Totoro and Laputa
For quite a long time I felt guilty because I haven't seen much of "Miyazaki's classic anime". In fact, the only two movies I could mention for quite a long time were Mononoke-Hime and Howl's Moving Castle. Now I can add My Neighbour Totoro and Laputa: Castle in the Sky to the list. And I still think Miyazaki's works are over-rated.
They are good, but not as brilliant as many people tend to describe them. Some might be interesting for children (Totoro), but others' target audience is absolutely unclear. Laputa is too "childish" for adults (main characters are kids, pirates are amusing, everything looks like a video game), but at the same time it's not for children as well (there are few violent scenes, people die, the Dream Castle turned to be sort of an Atlantis destroyed by its own people's desire to rule the world).
Totoro, as I mentioned before, is a good movie for kids. It's weird, but quite educational. In a weird way. :) The Catbus (not sure if it's a correct spelling) is my favourite "character". Describing the story is quite pointless as it's all about two girls interacting with forest spirits.
Laputa is much better storywise, but I felt pretty uncomfortable during the entire movie as it looked as a visualisation of my nightmares. I hate unstable constructions, and everything in that anime is unstable. Despite that, I liked the "age of steam" technology.
A young girl, Sheeta, is hunted by military and air pirates because she has a small pendant made of a very unique stone that can show the way to the legendary flying island, Laputa. A boy, Pazu, helps her to hide, and then to get to Laputa. Military turns to be bad guys, while pirates, despite being constantly hungry for treasures, are not evil. I guess this teaches us that things may be not what they seem to be at first sight. When, after long adventures our heroes get to Laputa, they see that all people are dead, and only one robot takes care of the huge garden (or forest). A great civilisation killed itself. After a long fight with the military (two kids against an army, no less), they destroy the weapon part of the island and set the garden part free. Everyone's happy.
All in all, I wasn't impressed. Those are nice movies, but not as fantastic as many people say.
They are good, but not as brilliant as many people tend to describe them. Some might be interesting for children (Totoro), but others' target audience is absolutely unclear. Laputa is too "childish" for adults (main characters are kids, pirates are amusing, everything looks like a video game), but at the same time it's not for children as well (there are few violent scenes, people die, the Dream Castle turned to be sort of an Atlantis destroyed by its own people's desire to rule the world).
Totoro, as I mentioned before, is a good movie for kids. It's weird, but quite educational. In a weird way. :) The Catbus (not sure if it's a correct spelling) is my favourite "character". Describing the story is quite pointless as it's all about two girls interacting with forest spirits.
Laputa is much better storywise, but I felt pretty uncomfortable during the entire movie as it looked as a visualisation of my nightmares. I hate unstable constructions, and everything in that anime is unstable. Despite that, I liked the "age of steam" technology.
A young girl, Sheeta, is hunted by military and air pirates because she has a small pendant made of a very unique stone that can show the way to the legendary flying island, Laputa. A boy, Pazu, helps her to hide, and then to get to Laputa. Military turns to be bad guys, while pirates, despite being constantly hungry for treasures, are not evil. I guess this teaches us that things may be not what they seem to be at first sight. When, after long adventures our heroes get to Laputa, they see that all people are dead, and only one robot takes care of the huge garden (or forest). A great civilisation killed itself. After a long fight with the military (two kids against an army, no less), they destroy the weapon part of the island and set the garden part free. Everyone's happy.
All in all, I wasn't impressed. Those are nice movies, but not as fantastic as many people say.