When Marnie Was There

“When Marnie Was There,” released in 2014, the last film before Studio Ghibli announced they were going on a short hiatus, the source of amazement for the past 30 years. However, it’s not one of the best of Ghibli movies, but it’s still really fantastic…and delightfully sad.

Charlie Jane Andres admitted in his review, “This ghost story about a strange friendship between two young girls is trippy and intense. And it made me cry towards the end, without being too manipulative or cloying.”

“When Marnie Was There” is based on a 1967 novel of the same name by Joan G. Robinson, and it’s really faithful to the novel’s plot. Anna Sasaki (Hailee Steinfeld) is an orphan who’s being raised by her foster parents (Geena Davis and Eric Bauza). She’s isolated and depressed after the passing of her mother and grandmother, and doesn’t really have any friends at school. Plus, she also has asthma.

Anna’s foster mother, Yoriko decides to send her to the seaside, thinking the outdoors will help her asthma and also give her a new place to explore. She goes to live with Yoriko’s relatives, the Oiwas, voiced by John C. Reilly and Grey Griffin, who don’t really care when Anna has her moments or disappears for a few hours. Anna looks like she is going to sink deeper in depression and isolation, until she meets a mysterious blonde girl named Marnie, voiced by the cute Kiernan Shipka (who you might remember as Sally Drapper from “Mad Men” and the voice of Jinora from “The Legend of Korra”), and finally makes a friend.

Obviously, Marnie isn’t a typical girl, and the mystery of just who Marnie is and what happened to her takes up a lot of the film. It’s predictable from early on that there’s something strange about the Marsh house where Marnie lives: sometimes there are extravagant parties going on there, with people in fashion-like clothes, and sometimes it looks like it has been empty for many years. Someone who really pays attention to these details will solve the puzzle pretty fast.

Andres mentioned, “There’s a dreamlike quality to a lot of the sequences between Anna and Marnie, with the passage of time depicted in a disjointed fashion that’s kind of jolting.” Often their meetings end with Anna seeing she’s asleep, either at home in bed or out somewhere in the fields. Andres noted, “Meanwhile, Studio Ghibli’s trademark gorgeous landscapes and beautiful creatures (whose motion feels well observed and lively) are joined to an atmosphere that includes lots of mist and unpredictable water.” Director Hiromasa Yonebayashi, who previously directed “The Secret World of Arietty” and worked on several other Ghibli films, creates a beautiful visual palette.

What makes this film so amazing is the careful tactic of showing Anna’s emotional part, seeing her telling Marnie all of her secrets. Also, the film carefully shows how Anna’s friendship with Marnie changes her relationship with her foster family – it’s not as simple as Anna being broken between Marnie and the other people in her life, but it’s also not as easy as Anna learning to tell Marnie everything after being friends with her. The movie’s emotional and psychological density is its great awe-inspiring success.

Andres ended his review by saying, “Like I said, When Marnie Was There isn’t up to the incredibly high standard of the best Ghibli films — but it’s still beautiful and sweet, and a powerful film about a girl discovering who she really is.” Vanessa Williams and Ava Acres voice two other people Anna becomes friends with later on.

I had never heard of this film before my brother had researched the other Studio Ghibli films that we had never seen, like “Only Yesterday,” “My Neighbors the Yamadas” and “Pom Poko.” I knew of “Pom Poko” because Doug Walker did a “By Popular Demand” review of it when he did his Disneycember “Ghibli” Month.

All of that aside, this one is an absolute must for those who are Ghibli fans. You will fall in love with this movie, especially with how well done it keeps you in suspense of who Marnie is until the end. When you find out, you’re like, “Holy cow, I didn’t see that one coming.” However, if you called it before, you must have been really good at noting these things before anyone else. Still, this is a great “slice-of-life” film that everyone should check out. I probably would say this is another one of my favorite “Studio Ghibli” films. Don’t read this review, just watch the film to see it for yourself. Be forewarned: this movie really showcases a great friendship and will tug at your heartstrings when you're watching it. If you cry while watching this, I won't be surprised. I don't cry while watching movies, but I did feel the emotional impact that this movie might have left behind with the audience.

Well everyone that ends “Studio Ghibli Month.” I hope everyone enjoyed this month as much as I did reviewing these films. Like how I stated last year with “Pixar,” I don’t think any “Studio Ghibli” films are bad that are either not worth watching or ones that I hate. I can understand if people hate certain “Pixar” movies, but I don’t think anyone would hate “Studio Ghibli” films. Definitely see them, I highly recommend them. I'm also looking forward to the next film they release, which I think will be next year.

Thanks for joining in on all my reviews this year. I hope everyone liked my reviews, as this year is the year that I did the most reviews. Now, I’m going to take a week off and will start going back to my usual Friday reviews next month. Hope everyone has a great end to 2017, I’ll see everyone next year.

The Tale of Princess Kaguya

Ella Taylor started her review out by saying, “My first encounter with the lovely 10th-century Japanese folktale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter was in the Sesame Street special Big Bird Goes to Japan. A kind and beautiful young woman named Kaguya-hime appears out of nowhere to take the Yellow One and his canine pal Barkley on a jaunt to Kyoto. They have fun, and then the mysteriously sad woman reveals that she is royalty in civilian dress and must return to her home on the moon. Bird and Barkley were marginally less inconsolable than were my toddler daughter and I.” We all handled, as will every other child old or young when they see the beautiful “The Tale of Princess Kaguya.”

As the tale is told, the princess was sent to Earth as punishment for an unknown misbehavior. We don’t find out what her punishment was in “The Tale of Princess Kaguya,” the 2013 movie from Hayao Miyazaki’s famous Studio Ghibli, whose hand-drawn, animated stories of vivacious radical girls have pleased so many kids and parents around the world. Taylor said, “Aside from their beauty, movies like Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro and the hands-down favorite around our house, Kiki's Delivery Service, brought to life a small army of exuberantly disobedient girls (and boys, now and again) bent on running their own experimental show.”

