Questions for Miyazaki fans (1 Viewer)

[Sean Campbell]

I personally regard 'My Neighbour Totoro' as the single greatest animated movie ever made. While the character designs may look as if they've been created with younger viewers in mind, this is a genuinely amazing piece of work which needs to be seen at least once ( I've watched it 8 times over the past year and still haven't tired of it ). More so than any other movie, it contains a deep atmosphere of childhood nostalgia and brilliantly captures the sense of wonder and strong belief in magic that most of us loose by our teens. Standout scenes are Mei's first encounter with Totoro and the entire sequence by the bus-stop ( you have to love that Catbus ). A true masterpiece.
As an interesting aside, the movie was apparently one of Akira Kurosawa's favourites( a conversation between Kurosawa and Miyazaki is available on DVD in Japan but sadly there's no English subtitles ).

 

[Artur Meinild]

I also can't recommend Miyazaki highly enough... I'm 24 years old and love animation as well... I've bought all my Miyazaki DVD's sight unseen (first Cagliostro, then Mononoke, and just 2 days ago Kiki and Spirited Away), and I just love all of them.
I think Mononoke is my favorite, but that might be because I like movies with an "Epic" feel to them, and Mononoke certainly has that! Kiki and Spirited Away are more cute stories, and as mentioned before, focusing on children more than adults. They are marvelous films nonetheless.

 

[TheLongshot]

I'm amazed everyone familiar with Miyazaki ranks "Spirited Away" near the bottom of their lists.

Most of us who have been familiar with the master for a while are probably a little jaded, which is why a lot of us think "Spirited Away" is a lesser work.

Course, looking at my list above, the lowest rated film on that list ("Castle In The Sky") is probably rated an 8/10. It is basically a thin margin up there between films.

Jason

 

[Stephen_Dar]

Well, I will defend Spirited Away's honor. I've come only recently to Miyazaki, first film was seeing Spirited Away at the El Capitan last Sept on opening night (and the second night). Since then I've seen most of his films via the Hong Kong package set a friend bought. I enjoyed them all in various measures, and I came to recognize certain Miyazaki touches that are very appealing.

But, without doubt, Spirited Away dwarfs all his previous accomplishments, in my view. Mainly, this is because he always includes outstanding pieces (like the bus stop scene in Totoro, the flying with geese scene in Kiki) in his movies but doesn't necessarily make the pieces form into a coherent whole in his earlier works. For example, his environmental message can be so obvious (think Mononoke) that it hit you over the head and dispelled much of the atmosphere he otherwise succeeded in creating. And while Nausica was undoubtedly cool, it's grand sci fi themes were old hat, nothing original to him really, if you ask me.

Spirited Away includes all his favorite themes (environmental concern, the importance of personal responsibility, an element of the magical/supernatural/fantastic) and actually combines them with subtlety that isn't there in the earlier works. So, I think they're all great, but it's possible you've already seen his best in Spirited Away (I know others disagree, just wanted to add to the mix of opinions).

 

[Edwin-S]

I disagree.

For me, his films (the ones I have seen) rank this way:

Nausicaa of The Valley of The Wind
Kiki's Delivery Service
Porco Rosso
My Neighbor Totoro
Spirited Away- for animation quality this is number one in Miyazaki's canon
Princess Mononoke
Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro
Laputa: Castle in The Sky

 

[Mattias Stridsman]

I think Mononoke is my favorite, but that might be because I like movies with an "Epic" feel to them, and Mononoke certainly has that!

I that case I would strongly recommend "Castle in the Sky", it's probably my favorite Miyazaki film. Great music and the action is very well executed.

My rank of the one's I've seen:

1. Laputa: Castle in the Sky
2. Princess Mononoke
3. Spirited Away
4. Nausicaa of The Valley of The Wind
5. Kiki's Delivery Service
6. My Neighbor Totoro
7. Porco Rosso

1-5 are very good in my opinion and I have watched all of those 5 films multiple times. I found "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Porco Rosso" to be "only good".

 

[Jeff Kleist]

the Hong Kong package set a friend bought

You mean the Archives of Studio Ghibli bootleg set?

There are no authorized DVD collections of Studio Ghibli's works, and any such collection would be called "Ghibli ga Ippai" (Ghibli's best)

 

[Stephen_Dar]

You mean the Archives of Studio Ghibli bootleg set?

I dunno, but that sounds right.

 

[Brian"Thomas"]

I read a review for Kiki's Delivery Service that said that if one were to classify his films, this would be his "girls movie". Does that mean it is really girly or it just has a girl lead?

 

[Joseph Young]

I don't consider 'Kiki's' a 'girl's movie' at all. Yes, the main character is female, but the themes running through the film are generally applicable toward both genders.

There are no authorized DVD collections of Studio Ghibli's works

Yup, absolutely.
Demo, watashi no Ghibli no 'bo-ku se-to' daisuki desu.
If one sees such a package advertised anywhere, then you're seeing an unsanctioned bootleg. Definitely frowned upon under any circumstances.

~j