Review of Disney release Ghibli DVDs

Hello,

My name is Sara and I'm a writer for JimHillMedia.com. My latest article is a review of Disney's latest releases of three Studio Ghibli films: "The Cat Returns", "Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind", and "Porco Rosso". While I'm sure everyone here has probably made up their mind about whether or not to buy these DVDs, I would appreciate any comments you might have on the review. I really love what I've seen of the Ghibli films, so I've done my best to talk about them intelligently an respectfully.

http://www.jimhillmedia.com/mb/articles/showarticle.php?ID=1360

Thanks for looking!

-Sara
JimHillMedia.com

Hi Sara. Welcome to the forums!

I have just finished reading your article. It is nicely written and informative. And I am pleased to see a quite positive review of _Neko_. Many hardcore Ghibli fans criticize it for being not well-developed. But I personally enjoy it very much, and it is my favourite non-Miyazaki Ghibli film.

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That would sure be an interesting one,
I'll read it as soon as I'll have time!

Jiji

I don't actually think that I'm a representative of a "hardcore Ghibli fan" but the first part of the story, "Whisper of the heart", was the one I considered more interesting, as it was psychologically close to me, while “The Cats return” was just a good fairy-tale. And I think the animation in “The cats…” is simpler

Hey, those are well-written reviews. Nice work!

I personally think that Nausicaa is the best of the three- Rosso has great characters and beautiful settings, but I felt the story itself was unsatisfying. But it is still a good film. The problem with Nausicaa I felt was primarily technical- the drawings aren't quite as vivid looking as the newer Miyazaki films, but I loved the story and the glider sequences.

I wrote up reviews of "Porco Rosso" and "Nausicaa" for www.tollbooth.org for their April issue coming in a week or two, so those would have my opinions more fully fleshed out.

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Originally posted by Fail
I don't actually think that I'm a representative of a "hardcore Ghibli fan" but the first part of the story, "Whisper of the heart", was the one I considered more interesting, as it was psychologically close to me, while “The Cats return” was just a good fairy-tale. And I think the animation in “The cats…” is simpler

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Umm... I personally think that the animation (not the drawings, they are fabulous ) of _Whisper_ is not particularly smooth when compared to the other Ghibli works. There are a few jerky scenes. Recycling of certain stacks of cels can also be noticed.

Although the character-design of _Neko_ is quite different from the Ghibli tradition, and the movie has an overall more "dreamy" atmosphere, the animation is splendid. Movements of characters are very natural and smooth, and the ending flying sceneis amazing.

But well, these are just my personal opinions. You need not to agree with them

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Originally posted by starhawk
Hey, those are well-written reviews. Nice work!

I personally think that Nausicaa is the best of the three- Rosso has great characters and beautiful settings, but I felt the story itself was unsatisfying. But it is still a good film. The problem with Nausicaa I felt was primarily technical- the drawings aren't quite as vivid looking as the newer Miyazaki films, but I loved the story and the glider sequences.

I wrote up reviews of "Porco Rosso" and "Nausicaa" for www.tollbooth.org for their April issue coming in a week or two, so those would have my opinions more fully fleshed out.

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I am with you on the opinions on Nausicaa and Porco. The animation of Nausicaa is pretty backward, but the story beats all . As for Porco, it has a nice plot , but the story unfolds itself in an unaccomplishing way. But maybe this is another kind of beauty in simplicity.

I look forward to your review by the way.

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Thanks kindly for all the nice comments.

I think I pretty well covered why "Porco Rosso" is my personal favorite of these three films in the article. (My favorite Ghibli film overall happens to be "Kiki's Delivery Service".) I agree that for someone more familiar with Miyazaki's work in particular, the style of "The Cat Returns" takes a little adjusting to initially. That said, although it never feels quite as transcendent as a Miyazaki movie, it's a charming film and the style works very well for its story and rather light tone. And I find the end credit song very catchy, even if I can only remember the tune.

