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nicolasstrappini
Reviews
Arashi no yoru ni (2005)
The cutest movie you could ever see!
This movie is unbelievably charming and cute.
It's about the friendship between a wolf and a little goat. The wolf defends the little goat from his wolf friends.... and you can really believe they love one another!
But the movie does deal with more adult themes too. It keeps you caring about what happens to the characters throughout.
The production values are quite good and the characters themselves have quite a wide range of expressions. The designs for the wolves don't look like typical anime designs. And the plot is less convoluted than most anime. I wouldn't show it to the youngest children as there is some mild violence and threat. I think it'd be rated PG.
But anyway You have to see it!
Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta (1986)
Why not just tune into Nickelodeon?
I had ordered this film with much anticipation off the Internet, since I had already seen most of Miyazaki's works, and I was surprised that it didn't grab me at all. The animation is very simple, it looks exactly like any Saturday morning cartoon (although admittedly, some of the backgrounds are of a higher caliber). The only things to differentiate it from a programme on Nickelodeon are the magical and beautiful score by Hisaishi, and the storyline. I would've loved to love this movie as much as I did Miyazaki's other efforts, but it just didn't have any resonance, it was too cartoony and childish. Maybe I'll watch it again and gain a different impression, maybe I've been spoiled by Spirited and Mononoke, but I just know this isn't anywhere near as impressive as those.
4/10
Tonari no Totoro (1988)
Magical, sweet, harmless.. gorgeous
Here's a movie that is entertaining, but also artistically stunning and suitable for everyone. Few films will encourage a big smile to emerge on your face as well this one, everything is just really cute and appealing. It's the greatest feel-good movie I've ever seen, just beating 'It's A Wonderful Life'. Thanks Mr. Miyazaki for another great animation! 10/10
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
Just... didn't... care...
The major flaw, as I see it, was that it didn't develop the characters for us to feel emotionally involved with them. They expect us to feel sad when we don't know their situations. They expect us to feel in allegiance with the People of Zion when Morpheus gives his 'patriotic' speech... but... we just don't care. I felt myself drifting off into weariness (and yes, I had enough sleep) when I heard the long-winded and elaborate dialogue about things that tax the brain to the limit, although some of the themes touched on are undoubtedly interesting. It makes me wonder what happened to the time when movies were popularly black-and-white, and I think, much more enjoyable for their simplicity.
It must be said, however, that the special effects are flawless and the setpieces are very brilliant, and the film deserves every acclaim for this achievement.
Therefore, I give this film half marks, for it's aesthetic brilliance, but it looses marks because of it's reliance on it's prequel and it's dissapointing ending. 5/10
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001)
Most perfect and special movie I have seen! :spoilers:
You've probably already seen my one line summary, and thought my review is just going to be me gushing. (probably still is...) But I'm going to go through why I think this movie is so great, so you'll be able to appreciate its merits too. I've heard people saying that perhaps teenagers would be averted from this movie because of it's idiosyncrasies, but I'm 16, and my class at school who watched it loved it too. We're a varying bunch ;-). By the way, I've seen mostly all of the top 150 movies in the IMDB list, so you can't say that I haven't seen enough movies... :spoilers:
Story line: A little girl (Chihiro), is spoilt and whiny, and is moving to the suburbs with her more adventurous parents. She moans over her flowers dying, and this is the start of our hints that she isn't the perfect little girl that usually inhabits Disney cartoons. The father accelerates through the more overgrown landscape, silencing Chihiro's worries by saying 'don't worry, I've got four-wheel-drive...' They stumble upon an opening, Chihiro is apprehensive, but her parents move on and the father is eager and childish. They come upon a massive field, and the mother identifies the place as an old Amusement Park, they move further on, Chihiro seems more at ease. This is until. they find some food and she finds herself surrounded by dark spirits, and her parents have transformed into pigs... Some critics have said that the storyline is far too random, but I say that almost every occurence is intricately woven into the story, and is one in a chain of events that helps Chihiro at the end of the film. The story is certainly original and never less that enthralling and compelling, it is pure fantasy, as Miyazaki said himself. We don't (or shouldn't...) expect it to make perfect sense. Another brilliant aspect of the story is witnessing Chihiro grow from being a clingy, crying girl into an independent and purpose-filled woman.
Animation: This is exquisite, and has almost unanimous acclaim to back it up. All of the cells are hand-drawn (except the very infrequent computer graphic aided sequences). Especially on the train, at one particular time, you will be hard pressed to feel that it is animation and not actual footage. The sunsets and backgrounds are simply beautiful and colorful. As illustrated in the DVD Bonus Features, we see how Miyazaki has made it so that the characters do not move mechanically, they feel around, and tap their shoes to make them more comfortable. This defines the animation, very well thought out, intricate and lifelike. In two words, it is pure art.
Score: This enhanced my favorite scene in any film I have watched, (when Chihiro is riding Haku and they fall, her tears fall up instead of down) it is soaring and adventurous and hopeful. From the beginning of the film, the score is flowing like water, but it knows when to be silent: when Noh Face and Chihiro leave the train. This enhances the scene, making it feel contemplative and slightly suspenseful. It should have been at least nominated for Best Score at the Academy this year.
''Replayability'': You will have probably missed many of the details in this film the first time round, and it is so enjoyable that you won't be able to resist, it says on the back of my DVD case: 'Spirited Away is a spectacular DVD the whole family will want to experience over and over again', and this sums my review up.
Go see it. 10/10