The plot is simple fairytale story. A baby falls from the sky and is found held inside a bamboo plant by a childless old woodcutter and his wife, voiced in the English-language dub by James Caan and Mary Steenburgen. They raise her as their own, and the respected nymph, voiced by Chloe Grace Moretz, runs around the forest with her group of peasant kids, a normal girl except for the unusual growth rate that bring her to womanhood at a fast rate. When her beauty and energy begin to gain attention, the old man, encouraged by ambition and greed, moves his daughter to court to marry her. Taylor said, “Pining for home and the handsome peasant boy (Darren Criss) she left behind, the distraught Kaguya-hime spurns her suitors (the Emperor (James Marsden) among them) by setting them impossible tasks. Take that, patriarchy.”

“The Tale of Princess Kaguya” is not directed by Miyazaki, who had announced his retirement after “The Wind Rises,” but by his longtime colleague Isao Takahata, who also made the heart-breaking “Grave of the Fireflies.” The new movie has all the traits of Ghibli animation style, include the beautiful palette, in this case a subtle watercolor of pastels reminding, with not a hint of cute, a country girl’s ecstatic harmony with nature. A bamboo forest cleverly changes color with the light. A leaf blows in the breeze. A toddler turns in her sleep and locks her arm around her adoptive mother. Taylor said, “Kaguya-hime is a wild thing in perpetual fluid motion, her long black hair flowing in sync with her body.” Broke into royal harness, she grows still and stiff under the heavy ceremonial vestments, the current movie of sadness until, finally, she takes control of her own fate.

Unlike many Studio Ghibli movies, “The Tale of Princess Kaguya” is not a collaboration with the Disney company, which may be one reason why it doesn’t have a happy ending as we would know in the West. Taylor said, “Like all fairy tales worth their salt, the movie trusts children to take on the big themes of life, death and despair included, and thus removes the sting.”

Kaguya leaves, as she has to, but with a space orchestra and a magic layer to help her through the transition. The moment of her leaving is come off with disturbing honesty, but also with a compassion that promises an end to suffering, wanting and loss – even, for those who want it, another future to come. Taylor said, “If I were rich, I'd give a boxed set of Studio Ghibli movies to every child on Earth at birth.” That is for the simple joy of the experience, and to see them all through the years.

This is my brother’s least favorite Studio Ghibli film because of how predictable it got later on in the movie. I can understand what he means, but I still love it. I like how it has the watercolor pastel style that I had never seen Ghibli try and do. Maybe in “My Neighbors the Yamadas,” but I don’t know if that counts. However, I think this is a good fairytale that girls will definitely like and enjoy, especially the parents watching it with them. Don’t skip this one and give it a watch.

Alright everyone tomorrow is finally it. I will be looking at the final film in “Studio Ghibli Month,” although I know there is one that is going to be released (I think) next year. Stay tuned because I’ll be going out with a bang this year with the final review of 2017.

The Wind Rises

Matt Patches started his review out by saying, “Refracted through the imagination of revered animator Hayao Miyazaki, the dreams of aeronautical engineer Jiro Horikoshi are as wondrous as a serpentine dragon, a parade of wood spirits, or a dancing Totoro.” However, even when Jiro’s mind starts thinking endless possibilities, Miyazaki favors reality. In sight he thinks plane designs that huddle into the laws of physics, and fly across the sky like fantastical characters. However, in the real world, mankind’s foggy morals and violent tendencies trespass on true passion. What is beautiful is easily used for destruction.

For his supposed final film, Miyazaki makes a heartstring-tugging story of creativity and love that wants to find humanity in the scary legacy of World War II. Yes, “The Wind Rises,” released in 2013, is a cartoon, but animation hits your deepest emotions.

From his younger days, Jiro, voiced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, sees himself making airplanes like his idol, Giovanni Battista Caproni. Even when he sleeps, his mind is making pictures of aircrafts and Caproni, voiced by Stanley Tucci, encouraging him to see his art. He actually does. Jiro becomes a genius in flying, training at the top college in Tokyo and securing a position at one of the Japan’s biggest airplane manufacturers.

However, despite his close coworker Honjô (John Krasinki), his boss, Kurokawa (Martin Short), and the company’s owner, Hattori (Mandy Patinkin), winning his craft, Jiro still lives under the shadow of the military. He designs fighter jets and they fail. He travels to Germany to learn from their top engineers, only to see a war being made on the streets. He knows sadness is there, and yet he’s determined to create the perfect plane. As what is expected of him is on his shoulders, Caproni shows up in his dream: “Do you prefer a world with pyramids, or with no pyramids?”

Miyazaki troubles Jiro’s historically accurate story by giving him a fictionalized love interest. Patches said, “What could easily drown the pensive drama in schmaltz becomes some of the animator's most tender work.” During a much-needed trip to a mountain resort, Jiro meets up with Nahoko, voiced by Emily Blunt, a young girl he rescued so long before during Tokyo’s Great Kanto Earthquake. Seeing her again brings back so many memories for Jiro, a first love that never left him. He’s in love. Patches said, “While the blossoming romance might play a bit abstruse by American tradition, Miyazaki's writing (translated with an English dub team from Disney/Pixar) alleviates any concerns — Jiro and Nahoko share an absolute love.”

Patches noted, “The Wind Rises came under fire by Japanese and American critics for turning a blind eye to the atrocities that Jiro Horikoshi's creations would go on to forge (mainly, his Zero fighter plane, used to lay waste to Pearl Harbor and in several other kamikaze attacks). Other than a nod at the end, the film never confronts World War II directly. But it's always there, haunting Jiro, tightening around his life like an existential noose. In the hands of both Gordon-Levitt and original Japanese voice actor Hideaki Anno (creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion), Jiro is a hushed, contemplative lead who we see squirming in his tight spot. Life throws him no bones, but he always has his head up. It's heartbreaking.”

After admitting his love to Nahoko, the designer learns that she is diagnosed with tuberculosis that will sadly be the end of her after some years. It’s another boundary for Jiro, who can only see beauty in the moment. Patches said, “Like the perfect curvature of a mackerel bone, a natural image that would inspire his death machines, Jiro can only feel the immediate warmth he feels being with Nahoko.” Looking to the future is dangerous, but looking to the future wouldn’t let him live and succeed as an individual. It’s an impossible situation, one that forces Jiro to pamper in his romance and Nahoko and, maybe, take advantage of the ill girl’s countered feelings. What Miyazaki doesn’t say is as necessary as what he does.

