Review: "LAPUTA: CASTLE IN THE SKY" is in the Sky with Diamonds

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 41 of 2023 (No. 1930) by Leroy Douresseaux

Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986)

Tenkū no Shiro Rapyuta – original Japanese title

Running time:  125 minutes (2 hours, 5 minutes)

MPAA – PG

DIRECTOR:  Hayao Miyazaki

WRITER:  Hayao Miyazaki

PRODUCER:  Isao Takahata

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Hirokata Takahashi

EDITORS:  Hayao Miyazaki, Yoshihiro Kasahara, and Takeshi Seyama

COMPOSER:  Joe Hisaishi

ANIMATION/FANTASY and ACTION/ADVENTURE

Starring:  (voices) Mayumi Tanaka, Keiko Yokozawa, Kotoe Hatsui, Minori Terada, Fujio Tokita, Ichiro Nagai, and Hiroshi Ito

Laputa: Castle in the Sky is a 1986 Japanese animated, action-adventure fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki.  Laputa is also the first film fully produced by the Japanese animation studio, Studio Ghibli.  In North America, the film is known simply as Castle in the Sky, the title by which I will refer to it in this review.  Castle in the Sky follows the adventures of a young boy and girl who must race against time, pirates, and foreign agents in a bid to find a legendary island that floats in the sky.

Castle in the Sky opens on an airship.  Aboard the aircraft is a young girl, Sheeta (Mayumi Tanaka), an orphan girl abducted by the government agent, Colonel Muska (Minori Terada).  The airship is attacked by Captain Dola (Kotoe Hatsui) and her gang, “the Dola Pirates” (all of whom are apparently her sons).  Dola is seeking Sheeta's necklace, which holds a small orb made of pure “etherium” crystal.  Attempting to escape, Sheeta falls from the airship, but is saved by the magic of etherium in the now-glowing crystal, which lowers her slowly to the ground.

On the ground, Sheeta is caught by a young boy, Pazu (Keiko Yokozawa).  Soon, Pazu is on a mission to protect Sheeta from both Dola and Muska.  Pazu and Sheeta's goal is to reach the mythical flying island, “Laputa,” which is connected to both children's past, but in different ways.  The mystery of Laputa is what exactly is it – a paradise, a treasure trove, or something dangerous.

I have previously reviewed the following Miyazaki-directed films:  The Castle of Cagliostro (1979), Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001), Howl's Moving Castle (2004), Ponyo (2008), and The Wind Rises (2013).  As Netflix is shutting down its DVD-by-mail division, I am hoping to get to the Miyazaki films that I have not previously watched.  This is the first time I've watched Castle in the Sky.

For me, the most wonderful thing about Castle in the Sky is that it is steeped in Hayao Miyazaki's affinity for flight, a theme that dominates many of his films.  He fills this film with wonderful flying contraptions, such as the government's flying fortress, “Goliath,” and the Dola pirates' airship, “Tiger Moth.”  Even the robots of Laputa can become wonderful flying machines.  As with many of Miyazaki's films, Castle in the Sky is breathtaking, visually stunning, and mind-blowing, especially when the narrative takes to the air.

One of the film's most dominant themes is the innocence of children, as seen through the eyes of Pazu and Sheeta.  That shows in the two characters' resilience and determination in the face of constant turmoil and ceaseless obstacles.  Their relationship is the counterbalance to the film's darker elements, especially its focus on on humanity's relationship with nature and with technology.  Most of the film displays technology in harmony with nature, taking place in a fantasy version of the nineteenth century.  There is a “retro-future” aesthetic that finds a balance between mankind's technological creations and the natural world at large.  Castle in the Sky would go on to have a strong influence on the then emerging science fiction sub-genre known as “steampunk.”

I believe that if you, dear readers, have never seen a Miyazaki film, the first one you watch will validate the great things you may have heard about him.  When you see your second Miyazaki, you will certainly become a true believer.  Castle in the Sky is the kind of animated film that will make just about any movie fan a true believer in Hayao Miyazaki.  It is one of the greatest adventure films ever made, and one of the greatest animated films of all time.  Castle in the Sky mixes vivid imagination, eye-popping inventiveness, and stunning beauty in a way only the best animated films do.  Every frame of this film belongs on a wall in a museum.  If it were a Disney animated feature, Disney would call Laputa: Castle in the Sky an instant classic.  It certainly is a classic.

10 of 10

Tuesday, September 5, 2023

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Review: "NAUSICAA IN THE VALLEY OF THE WIND" Soars to the Animation Heavens

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 36 of 2023 (No. 1925) by Leroy Douresseaux

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

Kaze no Tani no Naushika – original Japanese title

Running time:  117 minutes (1 hour, 57 minutes)

MPAA – PG for violence

DIRECTOR:  Hayao Miyazaki

WRITER:  Hayao Miyazaki (based upon the manga by Hayao Miyazaki)

PRODUCER:  Isao Takahata

CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Yasuhiro Shimizu, Koji Shiragami, Yukitomo Shudo, and Mamoru Sugiura

