Wow - Spirited Away and other movies by Miyazaki

[Holdfast]

I quite like several of his movies, but it totally depends on my mood whether I'll enjoy them. I have to be in just the right frame of mind to suspend disbelief enough to let the charm work on me, otherwise I start to get bored very quickly. And regardless of mood, I can never get into Princess Mononoke (heresy, I know) or Nausicaa. Still haven't got round to watching Howl's Moving Castle or Porco Rosso, though I keep meaning to.

Kiki's Delivery Service is probably my favourite; it appeals to my silly side, as does Totoro. The naive charm is very appealing, if I'm in just the right mood for them, esp. Kiki.

 

[Jefferies]

One thing about Miyazaki's films is that they don't fall into a Western good-vs.-bad paradigm; there are few villains in his films, just people with differing goals and viewpoints and blind spots and flaws. I thought that Mononoke in particular portrayed the industrialists as being just as human and well-intentioned as the people on the side of nature; it wasn't so much saying "technology is evil" as "imbalance is harmful." I don't fully remember the film's details, but I think it ended up more with a balance being struck between nature and technology than with the nasty machines being wiped out.

Sounds like an apt analysis to me. Although, Mononoke fell a bit short in the end of what it could have been. The conclusion seemed a bit abrupt and the romantic relationship between the two protagonist was ended with a one-liner. Also, I think Mononoke was a bit too ambitious in what it was trying to say on a global level. In constrast, most Ghibli films take place more at the level of individuals. They imerse us more exclusively in the mentality of the characters, instead of giving us the grand scheme of things. In Miyazaki's storytelling style, this comes across more heartfelt.

I think a good example of this is Whisper of the Heart, which I saw this evening. It's a bit of a teeny-girly film, which might make it less accessable to people outside of this demographic (e.g. people like me), but it was very true to its character driven premise (there isn't much of a plot), exploring its chief protagonist in great detail. As a result, it generated a significant amount of emotional participation and reflection on the character's experiences on my part. Which is an achievement, as I would normally never consider watching a film that focuses on a teenage girl romance (Yuck! would be my usual association ).

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

Question for the fans, is there more than one version of Spirited Away? I saw it a number of years ago, and while I am not a huge animation fan anyway, thought it was just terrible. The whole movie seemed like a jumbled mess with scenes that contradicted each other and no sense of a coherent story. I vaguely recall reading though that there was a U.S. version that was heavily edited and changed around though and I was wondering if that was the version I saw.

 

[Christopher]

No, the only change to the English version was the redubbed dialogue, with a few lines being added to explain things (such as the bathhouse) that Japanese audiences would take for granted.

It's true that the film doesn't have a conventional linear narrative of the kind we expect in Western films, and I suppose there are things that might seem contradictory based on Western expectations, such as characters not being straightforwardly good or bad but having multiple facets. It's not a simple film to understand, and the mystery and strangeness of the experience is part of the point, I think. Here's Wikipedia on the themes of the film:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirited_away#Themes_and_archetypes

 

[Jefferies]

As far as I know, there is the original Japanese version which can be watched with subtitles and various regional dubs. The English one was produced by Disney and I believe the translation is such that its not always literal but explains some of the more unusal cultural references and also some of the characters were changed in the type of voice they had to conform better to Western expectations. But apart from that all versions are fairly similar, from what I have read. There is more variation with other Miyazaki films like My Neighbour Totoro where there are two English dubs, that differe significantly in translation and style.

Edit: You beat me to it Christopher and I agree the narrative style is not straighforward, which I found very appealing indeed.

 

[Cutter John]

^ It took me a second, or even third viewing to pick up on some of the details.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

I haven't seen the original English dub of My Neighbor Totoro, but I have seen the Disney redub. I'm glad they didn't cut anything in the Disney version.

Castle in the Sky, the redub, had the music updated. The composer was called back and asked to redo the music, and what he did was amazing. He used a full orchestra and it was incredible. I ended up paying a mint for the soundtrack.

