Studio Ghibli Films
Watched all of the more recent Ghibli films on my iPod in the laste week. There is something about Hiyao's films that strikes a cord with me. I think the fact that most of the films I've seen (Totoro, Nausicaa, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke) have some statement about humans' involvement with and impact on nature is a big part of that. Howl's Moving Castle is the only one that doesn't comment on that, but there is some underlying commentary in the black smoke belching into the sky from the trains and machines. As an animal/nature lover I appreciate the way the animators capture the feeling of the environments. They do it so well, in fact, I find my initial reaction is "Oh! I'd love to go there!"
Here are the movies I watched ranked in order (from favorite to least) along with a mini-review of each along with a Gross Factor Rating. Either Miyazaki likes to include gross stuff or the animators like animating it. 1=not gross; 5=completely disgusting.
Ponyo is sadly missing because I haven't seen it yet. I'll revise the list when I've given it a fair shake.
My Neighbor Totoro
Notable Voices - Disney adaptation
Dakota Fanning
Elle Fanning
Timothy Daly (Wings, voice of Superman on Superman Adventures)
Pat Carroll (Ursula from Little Mermad)
Frank Welker - Disney loves him
Thoughts
I love Totoro. One of my good friends in High School took Japanese and showed me just a portion of the movie with subtitles and I absolutely fell in love. It sprang to mind again recently. I've probably seen it 3 times in the last month thanks to my lovely wife who bought the newest DVD for me. Watched on iPod, watched online, watched with the kids. Wonderfully whimsical, beautiful scenery, great animation. Definitely makes me want to visit the Japan featured in the movie. I've shown it to my oldest two but not the youngest two because I didn't want to have to explain so much.
Gross Factor: 1 - Nothing to comment on here. There's just nothing icky in the movie.
Spirited Away
Notable Voices
John Ratzenberger
Suzanne Pleshette (I didn't recognize her voice, but some people will)
David Ogden Stiers
Michael Chiklis
Paul Eiding (does cartoon voices and was the narrator in Diablo II)
Thoughts
My brother will be surprised to see Princess Mononoke moved to 3rd Place after this movie. I was equally surprised! Another friend said how much she loved this movie and I thought I probably didn't give it a fair enough chance so I watched it twice in one week to give it fair viewing time with the others. There's no doubt this film has some weird parts, but I love the representation of the spirit world. Some gross parts in it (seems like the animators like animating mud/slime/muck), but not horrendous. The main character Chihiro goes from very annoying child to more experienced and reasonable young lady. Love the character change. I would show it to my 13 year old but not my 10 year old.
Gross Factor: 3 - One of the characters vomits a lot when given a cure for his illness. It's black/brown and oozy, but no details like what's actually in it. A "stink spirit" oozes it's way into the bathhouse and Chihiro pulls a bunch of trash out of him to make sure he's really clean.
Princess Mononoke
Notable Voices
Gillian Anderson
Billy Bob Thornton
Keith David - Goliath form Gargoyles
Minnie Driver
Billy Crudup
Thoughts
Of all the movies I watched, I think this one is probably the grossest visually. You have slimy blood spirit/demon/snake things, creatures vomitting blood, heads decapitated, arms cut off, etc. It's definitely NOT a movie for children. Still visually stunning, the story is very good. Like many Japanese stories I've seen, the bad guys are hard to decipher. There is no one bad guy or bad organization. The real enemy in this movie is hate, anger, and greed. It's an enjoyable movie and I love the concept of the hero with his elk-riding righteousness. It's just not as enjoyable to me as Totoro or Spirited Away. It gets a bit too preachy for me and the voice acting isn't as good in my opinion.
Gross Factor: 5 - the entire movie is not completely disgusting. There's just more gore/grossness than in the other flicks...and a lot of it is really gross.
Howl's Moving Castle
Notable Voices
Christian Bale
Billy Crystal
Lauren Bacall
Thoughts
I actually watched this one last. The voice acting in the dubbed version is excellent. The story is a bit confusing and has some of the darkest themes from any of the movies. There is a fire demon named Calcipher. Clever name, but awfully reminiscent of Lucipher and whether it's supposed to be a representation of Satan or not, I find the link a bit too close for comfort. However, Billy Crystal's voice acting for the character is fantastic. I don't like that the heroin tries so hard to keep the demon alive even after she's discovered the connection between the demon and Howl. The visuals are very victorian/european vs. Japanese and I enjoyed the take on magic and some of the ideas. For example, Howl's Castle can be in four places at once. It has an actual location (and has to move often), but then three other locations that it appears in magically in the three towns in the film. I rated this one lower down because I didn't like some of the events/themes (demons are supposed to be defeated, not saved), but visually it's very impressive and overall a fun movie.
Gross Factor: 2 - character covered in the goo of depression.
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Notable Voices
Patrick Stewart
Edward James Olmos
Uma Thurman
Shia LeBeouf
Frank Welker
Thoughts
This movie is some wacky, wacky stuff. The gross stuff in the movie largely has to do with bugs. If you're not a fan of bugs, you probably wouldn't enjoy the movie at all. It's set in a future where a spore jungle has covered most of the earth and there is a delicate balance between the poisonous spores, the bugs that roam the world, and the humans. The story is VERY confusing. I kept thinking I was missing something, but in reviewing other descriptions/summaries it doesn't seem like it. It feels like the movie should have been about 30 minutes to an hour longer to tie everything together. There are, however, some really neat ideas in the movie (air glider, fox squirrel, etc.) and hearing Patrick Stewart and Edward J. Olmos do voices for it is a treat.