Despite he keeps the political and humanist schedules unclear, Miyazaki dives his canvas with visual delight of every type. Patches said, “Jiro's dreams glow with a golden age, Technicolor sheen, while his recreation of the earthquake is as titanic and terrifying as any monster he's unleashed on screen.” Like Jiro, Miyazaki is a craftsman fascinated by detail. The animation in “The Wind Rises” is careful, from scratches in wood boards to Jiro’s subtle movement, Miyazaki showing us his character’s love through worried motion.

Patches said, “Animation may seem unnecessary for a human drama, but The Wind Rises' justifies it with delicacy and chromatic accomplishment.” “The Wind Rises” is beautifully animated so we can watch the wonder be ruled over by darkness.

Patches said, “Deliberately paced and energized by Joe Hisashi's musical mix of Eastern themes and Italian mandolin, The Wind Rises is an ode to the creative spirit, the intoxication of love in all of its forms. The film doesn't take the obvious moralistic steps that could avert backlash — it's pure Miyazaki, a perspective influenced by history and reflective of a 50-year career.” With “The Wind Rises,” Miyazaki chooses a world with pyramids.

For what is supposed to be Miyazaki’s final film to work on for “Studio Ghibli,” he actually went out with a bang. This is another really good movie and I think everyone will love it, especially if you like flight sequences in animated movies. However, Miyazaki is coming back to work on another new movie for “Studio Ghibli,” so we’ll see how that one is, but in the mean time, check this one out.

Look out tomorrow where we look at a different direction the company took in terms of animation in “Studio Ghibli Month.”

From Up On Poppy Hill

“From Up on Poppy Hill,” released in 2011, takes a nice, nostalgic look at Japan in 1963, from the point of view of a schoolgirl who lives in the Yokohama neighborhood suggested in the title. A.O. Scott mentioned in his review, “Though it was written and “planned” by Hayao Miyazaki, perhaps the greatest living fantasist in world cinema (and directed by his son Goro), this movie, based on a manga by Chizuru Takahashi and Tetsuro Sayama, is a lovely example of the strong realist tendency in Japanese animation. Its visual magic lies in painterly compositions of foliage, clouds, architecture and water, and its emotional impact comes from the way everyday life is washed in the colors of memory.”

Umi, voiced by Sarah Bolger, has a house which neglects the water. Her father, a ship captain, died at sea during the Korean War and her mother (Jamie Lee Curtis) is studying in the U.S.A., having Umi help her grandmother (Edie Mirman) take care of her two younger siblings (Isabelle Fuhrman and Alex Wolff) and a house full of unusual boarders. Scott noted, “The lonely girl is a staple of the Miyazaki universe, and Umi’s melancholy, thoughtful manner suffuses the atmosphere of “From Up on Poppy Hill.””

However, this isn’t a completely sad story. Two combined stories come together from the schedules of home and school. Scott said, “One involves the effort to save the Latin Quarter, a dilapidated mansion where Umi’s male classmates convene to conduct scientific experiments, expound on philosophical matters and indulge in other forms of endearing dweebery.” After joining (along with her best friend, voiced by Emily Osment and Bridget Hoffman) in the campaign to stop its demolition, Umi starts to fall in love with the least nerdy boys, Shun, voiced by the late Anton Yelchin, despite their family histories are connected in ways that troubles their love.

Shun and Umi are young kids in a country looking forward to hosting the Olympics, but the darkness of war is hovering over them, much as it did in “My Neighbor Totoro,” Hayao Miyazaki’s magnificent story set in the 1950s. The certain tragedy that hangs in the background may not be good for kids, which means they will be depressed with the film’s sadness without being too mad at it. Meanwhile, adults are likely to feel happy with the love story and charmed by the soft description of a former but not completely forgotten time.

In the end, if you didn’t like Goro Miyazaki’s last attempt at filmmaking with “Tales from Earthsea,” I think you will be able to like this one. It’s a nice little feel good movie about saving a college building and also a sweet love story that could actually happen. Don’t think that it won’t happen because it might have happened in reality. My brother didn’t really like this one, but I think this was a good one that everyone should check out. You will love it, I promise.

Check in tomorrow when I look at, what Hayao Miyazaki said was going to be his final film, especially when he said that after “Princess Mononoke” and “Spirited Away,” but he’s coming back for another one. It’s another film that takes place around war time, and I think it’s another really good one, but not one of my favorites, in “Studio Ghibli Month.”

The Secret World of Arrietty

Sinking below the grass line to capture a smaller world in exact detail, “The Secret World of Arrietty,” released in 2010, gives exactly what its title says, unfolding this secret mileu through carefully particular animation. Jesse Cataldo said in their review, “As befitting the Ghibli brand, the colors are magnificent, the emotional tone mature but wide-eyed, rendering an ordinary country house’s environs as a lush sea of greens, browns, and yellows.” The result is a patient, sad adventure story that also feels comfort and small, cinematically enlarging a classic story without over-increasing its scope.

Cataldo said, “Using Mary Norton’s 1952 novel The Borrowers as a starting point, first-time director Hiromasa Yonebayashi applies Ghibli’s usual free license, bending the source material toward its specific pastoral style.” The film starts with the introduction of Shawn, voiced by David Henrie, who’s been sent to the country to heal for a risky heart operation. Shawn is the type of sensitive, sadly grown-up child that often gets the focus in this type of coming-of-age tale, and his prescribed diet of bed rest makes him bored, wanting for the very excitement that the doctor’s said he can’t do. Things form at a intentional pace, as he eventually finds out the family of tiny people who live beneath the house, first meeting red-haired Arrietty, voiced by Bridgit Mendler, a spirited 14 year old who isn’t afraid of going up against an evil housecat, despite the fact that it’s more than twice her size.

Arrietty lives out of sight underneath a pile of bricks inside an underground crawlspace, along with her parents, Homily (Amy Poehler) and Pod (Will Arnett). Their hidden house is beautiful, with green plants and painted screens over the windows, but difficult to keep reserved. Food and other necessities need dangerous trips to the above world, and the family’s life is dependent on the constant gaining of borrowed objects, a cube of sugar or a dropped hairpin, tiny unwanted items that for them mean nutrition.

