Studio Ghibli

Setun

What are yer fave studio ghibli films?? I've seen a few of the classic miyazaki's (Spirited Away, Totoro, Nausicaa, Howl's etc.), just wondering what others will suitably suspend disbelief and fling me into a surreal anima-fantasy.

quon

Grave of the Fireflies.

That and Mononoke are, in my opinion, their best.

johnny_ultimate

I idolise these folk. Still havent got around to watching all of their catalogue but Im a huge fan of Totoro and Spirited Away. Mononoke, Naricussa, and Lupin were all wonderful too. Howl was a little bit of a disapointment imo (still very good though), but I didnt like Porco Rosso at all at all.

Raziel

quon wrote:

Grave of the Fireflies.

That and Mononoke are, in my opinion, their best.

I agree on both counts, although I haven't seen that many Ghibli movies. I bought Whisper Of The Heart, The Cat Returns and Howl's Moving Castle recently, although I haven't watched any of them yet. Spirited Away is also very good, and My Neighbour Totoro, while unquestionably aimed squarely at a younger audience, really deserves to be called magical!

tman

quon wrote:

Grave of the Fireflies.

That and Mononoke are, in my opinion, their best.

Mononoke is definitely my fave.
Grave of the fireflies is on the way to me from play.com at the moment (I tried watching the dubbed version before which almost ruined the film for me)

Setun

Yeah I've seen most of teh ones mentioned already, they're all fantastic experiences to watch. Grave of the Fireflies is great, am enjoying Nausicaa at the moment.

Here's a full movie list of Ghibli work: http://www.onlineghibli.com/films.php
There's a few random movs there I haven't seen yet.

monkeyfudge

Raziel wrote:

I bought Whisper Of The Heart, The Cat Returns and Howl's Moving Castle recently, although I haven't watched any of them yet.

I liked Whisper of the Heart a lot, but it's nothing like their other films really as there are no fantasy elements. It's just a simple romance story about a teenage girl.

I'd definitely recommend Pom Poko to everyone though... it has a huge amount of animation in it.

Their latest film, Tales From Earthsea, has been getting very bad reviews apparently and it may not be released over here for years due to a problem with the Earthsea rights.

Retr0gamer

Grave of the Fireflies for me and closely followed by Princess Mononoke. Don't think a film has ever moved me like Grave of the Fireflies.

WellyJ

Laputa: Castle in the Sky,

Amazing

ZOMO

Daddio wrote:

What are yer fave studio ghibli films?? I've seen a few of the classic miyazaki's (Spirited Away, Totoro, Nausicaa, Howl's etc.), just wondering what others will suitably suspend disbelief and fling me into a surreal anima-fantasy.

I love old Miyazaki's movie "Animal Treasure Island" (Doubutsu Takarajima)

http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/otherfilms/#animal

it was my first connection with Master's works years ago, and even if I can't remember much of it, it made a big impression on me and that I loved animation. Lately I got that movie on DVD and it is diamond in my Miyazaki's collection.

Second one is, of course, Nausica. With fantastic music and magical story, it was first step to fabulous manga (komix), one of my favourite read ever.

quon

monkeyfudge wrote:

I liked Whisper of the Heart a lot... It's just a simple romance story about a teenage girl.

'Only Yesterday' reminded me of that film. It had the same sort of simplicity and pacing. I thought it was really good.

K.O.Kiki

I actually enjoyed the English dub of Porco Rosso. That & the scenario, as well as some of the plane designs.

Princess Mononoke is still in my top-5 films of all time, though -- absolute must-see.

johnny_ultimate

Watched GotF the other day and must say it is indeed very good, if not quite as good as some had hyped it up to be though. Easily one of the most moving films ive ever seen though (Bambi, eat your heart out).
Bought Kiki and Laputa the other day. Havent got around to watching them yet, but am very much looking forward to Kiki's - perhaps its just the fact it seems kinda simple and childish (in the best possible way) like Totoro ( a film which I have a heavy bias towards)

Waltons

Unfortunately only seen Spirited Away and Howl's thus far. Have heard a lot of good things about Mononoke though, and I hope to see that soon!

monkeyfudge

johnny_ultimate wrote:

Havent got around to watching them yet, but am very much looking forward to Kiki's -

Careful not to watch the English dub. Phil Hartman did a horrible job with the voice of the cat.. and they also stuck in horrible teeny bopper music as well.

sokitume san

I love Anime, esp Studio Ghibli - the stories are so original !