EDITORS: Naoki Kaneko, Tomoko Kida, and Shoji Saka

COMPOSER:  Joe Hisaishi

ANIMATION/FANTASY and ACTION/ADVENTURE

Starring:  (voices) Sumi Shimamoto, Goro Naya, Ichiro Nagai, Hisako Kyoda, Yoji Matsuda, Yoshiko Sakakibara, Iemasa Kayumi, Kohei Miyauchi, Joji Yanami, Minoru Yada, Mina Tominaga, Mahito Tsujimura, and Rihoko Yoshida

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a 1984 Japanese animated, post-apocalyptic, fantasy film from director Hayao Miyazaki.  The film is based on Miyazaki's manga (Japanese comic), also titled Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, which first began publication in 1982.  Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind the movie focuses on a princess who is both warrior and pacifist and her desperate struggles to prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and her homeland.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind opens one thousand years after the event known as “the Seven Days of Fire.”  It was an apocalyptic war that destroyed civilization and caused an ecological collapse, creating something called “the Sea of Decay.”  This is a poisonous forest of fungal life and plants that swarm with giant mutant insects, the largest and most dangerous being the the trilobite-like and armored “Ohm.”  The poison from the plants can kill humans, and every day, the Sea of Decay spreads, encroaching on what little open land remains.

Nausicaä (Sumi Shimamoto) is a teenage warrior and princess of the Valley of the Wind, a land that has remained, thus far, free of the Sea of Decay.  Riding the wind and sky in a powered glider, Nausicaä explores the jungles of the Sea of Decay and communicates with its creatures.  That is how she is reunited with the explorer and great swordsman, Lord Yupa Miralda (Goro Naya), who has returned to meet with Nausicaä's father, Jihl (Mahito Tsujimura), the King of the Valley of the Wind.

But tragedy strikes.  The Valley of the Wind is soon at the epicenter of two warring nations, the Kingdom of Tolmekia and Pejite.  Princess Kushana (Yoshiko Sakakibara) has led the Tolmekian Frontier Forces into the Valley.  Thus, Nausicaä must forge a relationship with Prince Asbel of Pejite (Yoji Matsuda), but there is something worse than two warring nations.  Destruction is headed towards the Valley of the Wind, and it will take all of Nausicaä's talents, skills, and tricks to save her home.

I have previously reviewed the following Miyazaki-directed films:  The Castle of Cagliostro (1979), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001), Howl's Moving Castle (2004), Ponyo (2008), and The Wind Rises (2013).  As Netflix is shutting down its DVD-by-mail division, I am hoping to get to the Miyazaki films that I have not previously watched.

Apparently, the work of the legendary French comic book creator, Jean “Moebius” Giraud (1938-2012), influenced Miyazaki in the creation of his manga, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.  The influence of Moebius remains with Miyazaki's film adaptation of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.  I also see the influence of the famed animation director, Ralph Bakshi, especially of his 1977 fantasy film, Wizards.  J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings novels (1954-55) are clearly influences, and Frank Herbert's famed science fiction novel, Dune (1965), is also an influence.  In fact, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind the film would arrive in theaters almost nine months before the first film adaption of Herbert's novel, director David Lynch's 1984 film, Dune.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a beautifully and practically designed film in the sense that the environments have both a sense of naturalism and realism to them while the insects are fantastical creations that seem more practical than impractical because they are based on real insects.  This makes the world of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind seem like a credible future world or at least genuine post-apocalyptic future.  Yes, Nausicaä's glider is impractical, but the animation gives it such beauty in motion that I believe in it and I believe in the way Nausicaä flies it.

The film's plot and subplots are strongly environmental and ecological and the conflict is a series of familiar tribal tropes.  However, what carries plot and narrative are the inventive and engaging characters.  Every players, regardless of the size of his or her role, is inviting and intriguing.  Yes, Nausicaä is a star born, a heroine out of fairy tale, folklore, and mythology who captures hearts and holds our imaginations captive.  Still, the denizens of the Valley and the feuding and conniving citizens of Tolmekia and Pejite are a delightful bunch, not good and evil, so much as they are selfish, but likable, each in his or her own way.  The legendary Yupa, like Nausicaä, stands as a typical heroic figure, although he stands behind Nausicaä.

A long time ago, I told a fellow Miyazaki fan that Spirited Away was my favorite of the director's films.  He insisted that I see Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.  Now, I'm not so sure which is my favorite.  Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is like no other animated feature film, and I certainly consider it one of the greatest that I have ever seen.

10 of 10

Thursday, August 10, 2023

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Review: Miyazaki's "THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO" is Something Else Entirely

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 34 of 2023 (No. 1923) by Leroy Douresseaux

Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)

Rupan Sansei: Kariosutoro no Shiro – original Japanese title

Running time:  102 minutes

MPAA – not rated

DIRECTOR:  Hayao Miyazaki

WRITERS:  Hayao Miyazaki and Haruya Yamazaki (based upon the manga by Monkey Punch)

PRODUCER:  Tetsuo Katayama

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Hirokata Takahashi

EDITOR: Masatoshi Tsurubuchi

COMPOSER:  Yuji Ohno

ANIMATION/FANTASY/COMEDY and ACTION/ADVENTURE

Starring:  (English voices – Manga Entertainment dub) David Hayter, Bridget Hoffman, Kirk Thornton, Kevin Seymour, John Snyder, Dorothy Elias-Fahn, Milton James, Michael Gregory, Barry Stigler, and Joe Romersa; (Japanese voices) Yasuo Yamada, Eiko Masuyama, Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Makio Inoue, Goro Naya, Sumi Shimamoto and Taro Ishida

Rupan Sansei: Kariosutoro no Shiro or Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro is a 1979 Japanese animated action-adventure and comic-fantasy animated from director Hayao Miyazaki.  An English-language dub of the film was first theatrically released in the U.S. in 1991 under the title, The Castle of Cagliostro, the title that I will use for this review.

