Tag Archives: Animation

Spellbound (2024)

29 Tuesday Apr 2025

Posted by in Movies, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

(For Day 28 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem about “music at a ceremony or event of some kind,” like for instance a birthday.)

“Happy Birthday!” everyone sang.
The sound of unity in my ears rang.
Everyone loved me, at least for a song
That needed more verses to feel at all long,
And oh, how I wished, as the candles were blown,
That mom would stop yelling and put down her phone
And dad would stop cursing and pointing his finger,
That both would just stay as a smiling singer
And love me enough to not hate one another.
Not too much to ask for a father and mother.
I knew what would happen but blew all the same.
Then maybe the candles would carry the blame.
_____________________

MPA rating: PG

Sometimes a film so clearly wants to be like its predecessors that you have to at least admire the effort that went into its earnest attempt. Mary and the Witch’s Flower comes to mind in trying to live up to Studio Ghibli’s legacy, while Skydance Animation’s Spellbound aspires to be like the Disney princess musicals of yore. It certainly has a pedigree with producer John Lassiter, director Vicky Jenson of Shrek, and songs by the great Alan Menken. In it, Princess Ellian (Rachel Zegler) of the fantasy kingdom of Lumbria desperately tries to keep secret from the citizens that her royal parents (Javier Bardem, Nicole Kidman) have been transformed into animal-like monsters running amok in the palace. Seeking the help of two magical Oracles (Nathan Lane and Titus Burgess as an unspoken gay couple), Ellian takes her parents on a dangerous journey to transform them back to humans.

Spellbound has a lot of great ideas to its credit, particularly in the world-building, from a waterfall used as a massive gate to a desert that turns to quicksand under cloud shadows or a tunnel where sounds become projectiles. The songs are quite good too, though still don’t hold a candle to Menken’s best work, and the voice cast is on point, especially Zegler’s original spunky princess role and John Lithgow as her long-suffering adviser/sidekick. 

But it’s hard to escape the feeling that Spellbound is a pale imitation that needed more fleshing out to avoid its own plot holes, like how the monster king and queen escape the palace when their cages are left open yet had been free to wander the palace for months before that. And then there’s the message that makes itself known rather late in the runtime, clarifying the monster situation as a metaphor for divorce and saying many of the right things for a resolution while not diving deep enough to make it land emotionally. Spellbound is a valiant effort, often funny, cute, and imaginative, but its muddled tone and oversimplified lesson keep it from rising to the level of its forerunners.

Best line: (Queen Ellsmere, to her daughter) “The best thing about us is you. And it always has been.”

Rank: Honorable Mention

© 2025 S.G. Liput
807 Followers and Counting

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024)

27 Sunday Apr 2025

Posted by in Movies, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

(For Day 27 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem focusing on a detail of a painting, but I think I’ll go off-prompt today and cover a movie I’ve been meaning to review for a while.)

The legends that matter endure through time.
The others are lost with a final breath,
Were not so luck’ly preserved in rhyme,
And died an unremembered death.

What could have saved the tales so lost?
A copied scroll or a memorized line?
What bade a once-loved myth be tossed
Ere passing history’s finish line?

What wonders, horrors, joys, and fears
Have gone extinct with fossils none?
The stories mute for want of ears…
I wish I could read oblivion.
___________________

If you imagine a Venn diagram with anime fandom and Lord of the Rings fandom as the two circles, I would be squarely in the middle of the shared area. Therefore, an anime spin-off film set a couple hundred years before The Fellowship of the Ring was right up my alley from the start. Focusing on one of the legendary tales of the horse-riding nation of Rohan, the story follows Princess Héra (Gaia Wise), daughter of King Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox), as she defends her nation from the invasion of Wulf (Luke Pasqualino), a former friend bent on vengeance.

The most common criticism I heard about War of the Rohirrim was about the choppy animation, and yes, character movement is a bit stilted at times, particularly at the beginning. Even using a 3D rotoscope-like technology, Sola Entertainment as a studio can’t match the butter-smooth animation of MAPPA or Science Saru, so we can only imagine how different the style might have been in the hands of a different studio. But the animation is still good throughout and even excels in the big action moments, and best of all, the style compliments Peter Jackson’s version of Middle-earth with some outstanding backgrounds and scenery. (Besides, the previous standard for LotR animation was Rankin/Bass or Ralph Bakshi, and this is still a cut above those.)