Like I said in my review, I like "Nausicaa", but I think it suffers from manga-to-movie syndrome. It's not completely incomprehensible to someone who hasn't read the comic, but the manga does feel like a more complete story. The movie is quite good for what it is, but it's still a condensed version of a manga that was barely 1/3 finished when the film was made.

There's one little annecdote I wanted to put into the review, but I just couldn't fit it in. I had never seen "The Cat Returns" before, or "Whisper of the Heart" for that matter. (I'm still kind of wondering why Disney chose to release this one first.) So my boyfriend and I decided to watch that one first, with the subtitled Japanese language track. (I still haven't got around to watching any of the dubs; I just checked out the English voice actors documentaries for the review.) Along comes the scene where Haru has found the Cat Bureau and with much prodding, Muta agrees to join the effort to help her out. In the subtitle translation - which I'm pretty sure is the same as the dub, Haru slips up and calls him "Moo-ta". Muta is insulted and accuses her of calling him a fat cow or some such thing. As I'm watching this, I know this is a joke that didn't translate well into English. But it wasn't until about an hour after we finished watching the movie that my very limited knowledge of Japanese kicked in and I remembered that "buta" is Japanese for pig. I figured it made much more sense for Haru to mispronounce the big kitty's name that way and for Muta to be offending at her calling him a porker. A quick trip to Nausicaa.net confirmed my suspicions and I felt vaguely smart. Though I probably would have figured the whole thing out sooner if we'd watched "Porco Rosso" first.

Thanks again!
-Sara

I've heard quite a few people say that Miyazaki's Nausicaa manga is excellent- I'm set on ordering the whole series come next payday.

So, I actually have not read the manga; perhaps that is why the Nausicaa film impressed me overall more than it impressed you. I actually think Nausicaa's story was more well-developed and comprehensible than Princess Mononoke's, which I felt suffered slightly from some faceless characters- the emperor, the samurai forces, etc.
As far as manga-to-movie syndrome, I certainly expect the manga to be far more lush and complete than the film.

I think Porco and Fio are some of my favorite Miyazaki characters. Very funny relationship they have.

Post last edited by starhawk on 03.26.2005, 08:47 PM.

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Originally posted by starhawk
I've heard quite a few people say that Miyazaki's Nausicaa manga is excellent- I'm set on ordering the whole series come next payday.

So, I actually have not read the manga; perhaps that is why the Nausicaa film impressed me overall more than it impressed you. I actually think Nausicaa's story was more well-developed and comprehensible than Princess Mononoke's, which I felt suffered slightly from some faceless characters- the emperor, the samurai forces, etc.
As far as manga-to-movie syndrome, I certainly expect the manga to be far more lush and complete than the film.

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Yes, I think it is quite true. Many avid fans of the manga had high expectations of the movie, and always dreamt of seeing all those stunning scenes in the manga animated. To their dismay, the movie just covered less than 25% of the manga. The anime also seems to be less "postmodern" and "philosophical." If the readers like tha manga for these aspects, they may feel that the anime is shallower than what they expect. Last but not the least, the manga has been released in the Western world for quite a long time, but the DVD has just been released in less about a month ago. Usually the longer you wait, the higher expectation you have.

I first watched Nausicaa when I was very young (2 or 3?), and all I can remember was getting beaten up by my dad in the toilet of the theatre . It was not until last year that I watched it again. I was also planning to buy the manga, but I only got book 1 at that time. So fortunately my viewing pleasure was not overshadowed by the manga. On the next day I got all the remaining volumes. I was totally hooked, and finished the whole set within one day (I stayed up until 2 am). I really have to say it is much better than the anime. I was still thinking about its scenes and all its philosophical questions for the next few days.

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As a front warning, I'd like to actually declare myself a pretty harsh critic, so please excuse me if I happen to say anything that might offend you.