The Castle of Cagliostro focuses on a master thief, Lupin III.  The film Lupin is based on the manga character, Lupin the Third, created by late manga artist, Kazuhiko Kato (1937-2019), who is best remembered by his pen name, Monkey Punch.  In the film, a dashing thief struggles to free a princess from an evil count who needs her in order to gain a mysterious treasure.

The Castle of Cagliostro opens in Monaco.  There, Master thief Lupin III (David Hayter) and his partner, Jigen (John Snyder), flee the National Casino with huge quantities of stolen money.  As they will soon learn, however, the stolen bills are actually distinctive, high-quality counterfeits known as “Goat bills.”  Lupin decides to seek out the source of this counterfeit money, the country known as the Duchy of Cagliostro.

Shortly after arriving, Lupin and Jigen see a young woman being chased by armed thugs.  It turns out that she is Lady Clarisse de Cagliostro (Bridget Hoffman), and she is running away from her fiancé, the Count de Cagliostro (Kirk Thornton), the regent of the Duchy of Cagliostro.  The Count has arranged a marriage with Lady Clarisse in order to cement his power. The marriage will also help him recover the fabled ancient treasure of Cagliostro, for which he needs both his and Clarisse's ancestral signet rings.

Lupin is determined to save Clarisse from this arranged marriage.  In addition to his partner Jigen, Lupin calls in the highly-skilled martial artist and swordsman, Goemon (Michael Gregory), and the rival professional thief, Fujiko (Dorothy Elias-Fahn).  Meanwhile, Inspector Zenigata of Interpol (Kevin Seymour) sees Lupin's activities in the Duchy of Cagliostro as a perfect opportunity to catch the thief he has been chasing for so long.  Can Lupin rescue Clarisse? Will Count Cagliostro destroy them both?  And just what is the treasure of Cagliostro?

I have previously reviewed the following Miyazaki-directed films:  My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Princess Monoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001), Howl's Moving Castle (2004), Ponyo (2008), and The Wind Rises (2013).  As Netflix is shutting down its DVD-by-mail division, I am hoping to get to the Miyazaki films that I have not previously watched.

I had heard of The Castle of Cagliostro in connection with Miyazaki, but I had put off seeing it.  I wish I'd seen it earlier, as it is a delightful and maniacal comedy.  The film is not without flaws, as it stretches credulity a bit far, even for a Japanese animated film.  Lupin is not just a master thief; he is also apparently a super-human thief with supernaturally good luck.

Still, I treasure The Castle of Cagliostro's loopiness because Miyazaki and his co-writer Haruya Yamazaki are imaginative when it comes to the comic and action-adventure possibilities of the twists and turns this quasi-mystery takes.  As both designer and storyboard artist, in addition to being director, Miyazaki is inventive in the way he stages the action as a series of chases and fights that are as defined by feats of aerial stunts and gymnastics as they are by martial arts and combat skills.

The characters are quite nice, especially gallant Lupin, who is apparently more ruthless in the original manga, and his partner, Jigen, the amiable, but quite skilled tough guy.  However, the star here is Miyazaki in his first feature-length film.  He makes the action unrestrained by gravity, natural law, or architecture.  Thus, the film is a rollicking adventure with a humorous tone that belies the threat of brutal violence and death that frequently pop up in the story.  I really like The Castle of Cagliostro, and I highly recommend it to fans of Hayao Miyazaki and to those searching for the great animated films.  I also plan on buying my own physical copy.

8 of 10

A

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Thursday, July 27, 2023

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Review: "My Neighbor Totoro" is Pure Magic

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 35 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux

My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
Tonari no Totoro – original title
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Japan
Running time: 88 minutes (1 hour, 28 minutes)
MPAA – G
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Hayao Miyazaki
PRODUCERS: Toru Hara with Ned Lott (2005 Disney version)
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Mark Henley (Disney version)
EDITOR: Takeshi Seyama
COMPOSER: Joe Hisaishi

ANIMATION/FANTASY

Starring: (voices) Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning, Tim Daly, Lea Salonga, Frank Welker, Pat Carroll, and Paul Butcher; (original Japanese): Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, Shigesato Itoi, Sumi Shimamoto, Hitoshi Takagi, Tanie Kitabayashi, Toshiyuki Amagasa, and Naoki Tatsuta

The subject of this movie review is My Neighbor Totoro, a 1988 Japanese animated fantasy film from writer-director, Hayao Miyazaki, and produced by Studio Ghibli. Originally titled, Tonari no Totoro, the film focuses on two sisters who move to the country where they encounter the forest spirits who live nearby.

