(no subject)
Well guys, I finally saw Spirited Away.
And I loved it.
~~~~Spoilers ahoy. If you really care that much, don't read it.~~~
I began watching the movie with a feeling of distrust towards it. It was, after all, funded by Disney. All that I'd been told about the film was that it was a story about a whiny brat named Chihiro whose parents are turned into pigs when they enter a strange magical world where they eat the welcoming feast of the gods. Chohiro must then work for the Mistress of the hotel named Yu-Baaba and free her parents.
Not too fascinating, eh? I thought it sounded a little childish and whimsical. But it was written and directed by my good friend Mayao Miyazaki, the author and director of Princess Mononoke, my favourite anime of all time.
I though that if Spirited Away was even half as good as Princess Mononoke then I'd love it.
I'm happy to say that it was more than half as good, in fact it almost RIVALS Princess Mononoke as my all time favourite. That was not easy to say.
All the way through I was trying to find things wrong with it, I did not want it to be better then Mononoke and this made me biased towards Spirited Away.
I think that Spirited Away had a few annoying bits that keeps it on par, or just below, Princess Mononoke.
Once of these was the tears Chihiro wept when eating the pastries with Haku. They looked Disney and horrible. :P
I realise Miyazaki did this to exaggerate the fact that Chihiro was in a different world and all, but I still disapprove.
There were other niggling little things I did not like about the film, but I don't want to list them here.
I think that, while the character of Haku had little depth, he still felt strong. He looked a little bit like Ashitaka, which doesn't really surprise me too much. He had a curse inside him too, like Ashitaka.
The opening was slow and a little weird and all through the film I did not know whether Yu-Baaba was supposed to be evil or not. I decided she is not. Eventually.
The thing that REALLY annoyed me was the one parallel with Princess Mononoke that I DID NOT want to see.
See, I'm a great believer in doing happy endings RIGHT. If people fall in love during a film, two things can happen at the end:
1) They stay together and live an love happily ever after together. This is always a great way to end a film, as long as it's not too bleugh about it. No long speeches about love please, unless it is adressed to anyone over the age of 14. You know what I mean, I'm talking to YOU Disney.
2) They don't stay together. One of them has to live somewhere else, or one of them dies. While it's not as "feel good" as number 1, it can be a good story telling and character building device. A lot of emotion can be portrayed by characters during the death of a loved one, during their own deaths, or during a goodbye speech.
An almost certain tear-jerker, I find.
These are my 2 possiblities. Unfortunately Miyazaki had other plans. He had a secret option 3. Read on.
3) The couple do love each other, they both know it and have both expressed it to one another during the course of the film. They don't want to live together. They will live in completely separate places and "promise to visit one another". At the end of Princess Mononoke Ashitaka lives in Iron Town and helps rebuild it, San lives with her dead "mother's" two wolf children in the forest. I shan't tell you what happens in Spirited Away, but I'm sure you can guess.
This is a load of crap. "So long, thanks for everything, I'll see you around. Maybe."
I would have been far happier if Ashitaka and San lived together, in the forest or Iron Town, whichever.
Unfortunately I feel this cramped the emotion near the end of both of the films and left me unsatisfied.
Overall though, I loved the film. 5 stars.
And I loved it.
~~~~Spoilers ahoy. If you really care that much, don't read it.~~~
I began watching the movie with a feeling of distrust towards it. It was, after all, funded by Disney. All that I'd been told about the film was that it was a story about a whiny brat named Chihiro whose parents are turned into pigs when they enter a strange magical world where they eat the welcoming feast of the gods. Chohiro must then work for the Mistress of the hotel named Yu-Baaba and free her parents.
Not too fascinating, eh? I thought it sounded a little childish and whimsical. But it was written and directed by my good friend Mayao Miyazaki, the author and director of Princess Mononoke, my favourite anime of all time.
I though that if Spirited Away was even half as good as Princess Mononoke then I'd love it.
I'm happy to say that it was more than half as good, in fact it almost RIVALS Princess Mononoke as my all time favourite. That was not easy to say.
All the way through I was trying to find things wrong with it, I did not want it to be better then Mononoke and this made me biased towards Spirited Away.
I think that Spirited Away had a few annoying bits that keeps it on par, or just below, Princess Mononoke.
Once of these was the tears Chihiro wept when eating the pastries with Haku. They looked Disney and horrible. :P
I realise Miyazaki did this to exaggerate the fact that Chihiro was in a different world and all, but I still disapprove.
There were other niggling little things I did not like about the film, but I don't want to list them here.
I think that, while the character of Haku had little depth, he still felt strong. He looked a little bit like Ashitaka, which doesn't really surprise me too much. He had a curse inside him too, like Ashitaka.
The opening was slow and a little weird and all through the film I did not know whether Yu-Baaba was supposed to be evil or not. I decided she is not. Eventually.
The thing that REALLY annoyed me was the one parallel with Princess Mononoke that I DID NOT want to see.
See, I'm a great believer in doing happy endings RIGHT. If people fall in love during a film, two things can happen at the end:
1) They stay together and live an love happily ever after together. This is always a great way to end a film, as long as it's not too bleugh about it. No long speeches about love please, unless it is adressed to anyone over the age of 14. You know what I mean, I'm talking to YOU Disney.
2) They don't stay together. One of them has to live somewhere else, or one of them dies. While it's not as "feel good" as number 1, it can be a good story telling and character building device. A lot of emotion can be portrayed by characters during the death of a loved one, during their own deaths, or during a goodbye speech.
An almost certain tear-jerker, I find.
These are my 2 possiblities. Unfortunately Miyazaki had other plans. He had a secret option 3. Read on.
3) The couple do love each other, they both know it and have both expressed it to one another during the course of the film. They don't want to live together. They will live in completely separate places and "promise to visit one another". At the end of Princess Mononoke Ashitaka lives in Iron Town and helps rebuild it, San lives with her dead "mother's" two wolf children in the forest. I shan't tell you what happens in Spirited Away, but I'm sure you can guess.
This is a load of crap. "So long, thanks for everything, I'll see you around. Maybe."
I would have been far happier if Ashitaka and San lived together, in the forest or Iron Town, whichever.
Unfortunately I feel this cramped the emotion near the end of both of the films and left me unsatisfied.
Overall though, I loved the film. 5 stars.