The Wind Rises (2013, Studio Ghibli)

The Wind Rises is a mostly hand drawn film by famed Studio Ghibli cofounder Hayao Miyazaki. The art is decent but not up to par with previous Ghibli works Arriety and Ponyo. But much like From Up On Poppy Hill, I have no idea why this film needed to be animated. It doesn't use the format to add anything to the story.  

I have nothing really good to say about this film, which I find maddening. The pacing is slow, the soundtrack dull and the film exhibits Miyazaki's well intentioned chauvinism. And unlike most Studio Ghibli films, the characters do not go through a transformation of any sort, there is no naturalism or strong Japanese cultural references.   

The plot consists of following engineer Jiro Horikoshi around the world as he learns how to become a world class aircraft designer. Jiro eventually returns to Japan to put his knowledge to use in creating war machines for the Japanese military. There are no other significant characters in the film and no one else gets more than passing characterization.

Even more damning was the message. Which was, as I could unpack it, to be true to your artistic vision and damn the consequences. Even when your form of art is to design a fighter plane that would be used in Japan's wars of aggression leading up to WWII. One could imagine a film about a German architect designing concentration camps. But as long as the buildings he designed were to his utmost artistic vision then it would be okay with Miyazaki. I'm sure that was not his intention. But that's the mess his film left us with.

1/4 stars.

Quick Hits from 2013

I've been very busy with life and not able to post recently.  But I did manage to take in some of the summer films.

I got to see From Up On Poppy Hill in the theaters.  Which turned into a financial disaster for GKIDS and Ghibli.  I'm not at all surprised to see that Ghibli has linked a new deal with Disney for US distribution.  I actually enjoyed the GKIDS adaptation.  It was funny how they ducked the incest taboo in the translation.

Monster's U was written to action movie spec.  It was predictable and trite.  It added nothing to the original.  It's an example of everything that is wrong with Pixar these days.  I found it sad.  1.5/4 stars.

Planes turned out to be the second best performing movie in DisneyToon's history after Return to Neverland.  This was another spec film.  The CG was middle of the road and the characterization is poor and full of archetypes.  But I actually enjoyed it.  For the intended audience of young boys it succeeds.  2/4 stars.

In the rentals department I've only picked up Epic.  Which I was pretty disappointed with.  Clearly a cookie cutter, by the numbers, CG film.  I found it boring.  Pretty but airheaded.  1.5/4 stars.   
 
 I'm still waiting for the first 2013 film to wow me.         

Thoughts on the US release of From Up On Poppy Hill

I managed to see From Up On Poppy Hill in the theater this past week. As a result of film distributor GKIDS' inability to release a film nationwide, Poppy Hill has been touring the country a few movie theaters at a time. Since the film has been out a few years I had already seen a dubbed version of Poppy Hill a couple of times. Which allowed me to be able to relax and enjoy the show on a less critical level.

The English version is well produced and the voice talent sublime. I actually enjoyed the translation better then Disney's treatment of last year's Arriety. But while watching the previews before Poppy Hill started I had to shake my head. All of those animated sequels were going to make millions, tens of millions of dollars. While the movie I was going to watch is superior in every way, few would ever watch it or even hear of it.  And it didn't have to be that way.

Poppy Hill had no marketing in the US. As a result the film made a depressing 900k. While last year's Disney release of Arriety made US19mm in theaters. Ghibli has been growing its brand in the US for more then a decade. They have won an Academny Award and had critical and box office success. But one of their most marketable films has gone nowhere.  It is hard to imagine how any distribution deal could or should survive that level of performance.

Poppy Hill does have drawbacks. The film fails to utilize the animation media to enhance the plot. The art is effective without ever being impressive. The direction is adequate but overly cautious. It's hard to see why it needed to be animated at all since it in no way exists in the world of fantasy. Indeed, Poppy Hill could have been recorded as a live action film for much cheaper. But it wasn't. And I'm glad.  Because Ghibli needed an accessible film. And they delivered. 