Cataldo said, “Shawn’s involvement in the lives of the borrowers grows through his budding friendship with Arrietty, which continues despite her father’s warning against making contact.” Case hints that there’s been contact between humans and borrowers in the past, with sad results. We never learn the exact nature of this ancient incident, beyond its dangerous outcome and the existence of a tiny dollhouse, built by Shawn’s grandfather for the borrowers to occupy, a beautifully handmade house that now is vacant in a spare bedroom. This mystery is one of the little specifics that makes “The Secret World of Arrietty” feel naturally and colorfully alive, while getting necessary seriousness and heft to this friendly story.

By keeping with this balanced style, the film never seems too worried with giving loud thrills, going by on a steady buildup of drama and danger, avoiding the dangerous racing around that has limited off otherwise great children’s films of late (most of the Pixar movies). Cataldo noted, “Focusing instead on sensible specifics, Yonebayashi shapes a world that’s dazzlingly detail-oriented, processing the routine elements of the borrowers’ existence with amazing meticulousness.” This is helped by some fantastic sound design, which increases the crunch of leaves into a boring roar, the ring of a grandfather clock into a room-shaking masterpiece. Arrietty’s first trip to the house above, which is basically the film’s big opening scene, is unveiled with amazing patience, every step of the way accounted for, a part that makes this feel less like fantasy than the careful portrayal of a fully resided-in world.

Cataldo said, “As is often the case with American reworkings, which tend to prize star power over vocal dexterity, some of the voice work feels bumpy.” For example, Arnett’s gruff variety has been used so often for funny moments in the past that his lines here, spoken in arrogant monotone, often sound accidentally funny. There’s also a weird danger attached to the housekeeper Hara, voiced by the late Carol Burnett, whose crazy wanting to kill the little people is unexplained and a little strange for the Ghibli universe, where even villains usually get some concerned blinding. Cataldo said, “She serves as a threatening fool and inevitable comic relief, the usual broadness of the humor slightly spoiled by how inexplicably vicious the character is.”

Otherwise, “The Secret World of Arrietty” is classic, if a little minor, Miyazaki, even with another director in charge. Cataldo ended their review by saying, “Life lessons are imparted with startling tenderness, the inevitable separateness of humanity and nature is gently reinforced, and a plaintive look is taken at a vanishing way of life, resulting in a bittersweet picture of childhood woven with painstaking care.”

In the end, if you haven’t seen this movie, you shouldn’t have even read this review. This is one of my all time favorite Ghibli films, and I think everyone should see this. It’s also another environmentalist movie that is all about saving the earth and it does a job well done when they told that message. In fact, all the Ghibli movies are in some way shape or form about saving the environment. I know that is a recurring theme in every film, but I guess that’s what Studio Ghibli was aiming for. Like I have already said, you need to see this movie because I think you’ll love it.

Stay tuned tomorrow where I look at another great film that could be underrated in “Studio Ghibli Month.”

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” Tim Burton’s work, Henry Selick’s 1993 movie, is a masterpiece. Roger Moore said in his review, “A work of grand visual wit, clever songs, funny gags and genuine pathos, it is perhaps the greatest stop-motion animated film ever, a painstaking style of model animation that computers have all but completely done away with.”

Despite it has a home in many DVD collection, Disney has made sure that it has a higher status inside this culture, transferring the original film to 3D and re-releasing it every Halloween as a new holiday tradition – a scary night reminder that Christmas is coming, Jack Skellington’s work is cut out for him.

Skellington, voiced by Chris Sarandon, is the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, a skeletal phantom who looks right amongst the mad scientists, corpses and stuff that go out in the night. He has a ghost dog, Zero, and plenty of friends and neighbors. There’s a girl, a pieced-together corpse, Sally (Catherine O’Hara), who loves Jack and doesn’t like her creator (William Hickey).

However, Jack is too egotistical to notice Sally. Because even though he is loved at home, he’s bored with the constant scares. When he walks into Christmas Town, he thinks he’s found something to help him with this sadness. Jack will take over the job of “Sandy Claws” and deliver Halloween Town toys to every child all over the world. Moore asked, “What, kids don't want spiders in their stockings?”

If you’re thinking “Bad idea,” you don’t know anything yet. Moore said, “Start with the trio of evil little Munchkins, Lock (Paul Reubens), Shock (O’Hara) and Barrel (Danny Elfman), Jack sends to get the jolly fat Santa out of the way.”

“Kidnap the Sandy Claws,” they sing, for this is a musical. “Beat him with a stick. Lock him up for 90 years, see what makes him tick.”

Danny Elfman did the music and sings Jack Skellington’s songs as well. Moore credited, “The tunes are cute if mostly forgettable.” The story, based on a poem written by Burton, is simple, paying tribute more to classic horror movies of the 1930s than classic fairy tales.

Moore said, “It's the look of the film that sticks with you, the scary-cute stop-motion puppets, the gray on black backgrounds, and the fully realized world of holiday "towns," each existing to serve the needs of its "king," be he the Pumpkin King, Santa or the Easter Bunny.”

The addition of 3D doesn’t add a lot to this – the odd ghost, Jack-o-Lantern or other object jumps off the screen (and mostly in the credits). Moore said, “It does add the illusion of depth of field and make the characters pop out a little more. If you have it at home, the cinematic experience is not novel enough to warrant the premium 3D ticket price for funny 3D glasses.”

However, Disney was right about this much – “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is good enough to deserve becoming a holiday tradition. Pick it up as DVD rental or buy it. If you have kids, there are worse things they could find in other shows and movies than Jack Skellington.

All of these years later, I still can’t decide if this movie is meant to be watched around Halloween or Christmas time. I think it all depends on the person because it fits for both holidays. This is another one of my all time favorite Halloween/Christmas movies. Everyone should see this movie, especially if they love Tim Burton. I seriously think everyone will love it once they have seen it. See it if you haven’t.

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope that everyone had a good Christmas day. I know that I posted this review up late, but I had a family emergency that caused me to be out of the house for a good majority of the day. However, I bet everyone got some good presents this year.

Stay tuned later when I upload another “Studio Ghibli Month” review.