 

[zakkrusz]

Well, I wouldn't say I'm a fan of his work exactly as it's kind of hit or miss with me, but I have seen most of them, and I do find most of his films to be good at the very least. Miyazaki films are a little too family friendly for my tastes. I enjoyed Princess Mononoke, and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind the most, personally because they were a bit darker. Castle in the Sky, Lupin the 3rd: Castle of Cagliostro, Whisper of the Heart, Howl's Moving Castle, Porco Rosso, Spirited Away, and Ponyo of the Cliffs by the Sea were also good.

My forte for anime films is more the Paprika, Sword of the Stranger, or Kara no Kyoukai varieties.

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

Spirited Away....never...ever see it in English. GAH! That kid is more annoying than Jake Lloyd in Star Wars.

 

[Tomato]

My beef is that the movies are always so expensive and I could never get the opportunity to enjoy them.

I would give it a nother try in that case. Here in the UK, Amazon is almost giving them away, at about £7.50 (~$12) per movie. I'm sure these movies will be out on blu-ray soon, which could be why the DVDs are so cheap right now.

Whoa thanks for the tips. Too bad the freaking pound is so effin expensive.

 

[Kelthaz]

His pro-nature, anti-technology in practically all his movies can get annoying, but it's always presented well enough.

I wouldn't go quite that far. One thing about Miyazaki's films is that they don't fall into a Western good-vs.-bad paradigm; there are few villains in his films, just people with differing goals and viewpoints and blind spots and flaws. I thought that Mononoke in particular portrayed the industrialists as being just as human and well-intentioned as the people on the side of nature; it wasn't so much saying "technology is evil" as "imbalance is harmful." I don't fully remember the film's details, but I think it ended up more with a balance being struck between nature and technology than with the nasty machines being wiped out.

Oh, I wasn't criticizing that aspect of his movies. I love that aspect of his movies; It's a nice change of pace from so many action movies out there. I completely agree with you.

The problem is that he tends to use that theme all the time. It's fantastic the first time, pretty good the second, and by the third or fourth you get a little bored of it. It doesn't even come close to ruining his movies, but sometimes I wish the day would be saved by the army rather than a little girl who believes in peace.

I get it. War is bad, technology is bad if abused, and nature is awesome.

 

[Random_Spock]

The only films by him that I've seen are Spirited Away and Princess Monoke. They were pretty good. The animation was crisp and the voice acting was nice in both of them.

 

[Jefferies]

The problem is that he tends to use that theme all the time. It's fantastic the first time, pretty good the second, and by the third or fourth you get a little bored of it. It doesn't even come close to ruining his movies, but sometimes I wish the day would be saved by the army rather than a little girl who believes in peace.

I get it. War is bad, technology is bad if abused, and nature is awesome.

Well, normally its not that blunt. And the main protagonists usually don't end up being the ultimate saviours. They tend to improve things by getting certain groups or people to rethink their positions like in Mononoke and Spirited Away, but that doesn't necessarily mean that all problems are solved. Then there are all those films that don't really have any kind of oppositional conflict, such as Totoro, Kiki and Whisper of the Heart. Its all about the characters in the end and much less about what they achieve at a material or political level.

 

[zakkrusz]

Ah, yes the good old "slice of life" genre of which there are many good examples of in anime. Shows where nothing much at all happens but it's extremely interesting nonetheless.

 

[clint g]

Yeah, I tried getting into Miyazaki but other than Princes Mononoke, I've feel like the movies fall flat

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Spirited Away....never...ever see it in English. GAH! That kid is more annoying than Jake Lloyd in Star Wars.

I've decided that, if I'm watching a Japanese anime film to appreciate it for art (as opposed to something mindlessly entertaining), I'll watch it with subtitles instead of dubbed, since the dialog is part of the original presentation.

So far, that means it only applies to Spirited Away and Akira, but that's a start.