My Neighbor Totoro was released in English in the United States beginning in 1990s. After acquiring the rights, Walt Disney Pictures released their English dub of the film in 2005, featuring the voices of Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning, Tim Daly, and Lea Salonga. The subject of this review is the Disney version of My Neighbor Totoro, which has just been released on Blu-ray for the first time (as of this writing).

My Neighbor Totoro opens in Japan, 1958. Professor Tatsuo Kusakabe (Tim Daly) and his daughters, the elder Satsuki (Dakota Fanning) and four-year-old Mei (Elle Fanning), move into an old house in Matsugo. There, Kusakabe will be closer to his wife and his daughters’ mother, Yasuko (Lea Salonga), who is recovering from a long-term illness.

Not long after moving into their new home, the girls soon encounter small, dark, dust-like spirits called soot gremlins (or soot sprites), moving from light to dark places in the house. That’s just the sisters’ first encounter with the fantastic. One day, Mei spies a small magical creature and follows it to a large camphor tree near the old house, where she enters a world of magic and adventure. That leads to both Satsuki and Mei discovering a wondrous creature they call “Totoro” (Frank Welker).

In 1989, the release of Walt Disney’s animated musical film, Little Mermaid, was (and still is) seen as a renaissance for Disney animated feature films. A year before that, Japanese animation (or “anime”) did not need a renaissance thanks to films like Studio Ghibli’s 1988 release, My Neighbor Totoro.

As with other Miyazaki films, My Neighbor Totoro looks like it was lovingly crafted by the hands of human artists and animators. They drew and painted until they created a beautiful animated film that really has the illusion of life. Like many films from Studio Ghibli, My Neighbor Totoro loves people and nature equally. Thus, the film is about the Kusakabe sisters exploring nature and the magic found within it, rather than being about a conflict with nature and the girls being threatened by the magic they find there.

The Matsuga countryside, as depicted by this film’s artists, is a pastoral ideal, with verdant forests and fields. There is so much fertility and the water is so crystal clear and cool-seeming that you might believe that magic could not help but exist here. In fact, a sense of wonder about nature and their resourceful imaginations are what help the Kusakabe girls discover magic in a strong breeze or in the music they hear at night.

My Neighbor Totoro is blessed with a few truly great characters. Satsuki and Mei are remarkably convincing as little girls. It is said that there is magic in a child’s laughter and heartbreak in a child’s cries. Dakota Fanning as Satsuki and her sister, Elle Fanning, as Mei personify that by giving life-like performances. I believed in the Kusakabe girls because everything about them – their actions, conversations, desires, etc. – ring with authenticity – thanks to the Fanning sisters.

Of course, the film’s signature character is Totoro, one of the finest characters ever to appear in an animated film. He is a force of nature, doing more by communicating through growls, roars, and facial expressions than many actors do even with dialogue composed by the best writers. He’s pure enchantment; you can’t take your eyes off Totoro. After seeing Totoro when he first appears in the film, I felt that I never saw enough of him afterwards. Then, there is Catbus – that crazy mind-bending Catbus. The first time I saw him in this movie, I felt something that I only experience while watching the best of the best movies, something I can’t put into words.

I have previously seen four films by Hayao Miyazaki, including the superb Spirited Away. I think My Neighbor Totoro is the one that has wowed me the most… so far.

10 of 10

Monday, May 20, 2013

Review: "The Secret World of Arrietty" is a Beautiful World

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 46 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Secret World of Arrietty (2012)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Japan
Original title: Arrietty or Kari-gurashi no Arietti (2010)
Running time: 95 minutes (1 hour, 35 minutes)
MPAA – G
DIRECTOR: Hiromasa Yonebayashi
WRITERS: Hayao Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa (based on the novel, The Borrowers, by Mary Norton
PRODUCER: Toshio Suzuki
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Atsushi Okui (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Rie Matsubara
COMPOSER: Cécile Corbel
ANIMATION STUDIO: Studio Ghibli

ANIMATION/FANTASY

Starring: (English dub voices – U.S. release) Bridgit Mendler, David Henrie, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, Moises Arias, and Carol Burnett

Arrietty (or Kari-gurashi no Arietti) is a 2010 Japanese animated fantasy film produced by Studio Ghibli, best known for the animated films of director Hayao Miyazaki, who co-wrote Arrietty. Walt Disney Pictures released Arrietty earlier this year in the United States as The Secret World of Arrietty. Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, Arrietty is an adaptation of the 1952 children’s fantasy novel, The Borrowers, by Mary Norton. The film focuses on a tiny girl and how her interaction with a human threatens her family’s existence.

The Secret World of Arrietty is set in a rural home that is surrounded by a lush garden and a verdant forest. Under the floorboards of the house lives a family of four-inch-tall people, the Clock Family (although that surname is never used in the film). They are “Borrowers,” tiny people who survive by “borrowing” simple items from the houses in which they live. They avoid humans, whom they call “beans” (a mispronunciation of “human beings”).