As for the English dub, there were a few moments of language translation equals re-write. This was most obvious when the the original film delved into the taboo of incest. The translated version largely ducked the controversy.  But overall the dub is true to the original subtitles.     

Summer Wars (2009)

I just watched Summer Wars from director Mamoru Hosoda (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time).  It's an enjoyable ride with a great English dub.  Summer Wars is fun geek romance set against a hacker attack directed at the internet.  And they got the tech right.

While not directly the antagonist in this film, the US Department of Defense is blamed for releasing a virus that starts destroying core operations on the internet.  This is the weakest part of the plot.  It's never made clear why the DOD would be motivated to release the virus on the public. It's just assumed that of course the DOD would do such a thing; reflecting Japanese stereotypes of the US military.

Only the DOD never counted on a nerdy kid, his sexy (sorta) girl friend and her 90 year old grandmother.  This oddball mixture comes together to fight the virus and defend humanity.  Each brings a different skill set and Rolodex to the battle.   Hosoda covers familiar terrority here, strong family values, celebration of pastoral life and respect for elders.  Only Hosoda applies those rules to a family that lives in the 21st century.      
 
Visually Summer Wars is hand drawn with CG cut scenes and backgrounds.  It can be distracting to have a 2D figure standing in front of a 3D object and  I really wish anime would move away from this mixture.  Otherwise, the visual metaphors for the internet are amazing. 

A fast driven plot with laughs and the odd touching moment. 
3.5/4 stars 







  

   

My Top Ten Animated Features

I was asked recently on Twitter what my favorite animated feature is.  My gut screamed Toy Story but then I doubted myself.  So I put all of my favorite animated films on a spreadsheet to compete with each other in heats.  Yes, I'm a geek.  My gut was right, Toy Story won every heat, but just barely.

Below are my top ten animated features of all time.  And yes they do seem to focus on more modern films.  I am aware of and have watched the most significant (and insignificant) animated features.  Disney does indeed have a great legacy.  But that doesn't mean those classics are beating out the modern films when it comes to quality, art or story.

I tried to rule out "significance" to the genre as a factor in determining what the greatest films are.  Determine for yourself how I fared.

1	Toy Story	1995	Pixar
2	Coraline	2009	Laika
3	Wreck-It Ralph	2012	Disney
4	Fantastic Mr Fox	2009	Fox
5	The Lion King	1994	Disney
6	Ponyo	2008	Ghibli
7	Rango	2011	ILM
8	Akira	1988	TMS
9	Kiki's Delivery Service	1989	Ghibli
10	How to Train Your Dragon	2010	Dreamworks

      

The Aristocrats (1970)

***spoilers***

The Aristocats is a 1970 animated feature, the last film to be green lighted by Disney himself.  The plot follows the ups and downs of a Paris family of cats, a mother and her three kittens.  Through underhanded means the family is dumped in the French countryside to fend for themselves.  An alley cat takes pity on them and leads the family back to Paris so that they can try to regain their former status.

Aristocats is a gentle film filled with slapstick humor and music.  The characters are believable, if a bit cliché.  The villain isn't intimidating and there is never much doubt that the cats can defeat him.  The animation is standard for its era but looks dated to the modern eye. 

There is no bold social commentary in Aristocats.  The rich are happy in their big houses and the working class cats are happy in their flop houses.  Dump the rich into the country and they will continue to function as the landed elite.  While the cats undertake an arduous journey they are never transformed by it.

At heart Aristocats is a romance full of cute cats that exemplify typical gender roles. Little girls will delight in this film and boys will enjoy the action.     

2/4 stars 

    

Remake the Brave Little Toaster

I had a crazy idea.  Pixar, Disney or DisenyToon should remake The Brave Little Toaster.  The animation has not dated well and it always should have been CG.  Since it was the film that got John Lasseter fired from Disney maybe it's time to square that circle.