Arietty & Ponyo

It's very difficult that a Ghibli production receives a bad critique. All anime are exquisit and beautifully pregnant of siginficance. Howether it's true that some receive a wider recognition than others.

I would like to know the forum opinion over the last works:

- Arietty
- Ponyo

I remember, for instance, the magazine NEO writing: "Ponyo may be kid-friendly, but it's a soggy experience for older viewer" adding only 2 stars as vote (issue 69).

I might start having motherly feelings and I surely love the magic of the sea, but I when I saw Ponyo the first tme I found adorable that little girl. Besides, living in a chaotic city where there is never time for nothing but the necessity, makes me keen to the idea of enjoying a better quality of life as portraited in the anime small village where everybody knows everybody. The idea of the sea magically organised also is quite alluring. So overall I think Ponyo would deserve something more than 2 stars.

I remained colder towards Arietty instead. I found the characters sort of out of place or to better say all over the place. I didn't received any imput that would make me like them or dislike them, leaving me a sensation of detatchment. Also, the wilde boy she meets reminds me too much of Jimushī from Mirai shōnen Konan.

What do you all think?

__________________
"Dream in a pragmatic way"

Ivynwater

I rather liked Arrietty, and would rate it much higher if Miyazaki hadn't given the boy such a sappy backstory. Arrietty herself was very much fleshed out IMO.

Ponyo, well... yeah. Overly childish and overly complicated at the same time, which is a rather rare feat in itself.

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

Roarkiller.net
Isakaya High RPG Site

quote:

---

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

---

I enjoyed both movies, but felt that Arreitty was kind of flat, so to speak. Well drawn and all that, but something just wasn't there, if you see what i mean... Not a usual Ghibli product...

Ponya, I enjoyed from the get-go. Just loved it all...

__________________

quote:

---

Originally posted by Roarkiller
I rather liked Arrietty, and would rate it much higher if Miyazaki hadn't given the boy such a sappy backstory. Arrietty herself was very much fleshed out IMO.

Ponyo, well... yeah. Overly childish and overly complicated at the same time, which is a rather rare feat in itself.

---

Here's someone who feels similarly to you:
http://www.theanalyticalcouchpotato.com/...f-arrietty.html

However, I feel that all the passion and handrawing Myazaki put on this work of his, says a lot about the deep love he had for this story.

In a sense, I feel your perseption of Ponyo being "overly complicated" can indeed be a characteristic of all Ghibli ainimations where a plausible depiction of reality is crossed by the supernatural.

I don't think that Spirited Away is less complex than Ponyo in that respect. Maybe, it is better justified in his characters and setting. As viewer, it's easier to accept the existance of one child believing in something not real than a whole village or a parent who doesn't question the strange events happening around, that's true, but there are people who don't ask for explanations (when I used to live in the UK one of my landlady was like this and her little daughter was all over the place because of her attitude! )

Arrietty is a lovely anime and a lovely story but I think sort of less brave and daring than Ponyo. In Arrietty nothing is truly examined and the whole backstory is very, very safe.....where's the challenge Ghibli always presented to their audience?

__________________
"Dream in a pragmatic way"

Ivynwater

Was referring to the magician when I said "complicated". I mean really, with all the complicated jargon he spouts... or maybe I'm just too mature to enjoy the movie.

And I know it's based on the story of the little mermaid, but the ending was just bleh.

On Arrietty, because I've sampled the old village life(as in literally nothing but ourselves for entertainment), and because I know the feeling of being constrained both by my parents and my circumstances, Arrietty feels very real to me. She's young, she's filled with energy, and she's alone.

And we all know how that feels like.

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

Roarkiller.net
Isakaya High RPG Site

quote:

---

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

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by husky51
I enjoyed both movies, but felt that Arreitty was kind of flat, so to speak. Well drawn and all that, but something just wasn't there, if you see what i mean... Not a usual Ghibli product...

Ponya, I enjoyed from the get-go. Just loved it all...

---

[/QUOTE] (...) Although I am not a massive fan of the little mermaid, I think it is one of Disneys worst, how wierd!
[/QUOTE]

I can quote Pocahontas as the worse of the worse of the worse Dsiney, historically, in respect to Natives and so on....