The Clocks are the father, Pod (Will Arnett); the mother, Homily (Amy Poehler), and their spirited daughter, Arrietty (Bridgit Mendler). Their lives change when a young man named Shawn (David Henrie) spots Arrietty in the garden. The house in which the Clocks live is the childhood home of Shawn’s mother, and the 18-year-old Shawn is visiting the home where he will rest before having a delicate surgery. Arrietty and Shawn are curious about each other, although Arrietty’s father is adamant that she avoid him. Their mutual fascination becomes dangerous when the house’s caretaker, Haru (Carol Burnett), also becomes curious about the mysterious “little people.”

The art of hand-drawn animation or, as its now known, 2D animation, is really an art in the hands of the highly talented and skilled animators working for Walt Disney Pictures. Over the better part of eight decades, Walt Disney’s 2D animated films proved that. The same can be said about Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki is a master and his studio is filled with talented illustrators, designers, painters, etc. who are museum-worthy artists.

In the setting that is The Secret World of Arrietty, Ghibli creates the illusion of space, depth, and presence as well as any 3D computer-animated film. Pixar and DreamWorks Animation don’t have anything over Ghibli in terms of creating layered and textured environments. Such elements as drops of rainwater or tea, thriving and animated plant life, and the everyday-items that fill the Clocks’ home seem solid and real. The paintings used to create the film’s backgrounds recall the paintings of Monet. I could spend all day praising the animation of Studio Ghibli, because hand-drawn animation doesn’t get much better than The Secret World of Arrietty.

The story is the part of The Secret World of Arrietty that doesn’t live up to the quality of the animation. The film is charming and imaginative, but is also surprisingly melancholy, even cynical. Being that the film takes the viewer into an alien world and successfully presents it from the perspective of the aliens (the Borrowers), one would think The Secret World of Arrietty would be about discovery, yet it doesn’t do much discovering. It is an uncomplicated tale of friendship that pales in comparison to its extraordinary setting.

The film only brushes the characters, choosing to emphasize their actions, rather than delve into their personalities and even the mysteries of their pasts. Who are they? What are their wishes and desires? Still, Bridgit Mendler and Will Arnett are excellent in their voice performances and make their characters stand out. Even with my complaints, you’d be surprised that I really think a lot of this film. The Secret World of Arrietty is visual splendor and that makes up for the film’s tepid pace, indifferent drama, and lack of characterization. It must be the magic of Studio Ghibli that always seems to cast a spell on me. I actually want to visit The Secret World of Arrietty again.

8 of 10
A

Sunday, June 03, 2012

Review: "Tales from Earthsea" is Pretty

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 13 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

Tales from Earthsea (2006)
Gedo senki – Original Japanese title
(U.S. theatrical release: August 2010)
Running time: 116 minutes (1 hour, 56 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some violent images
DIRECTOR: Goro Miyazaki
WRITERS: Goro Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa; from a concept by Hayao Miyazaki (based upon the Earthsea novels by Ursula K. Le Guin)
PRODUCERS: Toshio Suzuki and Steve Alpert and Javier Ponton
COMPOSER: Tamiya Terashima
ANIMATION STUDIO: Studio Ghibli

ANIMATION/FANTASY

Starring: (English dub voices) Timothy Dalton, Matt Levin, Blaire Restaneo, Mariska Hargitay, Willem Dafoe, Cheech Marin, Susanne Blakeslee, Terrence Stone, Liam O’Brien, and Kevin Michael Richardson

Tales from Earthsea is a 2006 Japanese animated fantasy film produced by the Studio Ghibli, best known for the animated films of director Hayao Miyazaki (Ponyo). Tales from Earthsea is directed by Miyazaki’s son, Goro Miyazaki and is based upon the first four books in the Earthsea series by author, Ursula K. Le Guin. This movie is also inspired by Hayao Miyazaki’s manga/illustrated story, The Journey of Shuna (1983).

The film is set in the world of Earthsea and focuses on Prince Arren of Enlad (Matt Levin). Enlad, like the rest of Earthsea, is troubled by drought and pestilence. After killing his father, Arren takes his father’s sword and goes on the run. He is later rescued by Sparrowhawk the Archmage (Timothy Dalton). Sparrowhawk and Arren travel to the farm of an old friend of Sparrowhawks’s, a woman named Tenar (Mariska Hargitay). There, Arren is also reunited with Therru (Blaire Restaneo), a young woman he’d recently protected from slave traders.

Therru is hostile to Arren, but he and Sparrowhawk remain on the farm, plowing and planting the fields for Tenar. However, the quartet’s agrarian lifestyle is interrupted by Lord Cob (Willem Dafoe), a sinister wizard who plans to shatter the barrier between life and death so that he can live forever. Cob needs Arren for his plans and wants revenge against Sparrowhawk.

Apparently, there was some hullabaloo and controversy around the production of Tales from Earthsea, including author Ursula K. Le Guin’s mixed feelings about how the film adapted the source material of her original novels. I like this movie, but I can understand how some would be put off by the film’s staid manner. The characters are way too laid back, and the dialogue is delivered at such an easy pace as to suggest that this film lacks conflict. In fact, Goro Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa (co-writer) have put together something that lacks dramatic punch. Tales from Earthsea is the most easy-going battle between good and evil on film that I can remember experiencing. The film’s most energetic element is Cheech Marin’s voice performance as the lackey, Hare, which is not only funny, but also scene-stealing when this movie really needs someone to steal a scene in order to save a scene.