Grave of the Fireflies is so sad...It was probably the best one I've seen for its emotional pull.

If you are looking to see something really funny - watch Pom Poko - its about these Racoons in Tokyo who want to protect their habitat from humans building on it so they have a very interesting way of combatting it....just watch out for their testicles!...They use them for all manners of things in this cartoon - I am wondering am I not getting why they use them because of a cultural thing?!

I'd also reccommend The Cat Returns...

And Yes - don't watch them in English - a lot of them have got really good actors doing the voices but its just not as good as the original Japanese !

monkeyfudge

That's because they're not actually racoons, that just a lazy translation.

They are actually called Tanuki and are mythical creatures from japanese folklore.

I think Pom Poko atually got an R rating in the US because of the testicles though.

Lemming

WellyJ wrote:

Laputa: Castle in the Sky,

Amazing

The first Giblhi (and 'anime' film) that I ever saw, unbeknown to myself. And I was spell-bound. I saw half of it by change one christmas whilst in Scotland with relatives when I was about 11/12 and thought "wow! Wtf is that?!!" I hadn't seen the film since then until a few months ago when I managed to get the DVD release, and I could still remember it like it was yesterday up until that point.

Amazing film with an even better point about morality that is, coincidentally, quite poignant and apt today with everything going on around the world.

Grave of the fireflies is another film I'd recommend to anyone. For want of a better term, this is a 'beautiful' film. Both absolutely harrowing and tragic yet beautiful at the same time.

And of course, Princess Mononoke.

sokitume san

monkeyfudge wrote:

That's because they're not actually racoons, that just a lazy translation.

They are actually called Tanuki and are mythical creatures from japanese folklore.

Ah that makes more sense now - cheers for that

monkeyfudge

They also refer to the testicles as pouches in the traslation... Why exactly are we protecting kids from testicles anyway? There's going to be a generation of kids now thinking that there balls can act as a pouch... that's just not right.

sokitume san

monkeyfudge wrote:

They also refer to the testicles as pouches in the traslation

In the version I have, they are translated as testicles...it does have me wondering now though will kids try and mimic what they see in this ha ha...

I'm also wondering who are the main audience for anime - most people I know who watch it are in their 20s - 30s, don't know of any kids who watch it - apart from the stuff dubbed in english that they show on tv...

monkeyfudge

sokitume san wrote:

I'm also wondering who are the main audience for anime - most people I know who watch it are in their 20s - 30s, don't know of any kids who watch it - apart from the stuff dubbed in english that they show on tv...

Well in Japan everything comes in anime format... there are even cookery shows. So it has universal appeal over there.

But over here I'd say you'll have all the people like me who got into anime in their teens when it first hit big in the UK and Ireland in the 90's and have stuck with it and still watch it now in their 20's. And the I think it's constantly appealing new generations of teenagers now.

While kids will get started with anime that has been heavily localised such as Dragonball, Naruto and so on. I've already got my 9 year old nephew well trained to watch all his anime with the original soundtrack and subtitles.

sokitume san

monkeyfudge wrote:

I've already got my 9 year old nephew well trained to watch all his anime with the original soundtrack and subtitles.

yeah its the only way to appreciate it I think...Its great to see kids into animation that really has some depth - a lot of the cartoons out today just dont measure with the ones we had as kids...

Yeah they love their anime in Japan - I read an article where a woman went around Japan writing about the sex industry - she said in some of the "love hotels", girls dress up in anime costumes as there is a big demand for it...strange perhaps...

