Spirited Away

Well spring is coming to a close so let us review one last Miyazaki movie, Spirited Away.

Now a lot of people say this is Miyazaki's best work, and I can kinda understand why. So the story of this movie is about a young girl named Chihiro who is moving into a new town and through a shortcut to her new home, her and her family find a doorway that transports them to the spirit world. Her parents soon have a spell cast on them and they turn into pigs, forcing Chihiro to save their lives and her own and return back to her world. This is one of the most original and creative movies I have ever seen in my entire life, the story itself is strange and magnificent but has a simple message of growing up. Our main character Chihiro, starts out at the beginning of the movie as a spoiled, needy, and kinda annoying child, but she grows through the movie by being put through so much that by the end she has matured greatly. This is a coming of age movie, but it has such a unique spin on it that really, you don't even notice until the end. And everything you expect and love about Miyazaki's work is still present, the animation is fantastic, the music is pleasant, the characters are well done and very real, and the story has huge amounts of creativity. Now I haven't seen all of Miyazaki's or Studio Ghibli's work and I would love to, but for now I have only seen a few. But if you watch these movies and love them, try and watch more than I have and judge them for yourself. There's even a series of reviews that were released not that long ago on EVERY single Studio Ghibli movie from it's inception to now and I highly recommend it. If you're interested in seeing it I will leave instructions on how to see it at the end of this review. Watch this movie, it is strange, it's like nothing you have ever seen before but I'm sure you will love it as much as I do, and I hope you will pursue more movies like these in the future.

So that's it for this review and that is it for spring ladies and gentlemen! Tune in next month where we start summer movies and hopefully I can get you more recent movie reviews. Oh, I almost forgot if you want to see that series of reviews on the Studio Ghibli movies just search for Disneycember, and you will find several of these and I believe it's the fourth or fifth where Doug Walker covers the Japanese animated movies. I hope you enjoy the reviews as much as I did and I will see you all very soon.

My Neighbor Totoro

If I had a dollar every time I either said 'Awww' or 'Cute' I would be filthy rich by the end of this movie.

Yes, this week I will be reviewing three films from the Steven Spielberg of anime, Hayao Miyazaki, first starting off with My Neighbor Totoro. This is probably the cutest and most wonderful anime I have ever seen. The story follows a family who has just moved into a new house and the two little girls encounter and befriend a group of forest spirits. It's kind of a hard film to explain, in fact a lot of Miyazaki's work is, you really just have to experience it for yourself. And that's the perfect word I would use to describe Miyazaki's work: An experience. You feel everything the characters feel in the movie, and the characters despite being animated feel absolutely real. This is how real little kids act, this is how real kids talk, this is how people react to certain situations both good and bad. I cannot praise the characters enough. Another thing I can praise forevermore is the animation. Sweet Christmas, this film is beautiful. The attention to detail is staggering, the atmosphere is rich, the backgrounds are deep, some of the shots in this movie I want framed on my wall! This is art. Japanese animators are unreal to the extent of making worlds, it is amazing how much depth and beautiful use of color they use to create the surroundings. The story, although very simple has a lot of power, it gives you a sense of wonder and happiness. The music could not be any better, in fact I am going to leave a link to the best song in the movie that really sums up the whole feeling of the movie. And...this film is absurdly cute. I cannot watch this movie and not gush into happy giggling and big smiles, the joy is infectious. Now the cast of this movie, especially the two little girls played by Dakota Fanning and her real sister Elle Fanning playing the two sisters is the heart of the movie, really I don't even think they were acting they were just being themselves and it works so well, it's very real and very natural as to how two sisters act together. The film, what can I say? It is a wonderful, heart warming family film that everybody should watch together. My Neighbor Totoro is truly enchanting, and I hope you find it to be so too.

 Huge Tree In Tsukamori- http://youtu.be/o427T3gNUFA