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

“Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi,” released nine days ago, is just magnificent, an overload of creative ideas in full motion. Writer-director Rian Johnson, known for independent movies like “Looper” and “Brick,” slides into masterful filmmaking like a genius. Peter Travers said in his review, “The Star Wars universe is the best toy box a fanboy could ever wish for, and Johnson makes sure that Jedi is bursting at the seams with knockout fun surprises, marvelous adventure and shocking revelations that will leave your head spinning. Even those few jaded doubters, the ones still reeling from the disastrous trilogy of prequels perpetrated by George Lucas, will roar like Wookies and holler, "Holy smokes!"”

Want lightsaber fights, X-Wing space fights, creative creatures (like the crystal ice-dogs!), criss-crossing family bloodlines (“Who’s your parents?” gets asked a lot), top-notch FX and cheap mockery? All of that is here, but Johnson takes it to the next level, taking us through so many twists and turns that we can’t tell the dark side from the good. Heroes die and villains win…and then the reverse happens. That’s the point of the movie, which edges over with characters hanging by a thread.

The story starts where director J.J. Abrams left off in “The Force Awakens.” The Resistance, led by General Leia (the late Carrie Fisher) is again fighting the evil First Order, led by Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis in genius motion-capture form). Resistance fighter Rey, reprised by Daisy Ridley, has gone to the isolated island of Ahch-To, the planet of the Jedi Order’s first temple. The goal: to find AWOL Jedi master Luke Skywalker, reprised by Mark Hamill, and bring his depressed old self back to save the galaxy and go up against his troubled nephew. That would be Ben Solo, aka Kylo Ren, reprised by Adam Driver, who last time killed his own father and now gives his mom, Leia, more depression.

Travers said it best when he said, “Just when you think you know where this movie is going, Johnson pulls the rug out from under you.” Old friends are back, including R2-D2 (Jimmy Vee), C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and the wookie Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew). Former Stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega), proud to be called “rebel scum,” partners with newcomer Rose (Kelly Marie Tran), a mechanic with skills to plan a risky rescue for the Resistance, whose sister (Veronica Ngô) died in the beginning. Benicio del Toro is the highlight of a casino planet, Canto Bight, and a codebreaker no one can trust. Fighter pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isacc) has his own trouble about Vice-Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern), the dictator who takes command when Leia is knocked unconscious. “The Last Jedi” is a sad farewell to Fisher, who passed away last year and whose cautiously funny and deeply felt performance tells everyone why she’s irreplaceable.

Obviously there are problems. This is really long at two hours and 36 minutes – and sometimes too much. Travers said, “The screen is so crowded with character and incident that you might need a scorecard to keep up. But the way Johnson, who's slated to direct three more Star Wars films with unfamiliar characters, balances the skyrocketing action with tender feeling keeps you emphatically in the game.” The actors are amazing in big roles and small. Ridley and Driver really work off of one another as Rey and Ren, two characters brought together by a Force they don’t fully understand.

Travers credited, “Still, The Last Jedi belongs to Hamill in a portrayal that cuts to the core of what Star Wars means to a generation of dreamers looking to the heavens. In the 40 years since the actor first played Luke Skywalker, we've followed him from callow youth to Jedi master. But it's here that Hamill gives the performance of his career, nailing every nuance of an iconic role and rewarding the emotional investment we've made in him.” There are people, places and things you’ll have to say goodbye to in this movie, even the laughs are touched with tears. No worries, you’re in good hands with Johnson who makes sure you leave the movie theater complex feeling happy. The middle part of the current trilogy, “The Last Jedi” is amongst the very best “Star Wars” movies (even the peak that is “The Empire Strikes Back”) by going further ahead to a next generation of Jedis – and, excitingly to a new hope.

In all honesty, I liked this film better than “The Force Awakens.” This film didn’t really feel like a complete retelling of a previous movie, although there are parts that seem to be borrowing heavily from “The Empire Strikes Back” and “The Return of the Jedi.” Watch the movie if you want to know what I mean. Also, there are questions that still will be unanswered after watching it, but hopefully all will be revealed in the final movie of this sequel trilogy. I am sad that this is the final film Carrie Fisher did, and I know that they will kill off Leia in the next movie, but how is the question. Will they CG Leia like they did with Philip Seymour Hoffman in “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2?” Probably, until they kill her off, which who knows how long into the movie that will be. When they said in the credits, "In Loving Memory of our Princess, Carrie Fisher," I was the only one who applauded. I felt it was the right thing to do since I really loved Carrie Fisher as an actress.

All of that aside, definitely go to the theater to see this movie, I give it a high recommendation. Seeing how I am a hardcore Star Wars fan, I will rate this with a 10+. I know this isn’t a perfect film, but the problems I have are minor and I don’t really mind it as much as other people might.

Stay tuned tomorrow for not only the continuation of “Studio Ghibli Month,” but also for a Christmas movie that I know everyone will love when they watch it.

Ponyo

Now we have come to one of the cutest, but weirdest movies produced by Studio Ghibli, “Ponyo,” released in 2009.

Dana Stevens started her review out by saying, “All the way through Ponyo (Walt Disney Pictures), the astonishing new animated film from Japanese legend Hayao Miyazaki, I puzzled over how I'd ever be able to outline the movie's plot in review form.” There’s a goldfish-girl named Ponyo, or sometimes Brünnhilde, who lives in a bubble under the sea with her wizard father. Ponyo/Brünnhilde looks less like a goldfish than like a limbless doll in a dress and she’s always surrounded by a handful of baby sisters who look like miniature Ponyo copies, all who can transform whenever they want into a giant fish. Then one day Ponyo (Miley Cyrus's little sister, Noah Cyrus) swims on shore, drinks the blood of a human boy, falls in love with him, and decides she wants to be human…but her partly completed transformation somehow makes the ocean into pandemonium and causes the moon to get closer to the Earth, a wrong that can be corrected only by seeking the Goddess of the Ocean (Cate Blanchett) in an underwater nursing home.

Even that plot summary leaves out so many story threads, important characters, and visual prides (like the propeller-powered submarine that’s the wizard’s transportation, the hundreds of rainbow-colored jellyfish that Ponyo must swim through on her way to land, or the magic droplets that, when thrown on the ocean’s surface, turn into dangerous waves with eyes). Stevens said, “I walked out of the movie determined to dispense with plot altogether and publish a peremptory micro-review: "Just see Ponyo." But then I went home and told the story to my 3-year-old daughter, who immediately understood it (and who volunteered to right the sea's chaos herself as, without a trace of cognitive dissonance, she devoured a fish dinner).” Seeing how a child can understand the logic doesn’t mean that “Ponyo” is a kids’ movie. Actually, many of its themes and images may be too much for little kids. It means that Miyazaki is a master animator, able to get into a part of his mind that most grownups (including artists) have long ago lost. “Ponyo” is elaborately and generously weird, yet its story has a mythic cleanness: Boy meets fish-girl, boy loses fish-girl, fish-girl risks upsetting the cosmic order to go back to boy. Stevens said, “It's Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, with less sacrificial suffering and more ramen noodles.”