I love the horusuku (spelling?) street style too...such an interesting culture...

johnny_ultimate

Have now watched Laputa and Kiki.
Laputa was absolutely stunning. Easily one of the strongest Ghibli works. A slow start, but when it kicks off, it's pretty jaw dropping.
Kikis was good as well - a nice relaxing film in which nothing much happened but was enjoyable and wonderfully drawn throughout. Alas, Monkeyfudge, I failed to read your warning about the dub. I switched to the dub version about a third through, luckily around when that bloomin cat stopped talking, and didnt find the dub too bad at all. Not great mind, but passable.

Raziel

Watched Whisper Of The Heart yesterday, and was surprized at how good it was!

monkeyfudge

The song 'Country Road' will never be corny again once you see that film.

Raziel

Heh, I actually like that song!

Gauge

Love the studio Ghibli stuff I was in Chinatown in San Francisco last summer and found a shop full of Totoro-related toys, teddies, and random things...

I am STILL kicking myself for not buying anything

johnny_ultimate

Gauge wrote:

Love the studio Ghibli stuff I was in Chinatown in San Francisco last summer and found a shop full of Totoro-related toys, teddies, and random things...

I am STILL kicking myself for not buying anything

Ive always wanted a little Totoro. I saw the director on the Save the Green Planet DVD had one, and it knocked him up numerous points in my book

psicic

Grave of the Fireflies is a fantastic, beautiful film. Ranks as one of my top film picks period. I'm horrified to hear previous poster saying there's a dubbed version - that's just plain wrong.

My Neighbour Totoro is just a fantastic piece of fantasy. I actually felt a little guilty watching it the first time I saw it because it revels so much in the atmosphere of childish wonderment that I thought "I'm way too old to be watching this." Happily, I dispelled such notions half way through the film and now appreciate it for being able to evoke such a strong feeling - almost nostalgia - for the depiction of childhood in that movie.

Spirited Away - always loved this movie. When I got to go see it last year in the IFI in Templebar on the big screen last year I was completely blown away. The extra dimension added to the movie by seeing it on a big screen was unbelievable. I wish the IFI would run a 'proper' anime season of subbed Ghibli movies and that students on certain courses in college would be encouraged to go see them. It rekindled my sister's interest in anime.

Steer clear of Howl's Moving Castle. It's not a stinker or anything, but the story is very Americanised 'Plot point A-Plot point B-Plot point C' type of deal and it proceeds through an average story in a workman-like fashion. Every time someone mentions this movie to me, I always tell them the (boring) story that, when it was coming out in theatres, they started touting how fantastic all the animation was because it was computer-based. The proof of this that would wow audiences? The fact they could fit so many fluttering flags into the background in town scenes. Rubbish. Ghibli has used computers before, but talking about flags shows you how little there was of merit in the movie.

And I'll stop this post here because I'm fairly certain I'm starting to repeat the same thing I've posted in this forum at least twice before. :rolleyes:

(But need to add that I agree Nausicaa is a great sci-fi flick etc....)

Catari Jaguar

psicic wrote:

Steer clear of Howl's Moving Castle. It's not a stinker or anything, but the story is very Americanised 'Plot point A-Plot point B-Plot point C' type of deal and it proceeds through an average story in a workman-like fashion. Every time someone mentions this movie to me, I always tell them the (boring) story that, when it was coming out in theatres, they started touting how fantastic all the animation was because it was computer-based. The proof of this that would wow audiences? The fact they could fit so many fluttering flags into the background in town scenes. Rubbish. Ghibli has used computers before, but talking about flags shows you how little there was of merit in the movie.

Howl is based on a book by British author, Diana Wynne Jones but the characters were changed personality wise. The story's not bad, true it's different to a normal Miyazaki film (it's kinda predictable) but it still has his stamp on it. The characters like Calcifer and old Sophie are so likeable and charming they really carry the film. And the only American influence is that Miyazaki based all the war scenes on his personal hatred of the American invasion on Iraq.

The animation is impressive because of the vivid colours they use, like in that scene where Calcifer transforms the house. Its all hand drawn but colour is digitally added, just like in Princess Mononoke.

My Neighbour Totoro would be my favourite, followed by Howl and then Laputa.