Still, Tales from Earthsea sure is pretty. The film’s color is a symphony of shimmering reds and glowing pinks, and green is used almost entirely to suggest pastoral, verdant splendor. The film’s central theme is the need for balance, especially the balance of life and death. I think that in Tales from Earthsea, color is meant to celebrate not just life, but also living. This is unusual thematic material for an animated feature film, but Tales from Earthsea is characteristic of Studio Ghibli’s manner of doing things in animated films that are different and unique.

7 of 10
B+

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Review: Miyazaki's "Ponyo" is Simply Magical

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 22 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Ponyo (2009)
Gake no ue no Ponyo (2008) – COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Japan
Running time: 101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Hayao Miyazaki
PRODUCERS: Toshio Suzuki, Steve Alpert, Kathleen Kennedy, and Frank Marshall
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Atsushi Okui (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Hayao Miyazaki and Takeshi Seyama

ANIMATION/FANTASY

Starring: Noah Cyrus, Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Frankie Jonas, Cloris Leachman, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, Betty White, and Carlos Alazraqui

It is a shame that moviegoers have largely turned away from hand-drawn animation (2D animation), but devour computer-animated or 3D animation. Pixar’s 3D feature-length animated films are extremely well written, and DreamWorks is usually pushing the technology of 3D with their films. Still, it is hard to believe that Walt Disney’s The Princess and the Frog cannot out gross something like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Bee Movie.

American 2D feature-length animation is largely relegated to straight-to-video releases and television, and much of that is actually produced outside the U.S. The malaise at the box office for American 2D animated films means even more trouble for high-quality, 2D animated features from other countries. This is a shame because that means so many people will miss the chance to see a hand-drawn animated, instant-classic from Hayao Miyazaki on a big screen. Miyazaki is arguably one of the world’s greatest living movie directors – live action or animation. He won an Oscar for his animated film, Spirited Away, but his other films are also highly acclaimed. Last year, Miyazaki’s most recent animated film, Ponyo, arrived in the U.S.

Ponyo centers on a fish-girl, named “Brunhilde,” who lives in an aquarium in her father, Fujimoto’s (Liam Neeson) underwater castle. During a trip in which her father takes her and her numerous siblings on an outing in his four-flippered submarine, Brunhilde decides to see more of the world and swims away, only to end up stranded. On the shore of a small fishing town, a boy named Sōsuke (Frankie Jonas) rescues Brunhilde and names her Ponyo (Noah Cyrus).

In spite of her father and his “wave spirits” efforts to stop her, Ponyo grows legs and turns into a human. To become human, however, Ponyo unleashes huge amounts of her father’s magic. When released into the ocean, this magic causes an imbalance in the world, resulting in a huge storm and later massive flooding. Now, only Sōsuke can save the world, but does he know how?

A full-length animated feature can require its animation staff to draw over 100,000 separate images. Yet when you watch a Miyazaki film, you may doubt that humans rather than super computers produced it, and Ponyo is example of the magic Miyazaki can create through 2D animation. Such scenes as the ocean storms with its seething waves, swelling surfs, and those odd-looking wave spirits are breathtaking in their ability to depict the might and power of the ocean. The night scenes that depict the storms hammering the coast along the small fishing village in which this film is set are simply terrifying. I felt the kind of fear I usually only feel when watching night scenes in horror movies.

To look at Ponyo, one might think the design of the characters and setting look rather simply, like the art and illustrations one might produce for a daily comic strip. That simplicity in design, however, belies the magic that happens when the drawings are connected to form a “moving picture.” The color, the movement, the visual effects, and the sound come together at the behest of the maestro Hayao Miyazaki, and cinematic magic is a real thing. From the majesty of Ponyo’s mother, Granmamare (Cate Blanchett), to the simple enchantment of a low tide full of prehistoric fish, Ponyo is poetic and has the magic to charm adults and children. I will not stop using the word “magic” to describe Miyazaki’s work, and when you see one of his films, you will see why.

9 of 10
A+

Thursday, April 15, 2010

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Review: Oscar-nominated "Howl's Moving Castle" is Quite Imaginative

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 56 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Hauru no ugoku shiro (2004) – animation
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Japan
DIRECTOR: Hayao Miyazaki
WRITER: Hayao Miyazaki (based upon the book by Diana Wynne Jones)
PRODUCER: Toshio Suzuki
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Atsushi Okui
EDITOR: Takeshi Seyama

Howl’s Moving Castle (2005) – USA version
Opening date: June 10, 2005
Running time: 119 minutes (1 hour, 59 minutes)

MPAA – PG for frightening images and brief mild language
DIRECTORS: Pete Docter and Rick Dempsey
WRITERS: Cindy Davis Hewitt and Donald H. Hewitt – adapters; Jim Hubbert – translator
PRODUCERS: Rick Dempsey and Ned Lott
Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/FANTASY/SCI-FI/ACTION/ADVENTURE/ROMANCE with elements of war

Starring: (English voices) Emily Mortimer, Sofie Gråbøl, Christian Bale, Josh Hutcherson, Blythe Danner, Lauren Bacall, and Billy Crystal