Beyond the animation, I’ve heard all the complaints, from the plot being too long, the characters one-note, the story being basically female-forward fan fiction since Héra isn’t even named in the Tolkien appendices from which the plot was drawn (and the film doesn’t explain why she was supposedly left out of the official history). And yet, I really liked this movie, my inherent love of the franchise winning out over all else. None of those grievances detracted from the experience of being able to visit Middle-earth again, with Howard Shore’s Rohan theme setting the epic mood and some hype-worthy set pieces bringing the action. A friend who saw it with me thought it went too anime at times, with clearly human characters pulling off superhuman feats as if they were elves, but I saw such moments perhaps as embellishments, considering the story is told as a legend of Rohan by the narrating voice of Eowyn (Miranda Otto). I also thought Héra was a good example of a “strong female character,” by simply rising to the challenge set before her rather than harping about gender differences or whatnot, similar to Miyazaki’s Nausicaä, who was cited as an influence by Wise.

All in all, The War of the Rohirrim is an epic story that continues the tradition of Peter Jackson’s world. Even if it was simply an expendable side project so New Line could hold onto the Tolkien rights, that just makes the care and quality that was put into it that much more impressive. It broke my heart then that, whether due to disinterest or poor marketing, the film flopped last December, failing to even earn back its budget. I don’t deny that it had room to be better with smoother animation or more interesting dialogue, but it met my high expectations for a Middle-earth movie and, in my opinion, deserved better.

Rank: List-Worthy

© 2025 S.G. Liput
807 Followers and Counting

Flow (2024)

23 Wednesday Apr 2025

Posted by in Movies, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

(For Day 23 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem focusing on birdsong. For some reason, I went with a bird of prey’s screech instead of the more pleasant bird sounds. It’s not even that applicable to this film, though there is a bird of prey in it. I’m also sick, which is why I missed yesterday, so I’ll have to catch up later.)

The cry of a bird of prey,
Sharp, shrill shriek,
Looking down from the sky,
Strong far above the weak,
Razor talons, knife beak.

Eyes follow every move,
Sharp, skilled sight,
Spotting each potential meal,
Every morsel worth a bite,
So unlucky lacking flight.

The dive of a bird of prey,
Sharp, still stop,
Then down, down, angle steep,
Silent in its violent drop,
Reaper of the flesh crop.
___________________

MPA rating: PG

As a cat lover and a fan of serious animation, the trailer alone was enough to interest me in Flow, the little Latvian film that could, and did win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Told through a small collection of animal characters entirely without words, the story depicts an increasingly catastrophic flood and the way the wildlife handle their shared struggle for survival. It particularly follows a dark gray cat, who ends up sharing a boat Life-of-Pi-style with a capybara, a lemur, a Labrador Retriever, and a secretary bird.

The wordless interactions between the animals transcend language and are brilliantly rendered via the dynamic animation, surprisingly using only free Blender software, and, without any explanation of what is happening, the viewer is simply along for the ride, taking each danger as it comes with the animals. And despite an absence of human characters, the animals manage to represent human traits without being outright anthropomorphized, such as the lemur’s fascination with shiny things that triggers grief when it loses its possessions to the rising tides. Though a supernatural turn toward the end felt confusingly out of place, Flow is a fascinating adventure in the tradition of silent films, short, sweet, and visually magical; it’s a fine animated film, but I still contend The Wild Robot should have won instead.

Best line: Any meow from the cat

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2025 S.G. Liput
807 Followers and Counting

Look Back (2024)

18 Friday Apr 2025

Posted by in Movies, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , ,

(For Day 17 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem about friendship, drawing inspiration from the works of surrealist painters and friends Remedios Varo and Leonora Carrington, like this one perhaps. And what better to pair it with than a film about two female artist friends.)

It’s wonderful and harrowing,
Widening and narrowing,
To know that someone better
Is looking o’er your shoulder,

Better at your chosen art,
Finishing the things you start,
Being there to urge you better,
Fire from a smolder.