The undersea castle where Ponyo lives with her wizard father, voiced by Liam Neeson, is stunning in its beauty and difficulty, but the realistic world above sea level is no less carefully submitted. Sosuke (Frankie Jonas, the youngest of the Jonas Brothers, also was on the show "Jonas"), the little boy who becomes friends with Ponyo, lives in a house hanging on a cliff that seems to be there in permanent dialogue with the sea – sometimes literally, as when Sosuke’s sailor father, Koichi (Matt Damon), uses his ship’s light to send signals to Sosuke and his mother, Lisa (Tina Fey, sarcastically clever as always). Koichi travels so often that Lisa is, for all practical reasons, a single mother, overworked and cranky but devoted both to her son and to the old women at the retirement home where she works (a list of elderly women marvelously voiced by Lily Tomlin, Cloris Leachman and Betty White). The last thing Lisa needs is another child to care for, let alone one who’s able to create global weather uproars. When Ponyo, her fish-to-human transformation only half-completed, moves into their home against the wishes of her father, Lisa’s imagination and her son’s courage are put to the test.

“Ponyo” has stuff from both a classic fairy tale and an environmental message movie, but it changes as lightly between those genres as Ponyo herself does from person to goldfish and back again. Miyazaki’s look of the relationship between the human and underwater worlds is a thoughtful and confusing one. Though “Ponyo” is partly an environmental story, its message is more than just “Don’t litter, kids.” Ponyo’s love for Sosuke scares her environmentalist father, Fujimoto, who blames humans for polluting the world’s oceans. Stevens said, “But despite its sympathy with Fujimoto's cause, the movie ultimately comes down in favor of fish/human miscegenation.” Miyazaki, whose films often take place at the line between the human and the natural, has said that “we need courtesy toward water, mountains and air along with living things. We should not ask courtesy from these things, but we see ourselves should give courtesy to them instead.” In “Ponyo,” that courtesy is shown through love, not only between Sosuke and Ponyo but between the people of the earth and the fish of the sea.

If you haven’t seen this film, go and see it, it’s one of the best done by Miyazaki. Sure, it definitely is one of the weird films that Studio Ghibli has done, but that doesn’t negate the fact of how adorable and feel-good of a movie this is. Especially since the film’s message revolves around saving the sea life, which is really needed in today’s society. This is another one of my favorite Ghibli films and I highly recommend everyone to see it.

Alright everyone, stay tuned next Monday for not only the continuation of “Studio Ghibli Month,” but also on a Christmas movie that I think is really good and debatable on when you should see it.

Tales From Earthsea

Released worldwide in 2006, Studio Ghibli’s “Tales from Earthsea” finally made an appearance in U.S.A., after some contractual trouble with the SyFy Channel kept the movie in an unknown release date for a long time. Given a sparkle with an English-language voice cast and given a controversial PG-13 rating (a first for a Disney animated release), “Tales from Earthsea” is a remarkable film, but maybe not worth the long wait it took to be released in the States.

Brian Orndorf said in his review, “Dark times are approaching the land of Earthsea, with the “balance” of life eroding, allowing evil to take over the land, dividing the nations of man and dragon.” Wizard Sparrowhawk (Timothy Dalton) has found a particularly bothersome boy named Arren (Matt Levin) on his journey, and brings him to a safe place: home to Tenar (Detective/Sergeant/Lieutenant Olivia Benson from “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” herself, Mariska Hargitay) and young Therru (Blaire Restaneo). Making a temporary family, the gang is in trouble by the evil sorcerer Lord Cob, voiced by Willem Dafoe, who wants the mystery of Arren’s true name, giving him all the power he needs to take over Earthsea for himself.

Orndorf said, “An adaptation of the popular “Earthsea” novels by Ursula K. Le Guin, this Japanese production has the benefit of the animated realm, allowing director Goro Miyazaki (son of legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki) to move fluidly around this fantasy world of dragons, magic, and malevolence.” It’s a respectful directorial debut, but not as nice of what the film really needs, with viewers thrown into his confusing world with little to like besides the colorful visual heft.

Orndorf said, “Perhaps students of Le Guin’s work will find more to feast on here.” The script isn’t completely thick, but it does speak “Earthsea” fluently, delving into an overwhelming whelm of impossibility brought together through the line of life and death. It’s a spiritual journey for the characters, but also one of magic and guilt, going through a mystical center to the movie that takes some time to really like. Orndorf said, “It’s not a thrilling film by any means, but perhaps that’s where the splendid integrity of it all lies, keeping the experience challenging to the layman. Still, there are plenty of question marks to the material that aren’t exactly ironed out by film’s end, along with a few flights of bodily transformation fancy that could use a more approachable degree of explanation.”

An adventure story mainly, “Tales from Earthsea” stays a nice epic tale, giving a harder edge to the magical story, which keeps the stakes engaging. Maybe a step down for the Studio Ghibli filmography when it comes to style and overall summary pleasures, the film stays an occasionally charming make. Just don’t think that everything will come crystal clear.

My siblings said that we all went to the theaters to see this movie and we came out disappointed and underwhelmed. However, I don’t recall us doing that. I said that I must have not gone, but they say that they wouldn’t have left me behind when they went to see the movie. Even when I was watching this when I rented it from the library, nothing seemed familiar and I have no recollection of seeing this in the theater. The only Ghibli movies I remember seeing in the theaters are “Spirited Away” and “Howl’s Moving Castle.”

In the end, two-thirds of the movie is actually really good. The animation, the visuals, the designs, the usual stuff Ghibli does to attract its fans are all here. However, the third act is where the film falls apart. I don’t know what had happened that caused it to deteriorate, but I still think the film is watchable. Don’t worry, if this is anyone’s least favorite, I completely understand. This is my sister’s least favorite Ghibli film. Give it a watch. I don't think this is better than “Howl’s Moving Castle,” but that’s just my opinion.