Eighteen-year old Sophie (Emily Mortimer) lives a humdrum existence working in her late father’s hat shop in a dull town when powerful magic enters her life. She encounters the mysterious, handsome, and self-indulgent young wizard, Howl (Christian Bale, who delivers an embarrassingly stiff voice performance). However, the evil Witch of the Waste (Lauren Bacall, sly and droll) is looking for Howl, and since Sophie won’t cooperate, the witch casts a spell on Sophie that turns the unconfident young woman into an elderly woman, Grandma Sophie (Sofie Gråbøl). Determined to get the spell reversed, Sophie seeks out Howl again, and with the help of a scarecrow who moves by bouncing up and down on his pole (Sophie calls him “Turnip”), she finds Howl’s moving castle, an amazing contraption that walks across the landscape on spindly mechanical legs. Inside the castle lives Calcifer (Billy Crystal, who mixes comedy, mock menace, and a touch poignancy for a fine vocal performance), a fire demon (in the form of a ball of fire) that gives the moving castle the power to travel through time and space. However, Howl’s life is very complicated, and he fights for one side in an on-going war that leaves a terrible wake of destruction. It’s up to Sophie to free Howl of the curse that haunts him, while he plots to end the war.

The animated film, Hauru no ugoku shiro, or Howl’s Moving Castle, is another masterwork from revered Japanese animated filmmaker, Hayao Miyazaki. Howl received a 2006 Oscar nomination for “Best Animated Feature Film of the Year,” an award Miyazaki won in 2003 for Spirited Away. While Howl doesn’t reach the heights of Spirited Away, it is a brilliant film, and in many ways surpasses most American films of the last two years in terms of narrative and use of technical achievement in a creative way.

Miyazaki and his collaborators have once again created enormous panoramas of images – awe-inspiring, extravagant, spectacular visuals that coalesce into a narrative that is almost too big even for a Miyazaki film. His movies usually have a novel’s worth of sub-plots and enough characters for an ensemble film, which is the case with Howl’s Moving Castle, although the film really focuses on Sophie and Howl.

Howl’s Moving Castle is a quiet anti-war film. It may be hard to imagine that an animated film could capture the astounding devastation that war can bring to a city, (especially through aerial bombing) as well as a live action film does. However, watching the marvelous flying contraptions of war drop bombs on the countryside and in cities and towns in this film is breathtaking. Miyazaki even takes it up a notch. Magical creatures and monstrosities launch from the incredible flying battle warships and engage Howl in grand aerial battles. Strangely, this art (some of it computer generated) makes war seem cool instead of scary.

For all that this film is about war, Howl is at its heart a romance with war almost as a backdrop, and Sophie and Howl are superb star-crossed lovers. Miyazaki’s script (a loose adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones’ novel of the same title) deftly mixes romance with a magic-drenched fantasy of competing wizards and enchanted machinations. It all rings true, except for Christian Bale’s horrid voice acting as Howl. Howl’s Moving Castle is a visual assault on the senses, and it captures the imagination with magic and engages the heart with a love that overcomes all.

9 of 10
A+

Monday, March 27, 2005

NOTES:
2006 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Animated Feature Film of the Year” (Hayao Miyazaki)

Review: "Spirited Away" is Pure Magic

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 45 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

 

Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001) – animation

Running time: 125 minutes (2 hours, 5 minutes) COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Japan

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Hayao Miyazaki

PRODUCER: Toshio Suzuki

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Atsushi Okui

EDITOR: Takeshi Seyama

 

Spirited Away (2002) – USA English dub

MPAA – PG for some scary moments

WRITERS: Cindy Davis Hewitt and Donald H. Hewitt – English script

PRODUCER: Donald W. Ernst

Academy Award winner

 

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ADVENTURE 

 

Starring: (voices) Daveigh Chase, Suzanne Pleshette, Jason Marsden, Susan Egan, David Ogden Stiers, Lauren Holly, Michael Chiklis, and Tara Strong

 

The world’s best director of animated films is Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke), and even the masters at Disney represent with Miyazaki. In 2001, his film Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi became the all-time highest grossing film in Japan, and in 2003, Spirited Away, the English language version of the film, won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

 

While moving to their new home, a ten-year girl named Chihiro (voice of Daveigh Chase) and her parents get lost on an overgrown stretch of road. At the end of the road, they find a lonely building that her father surmises was part of an abandoned theme park. Continuing to track through their discovery, the parents wander into the park where they catch the smell of cooking food. The parents begin to chow down on a veritable feast that they find in an empty restaurant. They don’t know that the food is enchanted and meant for the spirits. Within minutes, the magic transforms Chihiro’s parents into pigs.

 

Chihiro meets a boy named Haku (Jason Marsden) who tells her than the theme park is actually a rest haven for spirits. Haku tells her that he will help her and her parents, but she must wait. Meanwhile, Chihiro indentures herself to Yubaba (Suzanne Pleshette), a greedy and devious she-creature who runs the bathhouse that is the centerpiece of this magical world. Yubaba changes Chihiro’s name to Sen and forces her to work in the bathhouse while the girl struggles to find a way to free herself from slavery and her parents from the spell.