Admiration in their eyes,
Even as you fantasize
How to match their passion better
Eye-to-eye beholder.
____________________

Rating: 13+ (about a PG)

Imagine if Quentin Tarantino directed Terms of Endearment or David Cronenberg produced Brian’s Song. That’s the kind of bewildering tonal shift reflected by manga artist Tatsuki Fujimoto, best known for the dark and gory Chainsaw Man, also creating Look Back, a one-shot manga volume adapted into this hour-long tearjerker with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score.

Grade-schooler Ayumu Fujino (Yuumi Kawai) revels in the praise she gets as her class’s resident artist, drawing short manga strips for the school paper, so she is shocked when another girl named Kyomoto seems more talented than her. This spurs her to improve her drawing even more, and eventually the two girls form a collaborative friendship, working together on mangas throughout high school and driving each other to improve. That drive eventually breaks apart their partnership and leads to unforeseen tragedy.

No doubt pulling in personal experience and sorrow over the 2019 Kyoto Animation attack, Look Back certainly proves Fujimoto’s range as a writer. The story may be short and simple, but that only makes its mastery of emotional and visual storytelling even more impressive. Set to a moving score by Haruka Nakamura, a flurry of gorgeously drawn montages manage to depict so much in such little time: the obsession of practicing to fend off fears of inferiority, a growing friendship as Fujino helps the shy Kyomoto out of her shell, the glow of passion and success yielding to business as usual. By the time the story shifts into a brief what-if scenario, every reminder of the early scenes becomes a reason to sob, as well as be inspired. Despite its limited runtime, it’s a touching masterpiece.

Best line: (Fujino) “Keep your eyes on my back, and you’ll grow too.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2025 S.G. Liput
805 Followers and Counting

The Wild Robot (2024)

15 Tuesday Apr 2025

Posted by in Movies, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

(For Day 14 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem describing a place in terms of the animals and natural sounds, so I thought of a certain humanless island from a recent animated film.)

The island was peaceful, no humans as kings,
Serene with the sounds of dying things.
Nature was spinning the circle of life
That ends with a cry and then silence.
The ocean was beating its breast on the rocks,
As the yelp of a whelp and the laugh of a fox
Echoed through trees as indifferent as death,
So soothing (ignoring the violence).

The geese were declaring their edge over ducks,
The does were all teases outrunning the bucks,
The woodpeckers gifted headaches to the squirrels,
And nothing was likely to change.
But then a new creature came, bringing new noises,
The whirring of servos, the shock that a voice is,
No fur and no feathers, just a fool metal jacket,
A new kind of racket, exciting and strange.
________________________

MPA rating: PG

My favorite film of 2024, The Wild Robot is further proof that DreamWorks can match and even surpass Disney at its best. Based on a 2016 children’s novel by Peter Brown, the first in a trilogy, this animated adventure set in the future sees an unprogrammed robot, ROZZUM Unit 7134 or “Roz” (Lupita Nyong’o), wash up on an unpopulated island full of unfriendly wildlife. Seeking some meaningful service to offer, Roz stumbles into the care of a baby gosling eventually named Brightbill (Kit Connor), raising it with the aid of a crafty fox (Pedro Pascal) and gradually weaving herself into the ecosystem in a way none would have guessed.

The early scenes of Roz exploring the island, before she is able to communicate with the animals, bring to mind the beginning of WALL-E, near-wordless storytelling at its finest. And once she does make contact, the film is surprisingly candid about the dog-eat-dog nature of nature, slipping in some darker-than-expected humor for a kids movie. The film’s emotional core lies in Roz’s connection to Brightbill, a poignant bond of adoptive motherhood that is likely to draw out tears from the tenderhearted, especially when backed by Kris Bowers’ moving, instantly iconic score.

The animation is also a sheer joy to behold, a gorgeous watercolor style that puts other 3D animation to shame with its warmth and natural detail, and, although I quite enjoyed Flow too, it’s a crime that this didn’t win the Best Animated Feature Oscar. Nyong’o brings an excellent balance of robotic coolness and burgeoning emotion as the voice of Roz, while Pascal is a special delight as the wise-cracking fox she befriends. And did I mention the score? It still gives me goosebumps.