__________________
"Dream in a pragmatic way"

Ivynwater

Post last edited by Ivynwater on 05.19.2012, 09:21 AM.

Hi all.

This is my first post here. Love Studio Ghibli and found this place quite by accident.

As for the subject of the thread. My own two pennith worth.

I've read a few comments about Panyo, claiming it was both childish and complicated. With respect, I get the impression that the whole point of Studio Ghibli is being missed. It seem to me to be about characters, personalities with amazing visuals.

But if I may criticise Panyo its the American influence.

Before anyone jumps down my throat, I have nothing against America. It has a unique culture. But it like most cultures, its at its best when it doesn't try to be something is isn't.

Panyo was, in my opinion, spoilt by some of the americanism, the little boy's voice for example. The Closing song sounded as if it had been written for a cheap kids TV show. It's frankly, nausating.

But the worst aspect of Panyo is the dubbing into English. Unnecessary and inappropriate. It is vandalism of an artform. Apologies for the underline. I feel quite strongly about it.

I confess to haveing only seen a few Studio Ghibli films, and Panyo is the only one which was dubbed. All of the others are so good because they are each so different. Like two painting from the same artist, completely different, both utterly brilliant yet so similar because the come from the same source.

Panyo was another wonderful masterpiece, spoilt by the interference of others.

I haven't seen Arietty but have watched the clip. It come across as yet another formula Disney film, using non-Disney graphics. Heros and villens, good and bad. Black and white.

It doesn't seem very promising frankly, but I will try to see it when I can.

Americans are great people. They have a fantastic culture. But they really need to learn that non-American cultures aren't necessarily in need of their improvements.

Gee, just jump right in there and say your piece, Spacial..

hahaha, just funning with you...

Welcome to the Tavern, Spacial and reviews are always welcome...

I, myself, prefer the subbing of Ghibli's rather than the dubbing. I was lucky enough to have spent 2 yrs homeported in Japan and was able to get out into the countryside and see the 'REAL' Japan and not just the bars, etc.

As for American culture, for me that is hard to define as it is comprised of so many different cultures combined together over the years. Plus, I have grown up IN the culture and so may not be as aware of it as someone from another country might be. May I ask what country you are from? We have so many represented in here.

Again, Welcome and we hope you stay with us...

__________________

I liked Ponyo better than I did Arrietty, but niether are on my top 10 favorite Ghibli films. Ponyo is odd -no backstory about her dad and why does Sosuke's mother drive so crazy?? I couldn't wait to see Arrietty, but when I finally did, I was disapointed, it was lacking. I need to watch it again, but in Japanese instead of English.

__________________
"We're all born with selfish desires, so we can all relate to those feelings in others. But kindness is something made individually by each person...so it's easy to misunderstand when others are trying to be kind to you." Natsuki

Post last edited by Mokiepoet on 08.02.2012, 05:45 PM.

When I first saw Ponyo I thought it was OK but not great. I felt that it was overly-complex in some ways, and sometimes just didn't make much sense. It almost felt like a parody of Miyazaki's older movies. However, I just rewatched it recently and was a lot more impressed by it. Everything seemed to make sense to me this time and the whole movie just flowed beautifully. I also loved the bright colors used in the movie. In my opinion, Ponyo is just as good as most of Miyazaki's older works.

Like many others have said, Arrietty felt rather flat. It seemed like the purpose of it was to create a pleasant, safe movie that fit beautifully in the mold of other Ghibli movies but really didn't bring anything new. I also felt that the pacing was a little off. The movie was very slow moving towards the middle, even to the point where it got a bit boring, and then the climax felt very rushed.

However, I think both of these movies were far better than Goro's latest movie, From Up on Poppy Hill. Just like Tales from Earthsea, this movie was so dull and lifeless it was so hard to get into. The characters were very flat and I couldn't relate to them. I think Goro's problem as a filmmaker is that he just goes through the motions of the script, he doesn't really add his own personal touch to the movie. He isn't daring like Miyazaki and Takahata.

To be honest, I kind of fear for the future of Ghibli with Goro being one of the only successors to Miyazaki and Takahata. I wish they could find somebody with more talent. I think Hiromasa Yonebayashi is a lot more promising.

Post last edited by msteve60 on 08.02.2012, 06:51 PM.