Panda! Go, Panda! (1972/3)

Two short films by the Studio Ghibli principles made in 1972/1973 and now released as Panda! Go, Panda! on DVD in US.  My 5 year old loves this film.  It had a good (not flawless) transition and the colors are all very bright and happy.  The two films are shown without break one after the other for a total showing time of about 70 minutes. 

The humor is rich and comes through the English dub well.  There is a gratuitous amount of panty flashing for some Japanese reason.  Although it doesn't take away from the cute an family friendliness of the film.  Its aged only by a brief show of tobacco and the occasional 70's soundtrack.

Overall a very enjoyable film more geared towards youngsters.  I would count this a Studio Ghibli film even though it predates the company by 13 years.  It lacks the high moral message of some of their films but rings true to films it inspired, most obviously Totoro.

3/4 stars  

Got busy with the holidays and didn't keep up with the blog.  I'm more active on Twitter for anyone interested.

Paranorman (2012 - Laika)

***minor spoilers***

Paranorman is the second film from Laika (Coraline, 2009).  It's not clear why stop-motion in the modern era is usually horror: Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, Corpse Bride, Coraline, Frankenweenie.  Regardless, Laika is currently the only full time studio making stop-motion so I want them to be successful.  

Stop motion has been dominated by two players over the past fifteen years, Tim Burton and Henry Selick.  Laika tapped Selick for 2009's Coraline.  But this time around they had to go with newcomer stop-motion directors Chris Butler and Sam Fell.  Chris Butler, who wrote the script, is a long time storyboarder (Corpse Bride, Caroline).  And Sam Fell is an animation director (Flushed Away, The Tale of Despereaux). 

Paranorman is centered around Norman Babcock who is a bullied outcast at school.  Norman can see dead people.  Which doesn't exactly help either at school or at home.  The film is set in a Massachusetts in a town with a history similar to the Salem Witch Trials.  And Norman is forced to save his town from its past.  

Visually the film is impressive.  The backgrounds are incredible.  But I found the character designs a bit too cartoonish for the plot.  Paranorman lacks the subtle horror of Caroline but is still successful in being scary.  Not a film for young children, or even kids under 10 in my opinion. 

At its heart Paranorman is a film about tolerance and is worth being checked out.

3/4 stars               

Three Caballeros (1944 - Disney)

I finally watched Disney's 1944 Three Caballeros (knight or gentleman).  To call it an animated feature is a stretch given all the live action scenes.  The plot is almost non-existent.  It's vaguely an introduction to Latin America using Donald Duck as an occasional tour guide.  But half the movie is Donald chasing tail. Seriously. Wikipedia has the back story here

Despite everything, Three Caballeros is an often fun ride full of music and live action dancing.  The live action scenes are interesting from an anthropological  perspective; we get to see how what was considered pretty has changed over time.

From a modern animation perspective the art varies from brief spots of above average to very dated/subpar.  The best word I can use to describe the art direction is trippy.  In fact it's one of the trippiest films ever made.  If it came to light that the CIA started their LSD trials on Disney animators in the 1940's, I wouldn't be all that surprised.

I have a hard time getting my head around the idea that Disney green lighted this film.  Young children will enjoy the music and their fathers will enjoy the scenery.  1.5 stars

Will we get two new Studio Ghibli films in 2013?  At least, will Japan?  What a year that will be!