The Studio Ghibli Thread
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Szlia
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Are they still making movies? They co-produced a feature film made by a dutch director with some artistic supervision from Takahata called The Red Turtle.
It's about a man shipwrecked on a tiny island. I would embed a trailer, but frankly 80% of the film is in it!
I saw it with a friend a few weeks back. He really enjoyed it, me, not so much. I find the film to be visually extremely elegant with some moments of film making brilliance, but the plot is terribad as it only moves with deus ex machina and makes very little sense as far as character motivations go. On top of that, they made the stylistic choice to have no spoken dialogue, but it is extremely artificial and, again, makes no sense. Poetic license and all that, but, as far as I am concerned, poetry is not about pretty things that make no sense accompanied with sappy music.
It's about a man shipwrecked on a tiny island. I would embed a trailer, but frankly 80% of the film is in it!
I saw it with a friend a few weeks back. He really enjoyed it, me, not so much. I find the film to be visually extremely elegant with some moments of film making brilliance, but the plot is terribad as it only moves with deus ex machina and makes very little sense as far as character motivations go. On top of that, they made the stylistic choice to have no spoken dialogue, but it is extremely artificial and, again, makes no sense. Poetic license and all that, but, as far as I am concerned, poetry is not about pretty things that make no sense accompanied with sappy music.
khorum
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Miyazaki got self-indulgent in his dotage. Not to mention pedantic and a little bitchy.
My favorite Ghibli movies have actually been by Isao Takahata, who made two of the saddest fucking things I have ever seen, A Dog of Flanders and Grave of the Fireflies.
If you haven't seen those, do it and come back and tell us if you feel the same way about Ghibli.
Frankly I was kinda glad Miyazaki was retiring.
My favorite Ghibli movies have actually been by Isao Takahata, who made two of the saddest fucking things I have ever seen, A Dog of Flanders and Grave of the Fireflies.
If you haven't seen those, do it and come back and tell us if you feel the same way about Ghibli.
Frankly I was kinda glad Miyazaki was retiring.
Szlia
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Curious about Dog of Flanders I looked it up and it should be said that the sum total of Isao Takahata's contribution to the 1975 animated serie is the storyboard of one of the episode!
Tanoomba
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Spirited Away is a great movie. Character development done very right, as far as I'm concerned.
My Neighbor Totoro was also excellent, although the theme of children using imagination to cope with uncertainty seemed to clash with scenarios that could only presumably occur if the titular character actually existed. Maybe I'm overthinking it.
I really loved Howl's Moving Castle, not so much for the story (which was meh) but for the stunning visuals and great soundtrack.
I enjoyed Princess Mononoke, Nausicaa and Pom Poko, but they all got a little too dark for my tastes.
Porco Rosso was a LOT of fun and has some great characters. Very re-watchable.
Laputa was good but a little too serious for my liking, despite the very charming gang of criminals led by their mom.
The last one I saw was When Marnie Was There, which very much pulls on the heartstrings, if you like that sort of thing.
My Neighbor Totoro was also excellent, although the theme of children using imagination to cope with uncertainty seemed to clash with scenarios that could only presumably occur if the titular character actually existed. Maybe I'm overthinking it.
I really loved Howl's Moving Castle, not so much for the story (which was meh) but for the stunning visuals and great soundtrack.
I enjoyed Princess Mononoke, Nausicaa and Pom Poko, but they all got a little too dark for my tastes.
Porco Rosso was a LOT of fun and has some great characters. Very re-watchable.
Laputa was good but a little too serious for my liking, despite the very charming gang of criminals led by their mom.
The last one I saw was When Marnie Was There, which very much pulls on the heartstrings, if you like that sort of thing.
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Szlia
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As a terrible contrarian I would say that my two favorite Ghibli movies are My Neighbors The Yamadas directed by Takahata (slice of life comedy based on a comic strip) and From Up On Poppy Hill directed by Goro Miyazaki (a movie about the energy of youth and the lasting damages of war, adapted from a manga).
