon. 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 If I was to say I was expecting a whole lot of awesome from this particular Ghibli title, that'd be a bold-faced lie. I had never heard of it, no one ever talks about it. It's pretty much in the exact same vein as 'Only Yesterday'. It just kinda exists among the other more famous Ghibli titles as a stepping stone, so to speak. It's a little slice of life film again, and actually incredibly similar to 'Only Yesterday' in it's subject matter. This time around we have the first one that I couldn't find at all in an English dub as well, which leads me to believe that it's just that "little" of a movie. Well-reviewed enough, but I get the impression it's the first title I've come across in this collection that almost no one seems to care much about. And you know, that's reasonable. Taku Morisaki (Nobuo Tobita) sees the likes of a familiar woman at a train station. As he arrives at the airport and boards his plane, we're told the story of what influences this girl had on his life in his senior year of high school. The whole thing sort of ends up being a take on a kind of love triangle story, and winds up being even more forgettable than 'Only Yesterday', if only because the concept is just as dull to wade through, but it's more or less repeated here. I'd almost have to say that for me, this is thus far the bottom of my list as far as the Ghibli films are concerned. Other than some more beautiful animation that allows our eyes to delve further into the overall breathtaking landscape that is Japan, there's just nothing for me here, unfortunately. And I've said it before and I'll say it again, you'd be VERY hard pressed to find BAD Ghibli animation. Upon doing a bit of homework on this one, I've also come to realize that this was Ghibli's attempt at making a relatively cheap film brought to us by some of Ghibli's younger staff members. Evidently, that was never repeated after the fact. Again, it wasn't horribly reviewed, but it does end up being perhaps the biggest throw-away for the collection (at least so far) based on it's sot of redundant subject matter - especially when we know that Ghibli is an incredible studio for overall originality. I'm glad I'm able to say that I saw it, but it's not even close to being a contender for my final Top 10 Ghibli films list (spoiler alert) at the end of all this. If you want a love triangle story, it can be found in about a million other films. I'd probably recommend 'Only Yesterday' a bit more than this one, if only because its concept came along first. It was bound to happen, but here we have my first Ghibli film that I just plain didn't like. 2/5 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 This is, so far, about the simplest title in the Ghibli series, in my humble opinion. There's really not much to it. We have a 27-year-old office worker who travels to the countryside to help with some harvesting, and the whole time she reminisces about when she was a child in fifth grade. That's about it. Meanwhile, in present day, you get the impression that there's at least a potential interest forming between our main character, Taeko (Miki Imai/Daisy Ridley) and a sort of organic farming nut named Toshio (Toshirō Yanagiba/Dev Patel). So, in fairness, not exactly up my alley for the most part. But that's not to say it's bad. It's just kinda forgettable to me. What this movie does have going for it is a sort of nostalgia factor that has one sitting back and possibly reminiscing about events of their own childhood. Beyond that, as usual, the animation and overall scenery of the movies is just gorgeous. I was particularly a huge fan of the background scenery going on in this one among some other titles. But of course, it's never bad at all. There was just something about the way this one portrayed the overall peacefulness of the countryside, especially when it was taking place in present day. Add to that a rather touching ending overall, that just about any of us could relate to, and you've got a decent movie. My only problem with it is that, at least until the end, the storytelling feels just so basic and, if I'm honest, pretty dull at times. It was really just a glimpse into her childhood, with which she seemed to have an understandably rough time between school and family. But when we see how happy she at least seems in present day, it almost feels pointless. THAT SAID, and now that every Ghibli fan in the world may wish to murder me, it's probably just what it was supposed to be. There wasn't anything big going on here, it's just another one of Ghibli's "slice of life" films, and you do manage to get a little something out of the ending. At least I did. You just seemingly have to wade through a lot to get there. Thus far, I'd have to say this is the most underwhelmed I've felt about a Ghibli film. Not surprisingly, this also seems to be one of the titles no one really talks about. At least no one I know of. It's a neat little story, but most of the movie's charm lies in its beautiful artwork. Not a whole hell of a lot more. Even the characters were kinda dull to me. And it pains me to say that 'cause it's likely that I just couldn't find a way to relate to any of them, really. I'm SURE that to many, they're perfectly relatable. There's not much more to say about it. I seem to be a sort of 1-percenter here on my overall opinion, but to me it was a good 2 hours that easily could have been trimmed to an hour and a half at most. It just wasn't my favourite of the series so far, but it's not without a sort of charm, either. I dunno. It seems to be a title that I couldn't recommend to just anyone, but some may very well enjoy it, just for the simplicity alone. Again, not at all bad, just kinda underwhelming. 3/5 Following the tragic film that is 'Grave of the Fireflies' comes a much more upbeat, slice of life film that focuses on, according to Miyazaki, himself, the gap between Japanese girls being independent and being reliant on others. Our tale features Kiki (Minami Takayama/Lisa Michelson/Kirsten Dunst) along with her talking cat, Jiji (Rei Sakuma/Kerrigan Mahan/Phil Hartman). Kiki has just turned thirteen, and in accordance with her witch family customs, she heads out to a nearby town to live independently for a year. Here, she meets the likes of a pregnant woman named Osono (Keiko Toda/Alexandra Kenworthy/Tress MacNeille) who offers for Kiki to take a room upstairs, above her bakery. Meanwhile, Kiki works on getting her own business started - a delivery service for the bakery. Along the way she also befriends a handful of friendly characters, who like her for what she is. Most notable being two characters. The first, a boy named Tombo (Kappei Yamaguchi/Eddie Frierson/Matthew Lawrence) who takes a great interest in flying, and provides an interesting contrast to Kiki, to whom flying is as simple and everyday as walking. The second, a girl named Ursula (Minami Takayama/Edie Mirman/Janeane Garofalo), a fun artist type who helps Kiki with some of her more difficult issues, largely having to do with herself. As these Ghibli films advance, it's interesting to see just how different they get from one to the other. Much like 'Totoro', with this one, you kinda look at things a bit deeper to find the meaning of it all. To me, this translated as pretty much a "man vs himself" (in this case woman vs herself) story that has a lot to do with coming of age and, yeah, as Miyazaki says, the gap between independence and reliance. However, I didn't really get that it was meant, apparently, specifically toward Japanese girls. Indeed, personally, I feel like there's plenty here that just about everyone could relate to. In fact, I even interpreted it as a struggle against depression and angst during those God-forsaken teenage years. Though maybe it wasn't meant to be quite that deep, see if you can't see where I'm coming from with it upon viewing it for yourself. That said, it's by no means a very depressing film at all. It's really quite upbeat, and, in fact, a nice, quaint, subtle film. It might be something one might turn to in order to brighten their day. Much like with, again, 'Totoro', it only kinda gets semi-serious in parts. The rest of it is just kinda warm and fun... and FULL of great scenery throughout the flying scenes. At the end of the day, this ends up being one of those titles I really like as a potential go-to for cheering myself up. And yes, it is about a 13 year old girl trying to find herself, and that's okay. As I said, there's plenty here to relate to, regardless. It might just not necessarily be the one I keep coming back to, but it's definitely a nice, two-hour animation for a lazy Sunday afternoon. I ALMOST wanna bump it down to a 3/5 (translating to "good"), but in all fairness, I have to give this film what it has going for it. The voice acting is decent, the animation is gorgeous, the characters are pretty much all likable except for a couple of sides, and the whole concept is an original way to bring those themes of adolescence to the screen. This really is a very good movie, and I can't bring myself to give it that 3. 4/5 |
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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