It’s true there’s nothing particularly new about The Wild Robot’s themes, borrowing from the likes of The Iron Giant and Wolf Children, and the latter half has some holes (the exciting climax feels a bit pointless by the end). But this fable of a robot learning humanity even without humans around is exceptionally well-crafted otherwise and will always hold a special place in my heart. I’m skeptical whether the planned sequel can match it, but I hope so.

Best line: (Roz) “Sometimes, to survive, we must become more than we were programmed to be.”

Rank: List-Worthy

© 2025 S.G. Liput
805 Followers and Counting

The Colors Within (2024)

01 Tuesday Apr 2025

Posted by in Christian, Movies, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

(For Day 1 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was to use a new-to-me music or art term, so I opted for the film-appropriate term chroma – “the intensity of a given color.”)

I wonder sometimes what I can see
That nobody else can.
How would I know? How would you know?
Isn’t it normal for such to be so?
Isn’t it true we rely on our eyes
To fill in the gaps that are left by the wise?
What differs is mystery.

I wonder sometimes what I can hear
That nobody else can.
Could I be wrong? Is that a song?
And is there someone who might sing along?
If I can only hit half of the notes,
Who hears the other half, voice in our throats?
Maybe they’ll lend me an ear.

I wonder sometimes what I can try
That nobody else can.
What can I play? What can I say
That’s more than a fact we agree on today?
I have a private monopoly on
The unwritten song, the image undrawn,
And the chroma of my sky.
_________________________________

MPA rating:  PG

Considering how long we had to wait and catch up on anime films sometimes years after their release, it’s a special modern treat for fans like me to be able to see them in American theaters only months after their Japanese premiere, complete with a choice of English dub or subs. I caught the English dub of The Colors Within back in January, comparatively soon after its August 2024 release in Japan, and it did not disappoint. Directed by Naoko Yamada of A Silent Voice fame, this low-key high school drama is a gentle-hearted tribute to music’s power to foster friendship and self-discovery.

Set in a Catholic girls boarding school, the film follows ingenuous student Totsuko Higarashi, who experiences a visual synesthesia where she sees people in specific colors, often awestruck by an invisible beauty that no one else can appreciate. Drawn to an especially stunning blue coming from fellow student Kimi, Totsuko’s interest in her leads to the two stumbling into forming a band with a local boy and instrument collector named Rui. As the trio practice in secret and write their own songs, they endeavor to work through their individual personal and family struggles.

The Colors Within is a thoroughly sweet film, where the conflict stays at the level of contending with school rules and familial expectations, and there’s a special delight to be found in the creative joy the three teens derive from their simple musical ambitions. Totsuko’s wide-eyed experimentation with lyrics and notes and the collaboration of the three as they bond are enough to spark anyone’s curiosity to maybe start a band of their own (if only it was that easy). And the result of their teamwork is three outstanding songs, courtesy of musician Kensuke Ushio, two of them catchy pop tunes and one peaceful and ethereal. Going above and beyond, the excellent dub even translated the songs into English, with Kimi’s voice actor Kylie McNeill showcasing the singing chops she also brought to 2021’s Belle.

One unique element to The Colors Within is its earnest portrayal of Catholicism. Totsuko prays frequently and worries about going to confession after lying, Rui plays a moving rendition of the “Tantum ergo” on a theremin, and the nuns teaching at the girls’ school are largely presented as affectionate and supportive rather than strict caricatures. While not really a plot focus, it’s nice to see Christianity shown in a positive light as simply a part of the characters’ lives, even informing Totsuko’s song lyrics performed near the end.

As for the animation, director Yamada has traded in her prior collaborations with Kyoto Animation for the equally acclaimed studio Science Saru, known for highly dynamic animations like Ride Your Wave or last year’s hit series Dandadan. Compared with those, The Colors Within is far more grounded, full of pastel softness and painterly details, highlighted at times by the more abstract colors that Totsuko is able to see on those around her.