Now that we have gotten the two underrated and wrongfully hated Ghibli films, check in tomorrow when I look at a really good film in “Studio Ghibli Month.”

Howl's Moving Castle

Tasha Robinson started her review out by saying, “Twenty years before Harry Potter was a gleam in J.K. Rowling's eye, British author Diana Wynne Jones was already writing sparky, deft fantasy novels that were safe for kids and clever enough for adults. One of her most popular was 1986's Howl's Moving Castle, a giddy modern fairy tale packed with transformations, mysteries, and an almost screwball-comedy flavor. The bustling book seems like it would jibe poorly with the sweeter, more sentimental style of Japanese master animator Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro), but the two work surprisingly well together, and Miyazaki's animated adaptation of Jones' book is a charming and thoroughly absorbing treat.”

“Howl’s Moving Castle,” released in 2004, has its pacing as its only real flaw. Robinson said, “It begins somewhat lumpily, as Sophie, a teenage milliner, sighs her way through a dull day in her hat shop in a vaguely Old World European village.” However, her boring life is overturned by a memorable meeting with a crazy, romantic wizard named Howl, voiced by Christian Bale. Shortly after that, an arrogant witch, voiced by Lauren Bacall, with her own images on Howl puts a spell on Sophie that turns her into an old woman and runs away. Trying to find shelter in a broken down castle that walks the local hills on mechanical legs, Sophie (Emily Mortimer as a teenager and Jean Simmons in her old lady spell) sees she’s in Howl’s home, along with his talented young apprentice (Josh Hutcherson) and, as Robinson describes, “kvetching fire-demon familiar,” voiced by Billy Crystal. The plot goes off in many directions from there, as Sophie tries to break the spell and help her new friends: Robinson said, “Miyazaki simplifies Jones' original story, but for every subplot he removes, he adds another, and the result is almost more story than a two-hour movie can support.”

Robinson continued, “Some of the added themes are too familiar from Miyazaki's other movies: His love of fanciful flying machines, his hatred of war, and his belief in the redemptive power of kindness are once again central, and they all feel a bit redundant. But his typical visual playfulness and absorption in fine detail both work wonderfully with Jones' protean conception of magic: Form is as fluid as mood in Howl's Moving Castle, and the constant visual shifts as the characters change shape, size, and species are stunning.” Miyazaki puts his nice designs and suggestive, quirky imagery to good use in adding spark to characters that might otherwise get written down in the complicated story.

“Howl’s Moving Castle” doesn’t feel completely like a Jones book, or a Miyazaki movie. The narrative is thicker and more story-driven than anything Miyazaki has tried before, while much of Jones’ sharp humor is lost. However, both makers get a lot from the collaboration. Robinson ended her review by saying, “Young kids may find the film hard to follow, but for older viewers, this is something like the Holy Grail of animation: A film with all the joy and wonder of a Miyazaki movie, plus a story as sophisticated as his phenomenal animation.”

Like I had stated yesterday, I understand that people probably didn’t get into this movie because of the fact that so much was crammed in here and Miyazaki didn’t really finish off every plot thread that he started. That is the one downside, but overall, this movie is not as bad as everyone says it is. I actually enjoyed this movie fully. Granted, this is the only other Ghibli movie I saw in the theaters, but I really liked the animation and visuals, which I was blown away by. I say check this film out and give it a chance, you might like it. It’s one of my friend’s absolute favorite Ghibli movie, and if it is anyone else’s favorite, then I completely understand.

Check in tomorrow where we look at a film that isn’t as good as this, but still isn’t bad and not the worse movie in this company’s history. See what I mean in tomorrow’s entry of “Studio Ghibli Month.”

The Cat Returns

While “The Cat Returns,” released in 2002, may not be one of the famous attempts from the Ghibli studio, it definitely fits in with the studio’s style. Matt Hinrichs said in his review, “In his sole Ghibli credit as director, Reiko Yoshida guided this surprisingly non-snarky, tradition-steeped tale with a sense of benevolence, vibrancy, and a dash of Japanese mysticism.” It’s a great movie for kids, but adults will also appreciate the colorful imagery and complete insanity of it.

Following the familiar Ghibli storyboard of the innocent girl taken into a strange, secret world, “The Cat Returns” is about Haru (Anne Hathaway), an attractively absentminded, kind of clumsy high school student in the city with her mother (Kristine Sutherland). While walking back from school with her friend, voiced by Kristen Bell, one day, she sees a grey cat holding a package in its mouth, trying to cross a busy street. After she saves the cat from getting run over, she finds out that the unique cat with two differently-colored eyes (who can stand on two legs) is actually Lune, the Prince of the Cat Kingdom, voiced by Andrew Bevis. To thank her for saving their monarch’s life, Haru becomes popular to the local cat population and the receiver of many embarrassing gifts. She’s also mistakenly believed by Lune as being his bride-to-be, a mistake she tries to correct by getting entrance into the Cat Kingdom via Muta, a strong, fuzzy white cat, voiced by Peter Boyle. She does try to reach the prince in his palace with the help of Muta and the Baron, a nicely dressed cat who previously appeared in “Whisper of the Heart,” reprised by Cary Elwes. Hinrichs said, “Haru's supernatural ability to talk to cats and empathize with their feelings helps her on this journey of self-discovery.”

Hinrichs goes on to say, “Like its leggy heroine, The Cat Returns comes off a little bit gawky with its mixture of contemporary, anime-style comedy and straightforward, visually lavish fairy tale imagery. Its breezy, uncomplicated story winds up sweet, cute, and funny, however.” As soon as the character of Haru gets access to the Cat Kingdom, the movie becomes real Ghibli in putting the girl in as many awkward spots as possible. First, she tries to navigate tea time in the Baron’s congested yet perfectly decorated, cat-sized home. Next, she is being prepared for the wedding at the palace of the formidable King of the Cats, not realizing that her own obedience means slowly transfiguring into a cat with pointy ears and whiskers. Hinrichs said, “Although the finale fails to match the grandiosity of Ghibli films like Howl's Moving Castle, it still entertains with a frantic chase, the reveal of the Prince's true love, and Haru's realization that she just needed a confidence boost to make it through her crazy life.”

