The fact that I'm a fan of Hayao Miyazaki is well established in my earlier post where I reviewed some of his recent works - Sprited Away, Princess Mononoke and Ponyo. Last month, I saw some of his older and famous works - especially the ones that made him a household name in Japan.
Miyazaki's movies are filled with positivity i.e they have an uplifting effect on you. You won't see any character with negative shades or evil intentions. Moreover, majority of his movies deal with kids and sometimes makes you wonder whether the problems that kids face are more complex than what an adult does. The animation in his movies are top notch. Whether it is country side or the urban Tokyo, the animation (mostly hand-drawn) just looks gorgeous. He apparently likes rains and some of the best scenes in each of movies happen when it pours like hell!
By the way, I saw all these movies in Japanese with subtitles, even when the english dubbed versions were available. I believe that watching the movie in it's native language preserves the essence of the creative work.
A Professor and his two daughters, Satsuki (10) and Mei (4), relocate to the country side while their mother is still under recovery in a hospital nearby. In the woods adjacent to the house, the kids encounter some fascinating magical creatures, including Totoro - a giant furry ball and Catbus - a giant cat in the form of bus! The movie deals with the disappointments the kids encounter and how Totoro helps them out. My favorite scene is when Satsuki first meets Totoro in a bus stop on a rainy day. Brilliantly captured. After watching this movie, you'd want to have that vacation in a countryside which you always yearned as a kid (or at least I did).
Kiki, a 13 year old witch, travels to a distant city alone as a part of her customary training. Kiki has no special skills as a witch. However she has a golden heart and is skilled at flying. She ends up helping out a pregnant baker and works for her in delivering confectionaries to her clients. She encounters Tombo, a boy who has a crush on her and keeps annoying her. She also loses her flying powers and she begins to doubt if she is capable of being a witch. The rest of the movie deals with how she comes to terms of her choices and what she really wants to be. The animation is just picture perfect (the city is brought to life astoundingly) and so is the music. This movie throws some lights on dealing with the tough choices in life.
Shizuku, a young girl living in Tokyo with her parents and a her sister, encounters several life-changing decisions at a young age. She befriends a Seiji, who is aspiring to make a career in crafting violins. This inspires Shizuku to take up writing a story about a Baron and his ladylove. The story poses interesting questions about what people want to do in their life against what they actually do. The animation scenes during rains are quite pleasing to the an eye. The movie follows similar themes to that of Kiki's Delivery Service. Miyazaki has written this movie but was directed by Yoshufumi Kondo.
Porco Rosso. a.k.a Crimson Pig, is a veteran war pilot and looks like a pig (with a snout). He is currently a bounty hunter rescuing ships from sea-plane pirates. An american pilot challenges him and defeats him. Porco smuggles his broken-plane into Milan to get it fixed by a young female engineer - Fio. He then returns to get his honor back. This hasn't got a great story, but has enough gigs and fun to keep you engaged till the end. Unfortunately, I had to see the English Dubbed version of this movie. I was dreading how the dubbing would turn out to be, but it was just fine.
Miyazaki's movies are filled with positivity i.e they have an uplifting effect on you. You won't see any character with negative shades or evil intentions. Moreover, majority of his movies deal with kids and sometimes makes you wonder whether the problems that kids face are more complex than what an adult does. The animation in his movies are top notch. Whether it is country side or the urban Tokyo, the animation (mostly hand-drawn) just looks gorgeous. He apparently likes rains and some of the best scenes in each of movies happen when it pours like hell!
By the way, I saw all these movies in Japanese with subtitles, even when the english dubbed versions were available. I believe that watching the movie in it's native language preserves the essence of the creative work.
A Professor and his two daughters, Satsuki (10) and Mei (4), relocate to the country side while their mother is still under recovery in a hospital nearby. In the woods adjacent to the house, the kids encounter some fascinating magical creatures, including Totoro - a giant furry ball and Catbus - a giant cat in the form of bus! The movie deals with the disappointments the kids encounter and how Totoro helps them out. My favorite scene is when Satsuki first meets Totoro in a bus stop on a rainy day. Brilliantly captured. After watching this movie, you'd want to have that vacation in a countryside which you always yearned as a kid (or at least I did).
Kiki, a 13 year old witch, travels to a distant city alone as a part of her customary training. Kiki has no special skills as a witch. However she has a golden heart and is skilled at flying. She ends up helping out a pregnant baker and works for her in delivering confectionaries to her clients. She encounters Tombo, a boy who has a crush on her and keeps annoying her. She also loses her flying powers and she begins to doubt if she is capable of being a witch. The rest of the movie deals with how she comes to terms of her choices and what she really wants to be. The animation is just picture perfect (the city is brought to life astoundingly) and so is the music. This movie throws some lights on dealing with the tough choices in life.
Shizuku, a young girl living in Tokyo with her parents and a her sister, encounters several life-changing decisions at a young age. She befriends a Seiji, who is aspiring to make a career in crafting violins. This inspires Shizuku to take up writing a story about a Baron and his ladylove. The story poses interesting questions about what people want to do in their life against what they actually do. The animation scenes during rains are quite pleasing to the an eye. The movie follows similar themes to that of Kiki's Delivery Service. Miyazaki has written this movie but was directed by Yoshufumi Kondo. 
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ReplyDeleteI know, right! His films are AMAZING.
ReplyDeleteAlso, just started reading your blog today--it's funny. 4 posts in I was hooked.
Great job :)