All in all, The Colors Within is a coming-of-age charmer. Totsuko’s fascination with Kimi could be read as a budding girl crush, but considering the setting and air of innocence, I thought it was more of a wholesome friendship. As someone working on song lyrics and basic tunes of my own for my musical, I related to the band members gradually developing their style, and the climactic performance of the end product was a joy of sight and sound. Totsuko’s character development may be ultimately on the thin side, but the colors on display here are beautiful.

Ranking:  List Runner-Up

© 2025 S.G. Liput
802 Followers and Counting

Elemental (2023)

27 Saturday Apr 2024

Posted by in Movies, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , ,

(For Day 27 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for an American sonnet, which is described as just a sonnet with “fewer rules.” For some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to abandon rhyme entirely, so I defaulted to the Shakespearean form, albeit in iambic heptameter.)

If opposites attract, then why are opposites so cruel?
If different groups can get along, we marvel at the sight.
So why is concord the exception rather than the rule,
The urge to differ stronger than the wisdom to unite?
We see the danger first, for every difference is a threat,
A threat to what is “normal,” our bubble near the pin.
Imagining the worst of people we have never met,
We need the reassurance never needed from our kin.
Then there are bad impressions left by others of their kind.
If one is bad, then all are bad, all nuances be damned!
Yet we have evil brothers too; by them are we maligned
And earn a matching stigma, the traded hateful brand.
If history could be erased enough to meet anew,
Then maybe opposites could prosper, just like me and you.
______________________________

MPA rating:  PG

Pixar isn’t quite the guaranteed powerhouse it once was, and with the easy availability of Disney+, its films are no longer must-sees at the theater. To be honest, I still haven’t gotten around to seeing Luca or Turning Red since they just felt like lesser efforts based on the trailers. But Soul proved the studio had some of its old magic, and Elemental is thankfully a confirmation of that.

Continuing their time-honored tradition of anthropomorphized otherworlds, Elemental breathes life into the four classical elements – fire, water, earth, and air. In the metropolis of Element City, the citizens made of water, earth, and air have a well-established rapport living alongside each other, while fire elementals Bernie and Cinder Lumen (Ronnie del Carmen, Shila Ommi) are met with hostility moving there from Fire Land (represented as analogous to East Asia, likely director Peter Sohn’s ancestral Korea). Nevertheless, they establish a thriving store in the city’s Fire Town district, which their daughter Ember (Leah Lewis) hopes to inherit one day. After an unceremonious meet cute with the watery Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie), the two contrasting elements start to fall for each other, despite their natural differences and familial pressures.

While Pixar has featured love stories before, like WALL-E or the beginning of Up, Elemental is the first of their films to embrace the rom-com formula, hinging its success on the chemistry of lead characters Ember and Wade, and thankfully, they make a cheer-worthy couple. With its excess of elemental puns, the film might have relied too heavily on stereotypes, Ember with her fiery temper and Wade with his sappy sensitivity making him cry at the drop of a hat. Yet the two prove to be more than one-note with their relatable stresses around family responsibility or awkward anxiety.

Likewise, the film finds subtleties in its very obvious racism metaphor of fire as the outsider element. In a way, it’s understandable why fire people are viewed skeptically; fire burns plants, boils water, and is generally destructive. That hostility has affected how Ember’s father Bernie behaves toward the world, harboring resentment toward the water that is similarly destructive toward his kind. When both sides foster prejudices or barriers they feel are justifiable, it is no easy feat to break the cycle of bias, and Ember and Wade themselves have doubts about how their connection could even work. Yet it’s still a bond worth the effort.

Like Cars, I can’t deny that there are aspects of this fantasy world that strain credulity of how things work (how many fire people die if they forget an umbrella when near the city’s water train?), but what is presented is full of fun and bustling imagination. The beautifully fluid animation allows these elemental characters to do all kinds of funny and non-human actions, from slipping through cracks to melting and reshaping glass, and every scene is full of world-building details that make this universe a visual marvel.

I particularly liked how Elemental didn’t feel the need to have a traditional villain. Societal and familial expectations (and random accidents) are enough of a source of conflict, allowing for timely immigrant parallels and room for growth on all sides. Though it may be missing something from Pixar’s golden age when I was growing up, Elemental most definitely recalls those classics and thrives on its own visionary and romantic charm.