 

Whereas Miyazaki’s previous film Princess Mononoke was an epic tale of magic versus modern with the threat of a great war as the backdrop, Spirited Away is a magical fantasy in which the level of magic reaches epic proportions. From beginning to end, Miyazaki fills every frame of the film with an eldritch charm that defies comparisons to any other movies, including his own work. It’s a dazzling display of the supernatural that held me spellbound. Witches, monsters, phantasms, spirits, creatures, mythical beasts, and wondrous landscapes populate the world of Spirited Away. It’s part Alice in Wonderland, part faerie tale, and part Japanese myth. Every frame is pure wonder and fantasy.

 

All of the magical creatures seem so real and so much real part of their environment. Miyazaki has a variety of fantastical beings for almost every scene, and it never seems like too much or too phony. So many filmmakers cheat now because of computer-generated imagery and throw anything on the screen just because they it pops into their heads. The wondrous people and things of Spirited Away seem natural and purposeful, a part of a divine order, not forced, but correct and part of a circle.

 

The film’s story and script, also by Miyazaki, isn’t so much about plot as they are about the imagination, the magic of the film’s world, and, in the end, about growing up and losing the magical corners of youth where ethereal, unreal, and surreal things exist and happen. Chihiro/Sen’s adventure is a wonderful one, and Miyazaki so draws you into Spirited Away that you feel the presence of the supernatural as much as Chihiro does, and like her, you hurt from the loses that come with growing up and getting older.

 

This is more than just a great animated film; this is simply a great film. There are times when it did seem a bit long, and Miyazaki’s craft seemed too polished, too perfect, but a master like Miyazaki can’t help but be overbearing at times. He’s a filmmaker and a magician. Spirited Away has to be seen on the big screen; it’s the only way to truly feel the awe-inspiring enchantment of the most fantastical film since Terry Gilliam’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

 

There are a lot of fantasy films and films about magic, but only once in a generation is one so resonant with the mysterious of power miracles, magic, and fantastic beings that the film itself feels other worldly. Spirited Away is the supra fantasy of this time.

 

9 of 10

 A+ 

 

NOTES: 2003 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Animated Feature” (Hayao Miyazaki) 

 

2004 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Film not in the English Language” (Toshio Suzuki and Hayao Miyazaki)

 

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Review: "Princess Mononoke" is Simply Great

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 43 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux 

 

Mononoke Hime (1997) – animated

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Japan

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Hayao Miyazaki

PRODUCER: Toshio Suzuki

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Atsushi Okui

EDITORS: Takeshi Seyama and Hayao Miyazaki

 

Princess Mononoke (1999) USA release – English dub

Running time: 134 minutes (2 hours, 14 minutes)

MPAA – PG-13 for images of violence and gore

WRITER: Neil Gaiman – English screenplay

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ADVENTURE/WAR/ACTION

 

Starring: (English voices) Gillian Anderson, Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Keith David, John DeMita, John Di Maggio, Minnie Driver, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Billy Bob Thornton

 

Many consider Hayao Miyazaki to be Japan’s greatest animator and one of that country’s finest directors. He has several films to his credit, including Majo no takkyubin (released in the U.S. as Kiki’s Delivery Service) and Tenku no shiro Rapyuta (Castle in the Sky). In 2003, he won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film for Spirited Away, the 2002 English language version of his film Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi. However, his first real shot at mass appeal in the United States was the film known in America as Princess Mononoke.

 

The story centers on Prince Ashitaka (voice of Billy Crudup) who finds himself in the middle of a war between the elemental and spiritual forces of the forest and Tataraba, a human iron-mining colony. The town’s leader , Lady Eboshi (Minnie Driver) has conspired with a sly assassin named Jigo, sublimely voiced by Billy Bob Thorton, to kill the great forest spirit. Ashitaka meets San, the Princess Mononoke (Claire Danes), a girl raised by the Wolf God. San leads the animal gods of the forest against Lady Eboshi, who has also made her colony a haven for outcasts. Ashitaka walks a razor’s edge, trying to save both the humans and the forest before the two destroy each other, and, although he it not the title character, he is the story’s focus.

 

Although the drawing is not as polished and as classical as a Disney film, the animation in Mononoke is nothing short of breathtaking and fantastic. While so many Western animators use computers to augment their films, Miyazaki used traditional hand drawn cels, reportedly correcting by his own hand 80,000 of the films 144,000 cels. The animation takes on a scope of epic proportions while simultaneously being romantic.

 

Miyazaki and his animators created a film that manages to be encompass the film genres of action, adventure, and war, while being a dramatic film of beautiful and poetic touches. The depth of the storytelling is novelistic in its approach. It has so much going on that the audience cannot help but be captivated and enthralled even if the references to Japanese mythology goes over their heads. The voice acting for the English dubbing is excellent, which includes not only those actors mentioned prior, but also Jada Pinkett-Smith, Gillian Anderson, and Keith David. They did have a good script with which to work. Fantasy novelist and comic book scribe Neil Gaiman, creator of the Sandman comic book, wrote the film’s dialogue in a friendly American vernacular Mononoke.

 

Fans of anime and animated films cannot miss Princess Mononoke. For people who loved epics like The Lord of the Rings, this film fits right in that vein. It stands, not only as an accomplishment in animation, but a special achievement in movie making.

 

9 of 10 

A+ 

 

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