From Up On Poppy Hill

I can't think of a genre for this movie besides slice of life.




This is such a wonderful slice of life movie, I was severely questioning Studio Ghibli throughout this cause I was just wondering, "What is the magic ingredient and reason why Studio Ghibli films are as good as they are?". I mean really think about this, you have an animation studio who's only rival is Disney who themselves have distributed Studio Ghibli movies here in the States, their palette of stories is so broad it could be either pure fantasy or down to earth real life, and it effortlessly works it's way into your heart each and every single time to where you adore the movie when it barely has even begun. I was 12 minutes into this and I thought, what a sweet wonderful little film. Nothing has such power in this world except Studio Ghibli. When I explain the plot it sounds so dirt simple, almost like there's nothing to it but there truly is I swear. Alright, so the backdrop of this story is the 1964 Olympics held in Tokyo as we meet young schoolgirl Umi who meets and helps a fellow student named Shun keep his classmates center of operations for individual clubhouses from being demolished. That's pretty much the plot. There's no great drama, or adventure, there's not even a romance to it, it's just a simple yet strangely engaging story. Hence my previously stated remarks above. It's just a nice story with nice characters, there's no frills, bells, or whistles to keep you engaged. But it succeeds full heartedly in my opinion. There's still emotion and conflict, and something else that popped into my head is I don't actually consider Studio Ghibli movies for kids. It's silly to say, and not at all that children cannot understand the films but more on the basis that children couldn't appreciate the films like adults do. When I saw Spirited Away a very, very long time ago on Cartoon Network I didn't completely get it but I still very much liked the movie and there are moments when I could tell something was being presented that I didn't fully grasp emotionally or mentally. Watching it now I can see more and thus appreciate it more. From Up On Poppy Hill deals with the loss of a parent, a dedication to the past, how individuals deal with tragedy and try to move on. It's not super heavy or depressing even, but it is there. I wouldn't have grasped all of this at a young age, but I do now and I love the movie for that. It's difficult to explain but all too easy to feel. To see that time and place in the world is a great treat, even though you don't see major Tokyo landmarks in the mid 60s it's still cool. The animation is that same high quality, with pure art being showcased on the screen at times literally and figuratively, atmosphere has a great deal to play in these movies and I attribute that to Japan having a great deal of respect and admiration for nature. So to see a glimmering sea, sunsets amidst trees, even urban structures and cities, it just has this depth to it and we're not talking about perspective of the frame here. Something so simple but can speak great volumes, that's how I'd describe this movie. It's funny because I was picking what movies to review, upon reading the synopsis for this movie I was hesitant to add it because it just didn't sound like all that much, but there is a clear and distinct line from reading about a movie to experiencing a movie. 4 stars, I'm giving this an 8.5/10. A great movie no question, and tomorrow I've been waiting a very long time to finally see this movie so join me tomorrow as we take to the skies!

The Wizard

Oh man I rolled out of my seat I was laughing so hard at that Power Glove scene!

I gotta admit there is a bit more to this movie than a feature length Nintendo commercial as some people claim. The Wizard is a good movie, very dated, very commercial, and yet at the same time actually has a really good story and characters. The story follows a young boy named Jimmy who has been traumatized by the death of his sister and sent to an institution, where his young brother breaks him out and they make a quest to California, where they meet a young girl and discover Jimmy is ridiculously good at video games. So the gang comes up with a plan to put Jimmy in a video game tournament while making their trek to Jimmy's true destination. The first thing I gotta tell you guys is these kids are awesome, you spend enough time with them to get to know them and see them as real people, they have baggage, they have history even though they are very young. True, they sometimes act more like adults than the actual adults but it's essentially a kids movie so I can forgive that. I don't know, I was just in a good mood watching this movie! It was a big deal when this movie came out, Nintendo was on top of the world with a massive dedicated fanbase, and the unveiling of a certain new game at the end needless to say made people lose their minds. The film has some cheese to it, but I would be lying to say it isn't fun. Hell, the villain of the movie has lived beyond all these years with the immortal line which causes head shakes and guffaws aplenty, "I love the Power Glove. It's so bad...". Sweet Jesus. And one thing I especially noticed is how much of a time capsule this is. The NES came out in 1985, this movie came out in 1989 still during it's golden years but not only the Nintendo fever that was being felt, but also the movie throws in this big chase through a Universal Studios amusement park so that adds another layer of that specific time. You can almost look at it from a philosophical view. Optimists would say it's cool seeing a part of the world in that particular time, whereas pessimists would say it's heavily dated and hurts the film in years to come. I am an optimist in this case, to see a world so heavily seeped in video games and to also see just as simple a thing as an amusement park is really neat to me. And even I have to admit the final scene does in fact choke me up a bit, which just goes to show how well the characters and relationships were built. It's a really good movie and one I would definitely recommend to younger kids, maybe it could get them into older video games or video games in general! It's a good family movie, and I do see merit in what others brush off as a long commercial. If you have the time or interest you should give it a watch, I don't think you will be disappointed. Plus I'll give you a buck if you ever dialed up the Nintendo tip hotline and probably racked your parent's phone bill up sky high!