Best line: (Ember, voicing the unhealthy mindset of many an immigrant kid) “The only way to repay a sacrifice so big is by sacrificing your life too.”

Rank:  List-Worthy

© 2024 S.G. Liput
796 Followers and Counting

The Boy and the Heron (2023)

18 Thursday Apr 2024

Posted by in Movies, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

(For Day 18 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem in which the speaker desires to become someone or something else. With reincarnation featured in this movie, it seemed like a good fit.)

I’ve lived in fire, lived in water,
Lived as someone else’s daughter.
What can I be? What have I been?
How can I hope to choose again?

I have been loved from sky to sea,
But have I loved as selflessly?
Always been given, and it’s been heaven,
Lifting my heart like tender leaven.

How shall I live and love again
Back in the realm of mortal men?
Given new life, I’ll give to another.
I want to be someone else’s mother.
_________________________

MPA rating:  PG-13

Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli have an astounding track record of instant classics, they boast an unparalleled reputation in the animation industry, and yet they are not infallible. Despite its many accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, The Boy and the Heron is quite possibly the weakest film of Miyazaki’s catalog, an unfocused fantasy that is both too much and not enough.

Taking its Japanese title How Do You Live? from a 1937 coming-of-age novel referenced in the film, the story begins similar to The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, with young Mahito Maki reeling from World War II and being brought to the countryside for safety. His mother lost in a hospital fire, he has no choice but to accept things as his father promptly marries her sister and moves him to a country estate. Mahito is drawn to a mysterious tower nearby, and a heron begins harassing him. When his pregnant aunt/stepmother disappears, the boy is led into a fantastical and very bird-oriented world as he commits to bringing her back while sorting out his conflicted feelings.

Ten years since his last film The Wind Rises, Miyazaki clearly had no shortage of ideas for his trademark imagination, but combining all of them into one fantasy world wasn’t the best move. After a rather long and boring prologue in the real world, Mahito’s introduction to the other dimension is a cavalcade of randomness, with a forbidden tomb, swarming pelicans, the butchering of a giant fish, and a representation of reincarnation, none of which really adds anything to Mahito’s story and feels more like padding to reinforce the world’s strangeness. There are also some other characters who have wandered in from the real world, yet they seem to fit right in, with magic powers and knowledge of how things work that Mahito lacks, making its rules further unclear. And the film keeps adding rules and characters right up to the end, making for a jumbled climax followed by a final scene that weirdly just… ends.

Of course, The Boy and the Heron does have its merits too, chief among them the gorgeous hand-drawn animation with that impeccable Ghibli style we haven’t seen in years. I enjoyed the middle section where Mahito teams up with a pyrokinetic girl and the little man who’s been wearing the heron like a suit, and the ending does have some touching themes involving family and personal choice. I only saw the English dub, and I have to applaud the star-studded voice cast, including Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Gemma Chan, and especially Robert Pattinson sounding nothing like himself as the gremlin-like heron man.

Does it feel nice to have another Miyazaki film a decade after we thought his career was over? Sure. Did it deserve an Oscar? Nope, certainly not over Across the Spider-Verse, no matter what the Academy and critics say. Heck, The Boy and the Heron wasn’t even the best anime film I saw last year; I preferred Makoto Shinkai’s Suzume, and that wasn’t his strongest movie either. (Oddly, both films have a scene where characters’ true feelings of resentment bubble up to the surface in an outburst and then it’s never addressed again.) I won’t deny The Boy and the Heron its good points, especially visually, and it’s impressive how well it has performed with its experimental lack of initial promotion, coasting on the Miyazaki and Ghibli name, but I’m hoping the director can manage one more film that will hopefully end his career on a higher note.

Rank:  Honorable Mention

© 2024 S.G. Liput
792 Followers and Counting

Long Way North (2015)

14 Sunday Apr 2024

Posted by in Movies, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , ,

(For Day 14 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem of at least ten lines featuring anaphora, or starting each line with the same word. Such repetition is a good way of setting the rhythm, and the word “north” seemed only appropriate for this animated journey.)