Lanx
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It's cuz of Grave of Fireflies I've been giving Ghibli a chance for over 20 years. I wouldn't have said i don't' like any Ghibli movie otherwise.
Rezz
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I really enjoyed Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle.
To a lesser extent, I liked Kiki's Delivery Service and My Neighbor Totoro.
Really I thoroughly enjoy the art style. To me it is the flip side of the coin that is the Project A-Ko "anime" look, and they both remind me of my childhood. You guys intentionally watching Grave of the Fireflies even -one- more time after a first viewing are a special kind of BDSM freak, in my opinion. I watched it and Plague Dogs over the same weekend in my teens in the 90s. Nope and nope.
To a lesser extent, I liked Kiki's Delivery Service and My Neighbor Totoro.
Really I thoroughly enjoy the art style. To me it is the flip side of the coin that is the Project A-Ko "anime" look, and they both remind me of my childhood. You guys intentionally watching Grave of the Fireflies even -one- more time after a first viewing are a special kind of BDSM freak, in my opinion. I watched it and Plague Dogs over the same weekend in my teens in the 90s. Nope and nope.
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cyrusreij
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Mononoke, Naussica, The Cat Returns and Spirited Away are probably my favorites. Howl's and Arrietty have beautiful visuals as well.
The Wind Rises should have been really great, and I was interested about the story of the inventor of the Zero, but it overly dramatized (and fictionalized) his personal life. It was weird, it took some of the classic Ghibli fancifulness, and then grounded it with real people who existed. Not the greatest combination.
Hated Grave of the FIreflies, and not because of the story. I knew the story going in and I honestly could not wait for the sister to die. She was incredibly grating and annoying.
Totoro was cute, and I love Catbus, but there was no story or conflict, so pretty much just a kid's movie, and I didn't see it until I was 25 so I couldn't really form any attachment to it.
The Wind Rises should have been really great, and I was interested about the story of the inventor of the Zero, but it overly dramatized (and fictionalized) his personal life. It was weird, it took some of the classic Ghibli fancifulness, and then grounded it with real people who existed. Not the greatest combination.
Hated Grave of the FIreflies, and not because of the story. I knew the story going in and I honestly could not wait for the sister to die. She was incredibly grating and annoying.
Totoro was cute, and I love Catbus, but there was no story or conflict, so pretty much just a kid's movie, and I didn't see it until I was 25 so I couldn't really form any attachment to it.
khorum
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Well give Poppy Hill, Yamadas and Princess Kaguya a try. I think a lot of people conflate Studio Ghibli with Miyazaki but some of Ghibli's best work was by Takahata.
I do tend to agree that Miyazaki's impact on Studio Ghibli's style and voice is what just about everyone loves about them. Everyone can look at one screenshot of Ni No Kuni and know exactly what the game was bound to feel like.
Sludig
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Also was excited for wind rises, then it .... was what it was. Overly slow, boring, random made up stuff, and very little on the actual process and making of the planes. I guess I shouldnt have been expecting something close to a old before Ancient Aliens history channel program.
First got familiar with any of it w/ Mononoke, which some of yall say is dark, but I like that far more than some of the overly bouncy happy stuff. I mean spirited away and howl's both had a little hint of creepy and dark though were more outright rosy overall.
First got familiar with any of it w/ Mononoke, which some of yall say is dark, but I like that far more than some of the overly bouncy happy stuff. I mean spirited away and howl's both had a little hint of creepy and dark though were more outright rosy overall.
cyrusreij
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I was introduced to Miyazaki and anime in general by seeing Princess Mononoke on HBO god knows how long ago. I was blown away at what modern, skilled Japanese animation (at the time) was capable of, after watching years of American cartoons growing up. One of my Top 5 movies of any genre. I have always enjoyed Miyazaki's man versus nature theme he puts in his movies, Mononoke and Naussica are really the pinnacle of that theme in his works.