First of all, I am extremely disappointed with the "link" between Whispers and Cat. The only "link" that exists between the two is the Baron, and the fact that the original comic for both movies are from the same author. Muta in both movies are not the same, and I can't help but be surprised how it wasn't obvious, considering the very obvious difference in colour. Second, although the title has been translated in a literal manner, it meaning has not; "Neko no Ongaeshi" literally means "A favour a cat owes", and 'returns' in this case is "a return in favour", not a return in the character, and although Disney is in no way at fault (nor can I see any other better translation given the word count constrictions), I am still pretty much saddened by this.

Fortunately, these are actually all common misconceptions, so I can forgive pretty much anyone who makes these mistakes (except ghibli fanatics, for they have no excuse).

For the plus points, I do very much agree with your comparison with Alice in Wonderland, especially the part where both characters gain a new appreciation towards life. It's a refreshing new look, and one I very much agree upon.

On Nausicaa, I'm surprised you mentioned the use of synthesizers, something I thought no one else would notice (also glaringly obvious in Laputa). Otherwise, this part of the review receives my thumbs up.

Your review on Porco Rosso is top notch, and the only fault I can find is the relation between being cool and trenchcoats and smoking, to which I can't comment because I haven't seen any trailers for Porco Rosso anyway.

I also find it pleasingly surprisingly when you mentioned the movie to be a sort of self-indulgence, because in a sense it is. And I believe there is an official source floating somewhere that can back me up here. Goes to show how much Miyazaki can actually pour his feelings into every one of his works.

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No one else is me.

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Originally posted by fenkashi
Screw your opinions, they are not relevant ^^.

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Post last edited by Roarkiller on 04.01.2005, 11:05 AM.

Thanks for the comments, Roarkiller. I don't recall if I mentioned that I haven't seen "Whisper of the Heart" yet, so I was mainly going by what was said in the documentary on the DVD and on Nausicaa.net regarding the connection between the two films. (The documentary indicates that the author considers the story of "The Cat Returns" to be another story written by Shizuku from "Whisper", which could help to explain why Muta's appearence changes between the two films. I'm still wondering why Disney chose to release "Cat Returns" before "Whisper". Maybe they're concerned about the rather young protagonists getting engaged at the end?) If the Japanese title does indeed translate to "A favor a cat owes", then I suppose "the cat" could refer to any number of cats (The Cat King, Prince Lune, or Yuki), but probably not Baron, who helps Haru out of the goodness of his heart more than any sense of obligation to her. I can see why Disney opted for a shorter, easier to understand title, but I'm sorry I wasn't aware of this prior to writing my review. Guess I'm not up to Ghibli fanatic status quite yet.

I'm sorry if I'm missing the obvious, but I'm not sure exactly what your feeling is about my mention of the use of synthesizers in "Nausicaa". I like the score otherwise and feel that the synthesizers are the only element that makes it feel somewhat dated. I haven't watched "Laputa" in a while, so the connection in the score didn't occur to me.

Of course, I'm not advocating that my readers start wearing trenchcoats and take up smoking any more than I'm saying that they should get plastic surgery so that their heads resemble those of pigs. I just thought that the line, included in all of the trailers, was further evidence of how much Miyazaki made this film for himself. If you were to ask Miyazaki to draw his idea of a really cool character, I imagine you'd get something akin to the Bogart-esque Porco. There's a little evidence for my assertion that his was a somewhat self-indulgent project in Helen McCarthy's book on Miyazaki and his films, so that may be the reference you're remembering.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

-Sara

I was split about the synthesizer music. On one hand, I thoughti t helped accentuate the sci-fi mood of the film; on the other, it did give the film an older, 80's feel, which may delight some- especially those who love 80's sci-fi- but it might turn off others.

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Originally posted by Demonskrye The documentary indicates that the author considers the story of "The Cat Returns" to be another story written by Shizuku from "Whisper", which could help to explain why Muta's appearence changes between the two films.

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__________________
I am me.
I am who I am.
I am Roarkiller.
No one else is me.

Roarkiller.net
Isakaya High RPG Site

quote:

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Originally posted by fenkashi
Screw your opinions, they are not relevant ^^.

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Post last edited by Roarkiller on 04.04.2005, 11:00 AM.