North – the direction I’m going.
North to the ends of the earth.
North where the blizzard is blowing.
North to prove my own worth.

North where the polar bear shivers.
North where all hotheads are cooled.
North where aurora-light quivers.
North where the sky is bejeweled.

North where the sea is unstable.
North where the glacier ice looms.
North where presumption is fatal.
North where the icebergs are tombs.

North where the sun is unblinking.
North where the ocean is heaving.
North has my wiser side thinking…
North – the direction I’m leaving
For home.
_________________________

MPA rating:  PG

Unless the Academy happens to nominate one for Best Animated Feature (i.e., Persepolis, Ernest and Celestine, I Lost My Body, last year’s Robot Dreams), most people are probably unaware of animated films from overseas. Anime has its built-in fanbase, but there are plenty of low-profile international cartoons out there worth attention. Long Way North, a French-Danish production from director Rémi Chaye, is a prime example.

In 1882, young Russian aristocrat Sasha (Christa Théret) idolizes her explorer grandfather, who disappeared on a voyage to the North Pole, and while all the search parties have come up empty, she believes she knows how to locate his specially designed ship. Leaving her life of comfort and social expectations, she makes her way north, intent on convincing a crew to take her into the harsh and forbidding Arctic Circle.

Long Way North has a simple plot with little in the characterization that hasn’t been seen before, but the film executes its story flawlessly. Sasha is an admirable protagonist, able to prove her mettle alongside the hardened sailors while also receiving a Captains Courageous-style eye-opening to the harsh realities of the laboring class. The lineless animation style has a gorgeous simplicity to its colors and shadows, and I loved the true-to-life depictions of breaking through ice floes while navigating the half-frozen ocean. Long Way North may not stand out next to the big dogs of animation, but it’s a lovingly crafted indie adventure.

Rank:  List Runner-Up

© 2024 S.G. Liput
792 Followers and Counting

The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes (2022)

09 Tuesday Apr 2024

Posted by in Movies, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

(For Day 9 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for an ode to an everyday object. While it may not be in everyone’s house, I’m sure many have a manuscript or poems or drawings they’re too nervous to share with the world, so I addressed this irregular sonnet to them.)

You mock me, you pile of papers,
You unread manuscript, hiding in the corner.
You say “Am I not fruit of all your labors?
Am I not worth another pair of eyes?
Is it better to be a cipher than a mourner,
Lest someone dare to share or criticize?
I’ll outlive you, your fear and blushing cheeks;
I’ll wait till someone else will spy my corner
And read what you had guarded from critiques
And grieve its author’s sad, unknown demise.”
I know that’s what you’re saying as time flies,
The time that’s killing me and stalling you.
The world can’t know what’s missing till it peeks,
Until the shy apply for their debut.
____________________

MPA rating: Not Rated (should be PG for some drama but quite clean)

While not every international run can be on the level of Your Name or The Boy and the Heron, I am quite glad that smaller anime films are getting at least a limited release in American theaters, even if it takes a year to get here. The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes may have a rather cumbersome title, but it’s one of the better under-the-radar anime movies, with appealing animation and a nice short runtime to deliver its poignant themes.

Kaoru is a high school student living in quiet grief with his abusive father, and he forms a bond with equally aloof transfer student Anzu, a budding manga artist unsure of her own talent (and inspiring the poem above). The two happen upon the fabled Urashima tunnel, which can supposedly grant a person’s greatest wish for a price. Mirroring the Urashima namesake, which is basically the equivalent of Rip Van Winkle in Japanese folklore, they discover that time passes differently inside the tunnel, where glowing trees line a watery path to their distant wish. After performing experiments on the tunnel’s strange properties, the duo must decide whether their wishes are worth giving up on their current life.

While there are plenty of films with this same romance-plus-supernatural storyline, I liked the natural progression of both, as the two main characters are actually smart about testing the temporal phenomenon, while also growing closer in the process. Though it can’t quite compare in scale or artistry, the film had some similarities to Your Name, and I suspect fans of one will also enjoy the other. It may be largely predictable, but The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes is a lovely little movie to satisfy fans of star-crossed romance.

Rank:  List Runner-Up

© 2024 S.G. Liput
792 Followers and Counting