Gross Factor: 2 - Lots of bugs and buggy things. If you don't like creepy crawlies, you'd probably bump that score up.
If you've seen them, I'd love your feedback! If there's something I should reconsider in my review/evaluation, bring it up!
Here are the movies I watched ranked in order (from favorite to least) along with a mini-review of each along with a Gross Factor Rating. Either Miyazaki likes to include gross stuff or the animators like animating it. 1=not gross; 5=completely disgusting.
Ponyo is sadly missing because I haven't seen it yet. I'll revise the list when I've given it a fair shake.
My Neighbor Totoro
Notable Voices - Disney adaptation
Dakota Fanning
Elle Fanning
Timothy Daly (Wings, voice of Superman on Superman Adventures)
Pat Carroll (Ursula from Little Mermad)
Frank Welker - Disney loves him
Thoughts
I love Totoro. One of my good friends in High School took Japanese and showed me just a portion of the movie with subtitles and I absolutely fell in love. It sprang to mind again recently. I've probably seen it 3 times in the last month thanks to my lovely wife who bought the newest DVD for me. Watched on iPod, watched online, watched with the kids. Wonderfully whimsical, beautiful scenery, great animation. Definitely makes me want to visit the Japan featured in the movie. I've shown it to my oldest two but not the youngest two because I didn't want to have to explain so much.
Gross Factor: 1 - Nothing to comment on here. There's just nothing icky in the movie.
Spirited Away
Notable Voices
John Ratzenberger
Suzanne Pleshette (I didn't recognize her voice, but some people will)
David Ogden Stiers
Michael Chiklis
Paul Eiding (does cartoon voices and was the narrator in Diablo II)
Thoughts
My brother will be surprised to see Princess Mononoke moved to 3rd Place after this movie. I was equally surprised! Another friend said how much she loved this movie and I thought I probably didn't give it a fair enough chance so I watched it twice in one week to give it fair viewing time with the others. There's no doubt this film has some weird parts, but I love the representation of the spirit world. Some gross parts in it (seems like the animators like animating mud/slime/muck), but not horrendous. The main character Chihiro goes from very annoying child to more experienced and reasonable young lady. Love the character change. I would show it to my 13 year old but not my 10 year old.
Gross Factor: 3 - One of the characters vomits a lot when given a cure for his illness. It's black/brown and oozy, but no details like what's actually in it. A "stink spirit" oozes it's way into the bathhouse and Chihiro pulls a bunch of trash out of him to make sure he's really clean.
Princess Mononoke
Notable Voices
Gillian Anderson
Billy Bob Thornton
Keith David - Goliath form Gargoyles
Minnie Driver
Billy Crudup
Thoughts
Of all the movies I watched, I think this one is probably the grossest visually. You have slimy blood spirit/demon/snake things, creatures vomitting blood, heads decapitated, arms cut off, etc. It's definitely NOT a movie for children. Still visually stunning, the story is very good. Like many Japanese stories I've seen, the bad guys are hard to decipher. There is no one bad guy or bad organization. The real enemy in this movie is hate, anger, and greed. It's an enjoyable movie and I love the concept of the hero with his elk-riding righteousness. It's just not as enjoyable to me as Totoro or Spirited Away. It gets a bit too preachy for me and the voice acting isn't as good in my opinion.
Gross Factor: 5 - the entire movie is not completely disgusting. There's just more gore/grossness than in the other flicks...and a lot of it is really gross.
Howl's Moving Castle
Notable Voices
Christian Bale
Billy Crystal
Lauren Bacall
Thoughts
I actually watched this one last. The voice acting in the dubbed version is excellent. The story is a bit confusing and has some of the darkest themes from any of the movies. There is a fire demon named Calcipher. Clever name, but awfully reminiscent of Lucipher and whether it's supposed to be a representation of Satan or not, I find the link a bit too close for comfort. However, Billy Crystal's voice acting for the character is fantastic. I don't like that the heroin tries so hard to keep the demon alive even after she's discovered the connection between the demon and Howl. The visuals are very victorian/european vs. Japanese and I enjoyed the take on magic and some of the ideas. For example, Howl's Castle can be in four places at once. It has an actual location (and has to move often), but then three other locations that it appears in magically in the three towns in the film. I rated this one lower down because I didn't like some of the events/themes (demons are supposed to be defeated, not saved), but visually it's very impressive and overall a fun movie.
Gross Factor: 2 - character covered in the goo of depression.
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Notable Voices
Patrick Stewart
Edward James Olmos
Uma Thurman
Shia LeBeouf
Frank Welker
Thoughts
This movie is some wacky, wacky stuff. The gross stuff in the movie largely has to do with bugs. If you're not a fan of bugs, you probably wouldn't enjoy the movie at all. It's set in a future where a spore jungle has covered most of the earth and there is a delicate balance between the poisonous spores, the bugs that roam the world, and the humans. The story is VERY confusing. I kept thinking I was missing something, but in reviewing other descriptions/summaries it doesn't seem like it. It feels like the movie should have been about 30 minutes to an hour longer to tie everything together. There are, however, some really neat ideas in the movie (air glider, fox squirrel, etc.) and hearing Patrick Stewart and Edward J. Olmos do voices for it is a treat.
Gross Factor: 2 - Lots of bugs and buggy things. If you don't like creepy crawlies, you'd probably bump that score up.
If you've seen them, I'd love your feedback! If there's something I should reconsider in my review/evaluation, bring it up!