Like the other Ghibli releases made for American release by Disney, “The Cat Returns” has a well-done English-language dub. Hinrichs said, “Anne Hathaway as Haru does a nice job, although she missing the spontaneity and "cute" inflections of Japanese actress Chizuru Ikewaki.” The best thing the American casting directors did was to re-think the role of the King’s obedient worker, Natori. Given a woman’s voice on the original Japanese version, it’s voiced in English with a lot more, as Hinrichs calls, “weaselly flair” by Conan’s sidekick, the great Andy Richter.

Hinrichs credits, “Endearingly cute, full of broad physical comedy and wondrous set pieces, Studio Ghibli's The Cat Returns doesn't have any grand ambitions other than relating a simple, uplifiting modern-day fairy tale.” This is a perfect viewing for kids, adults and anyone who has thought what their cat is up to when they aren’t in the house.

I have to admit, when I was watching this, I thought it would be one of your usual weird high school movies. However, the film quickly took a sudden turn and went straight into a direction that I had never seen Ghibli take before. If you’re a cat lover, this film is for you. Actually, anyone should see this because it’s actually a very entertaining film. Don’t skip this one when you’re watching the Ghibli movies.

Look out tomorrow where I defend a movie that is wrongfully hated and very underrated, but still not as good as some of the other films in “Studio Ghibli Month.”

Spirited Away

To animators across the world, Hayao Miyazaki is the best. Inside the animation department, his works is respected, and fans of anime wait for each new Miyazaki film with the same amount of overloading impatience as displayed by fans of famous novel series for the next book in the series. James Berardinelli said in his review, “In mainstream United States movie-going circles, Miyazaki is not a well-known name, which is one reason why, several years ago, Walt Disney Pictures purchased the North American rights to Miyazaki’s catalog.” While there were some issues with the subject where the dubbing and distribution of “Princess Mononoke” were handled here, more care was taken for “Spirited Away,” released in 2001. Two American animation celebrities – Pixar’s John Lasseter and Disney’s Kirk Wise (the director of several animated movies, including “Beauty and the Beast”) – were assigned to convert the Japanese version of the movie into one for American audiences.

Berardinelli said, “Let me state up front that I am neither a fan of, nor an expert on, anime. In fact, I’m not a lover of animation in general. But I know when I’m in the presence of good storytelling, and Spirited Away represents that.” Watching this movie, you immediately notice two things – the animation is breathtaking (something that will come as no surprise to anyone who has seen one of Miyazaki’s films) and the story takes you in so many unexpected directions. Berardinelli admitted, “One of the biggest problems I have with many animated films (even the best ones) is plot predictability. That’s not the case here.”

“Spirited Away” takes aspects of “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Wizard of Oz” and uses them in ways to create an original story about a 10-year-old girl, Chihiro, voiced by Daveigh Chase, who, along with her parents, walk through a tunnel that takes them into the spirit world. After a witch named Yubaba (Suzanne Pleshette), turns her parents (Michael Chiklis and Lauren Holly) into pigs, Chihiro must find work in the spirit world, where humans are not liked, and find out a way to convince Yubaba to change her parents back into humans and let them move to their new home. With the help from Haku (Jason Marsden), Yubaba’s apprentice, and Lin (Susan Egan), a “big sister” type, Chihiro gets a job at Yubaba’s bathhouse for spirits, and there her job to save her family starts. However, as problems come, she finds other work to be done and other friends who want to help her.

Everything about this story is created for animation. Many of the characters are shape-shifters (boys become dragons, adults become pigs, a giant baby becomes a bloated mouse, three heads become a clone of the baby) and the bathhouse is visited by numerous different strange and unusual spirits. For example, the boiler operator Kamaji, voiced by David Odgen Stiers. At first, he’s just an uptight old man with a fuzzy beard. Then, we see that he has eight legs and can walk like a spider. We also find out that he’s not as scary as he looks. His first image that was made goes away and he becomes one of Chihiro’s numerous helpers.

Miyazaki is an earth lover, and his films often have a strong saving environment message. (This was a basis to “Princess Mononoke.”) In “Spirited Away,” one of the visitors to the bathhouse is a river spirit who has been really badly polluted by mud and other waste stuff that his smell causes people to run and he really needs a powerful cleaning to wash away the filth. It takes a lot of work, but he is eventually restored to his previous self. Miyazaki took that from when he went to clean a river with some of his friends, who tied a rope and all pulled together to clean the river.

The film’s animation is beautiful, with perfectly-detailed backgrounds and flawless foregrounds. Berardinelli stated, “Unlike many animators, Miyazaki still relies almost exclusively upon hand-drawn artwork (although he employs some computer technology to touch up and enhance the final product), and his meticulous care shows. The colors are bright and vivid, and some of the scenes (especially those taking place during a rainstorm) are peerless in the world of motion picture animation. Also, with a running length that exceeds two hours (124 minutes), Spirited Away requires approximately 40% more cells than what is needed for the average Disney release.”

Miyazaki does not make “Spirited Away” so much of a family film, even though his main target is children. This is a true family film, where adults will be as mesmerized by how enchanted the characters and situations are like children will. Berardinelli stated, “The pace is a little slower than the average animated film – there is not as much frantic action – but not so languid that younger viewers will become restless. The dubbing into English is very good (as is voice selection), so there is no subtitle barrier. Overall, while Spirited Away may not be as complex and imaginative as Princess Mononoke in some areas, it is as beautifully rendered and no less sophisticated in its outlook.” Miyazaki has given another success and, in the middle of the quality decrease when Disney was releasing “direct-to-video” films, a reason for animation-lovers to celebrate.

As I had hinted last Friday, this is my all time favorite Studio Ghibli film. I know I’m not alone with that, since a lot of people seem to agree. It’s the best coming-of-age film that the company came out with. This was the second Ghibli film that I had seen, and it was in theaters. I was about 13 when it was released in the USA and I instantly fell in love with it. The characters, the voice acting, the story, the animation, everything about this film just blew me away. If you haven’t seen this film, you shouldn’t even be reading this review. Go out and see this movie right now because you will love it as well.

Look out tomorrow when I let everyone know my thoughts on “The Cat Returns” in “Studio Ghibli Month.”