Tag Archives: Anime

Castle in the Sky (1986)

16 Wednesday Jul 2014

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Air pirates board an airship and threaten many lives.
A girl climbs out the window and hopes that she survives.
As pirates try to grab her, she slips and falls to earth,
But she’s saved by her crystal, which has a hidden worth.
 
It floats her down to safety, where Pazu’s arms await,
An engineer’s apprentice, who wonders of her fate.
He takes her to his cottage, and when Sheeta awakes,
He tells her how she floated, the crystal as her brakes.
 
He tells her of his father, who saw a floating isle
Called Laputa, a legend he’ll find in daring style.
But Dola and her pirates arrive to claim the lass,
And they both flee as pirates continue to harass.
 
The military shows up, but Sheeta’s scared of them.
Our heroes float to safety, suspended by her gem.
Once they speak with a miner, who warns them of the same,
The girl reveals that “Laputa” is part of her full name.
 
The government abducts them, imprisoning the pair,
And Colonel Muska spells out to Sheeta why she’s there.
He shows an ancient robot, advanced technology
That Laputa holds somewhere, which she will help them free.
 
When Pazu is sent back home, he teams with Dola’s gang
To rescue Sheeta, but she is having quite a bang.
She reawakes the robot, which goes on a rampage,
And Pazu saves her just in time as giant guns engage.
 
To find the floating island, they join the pirate crew,
For Dola and her pirates are nicer than they knew.
Since Muska took her crystal, he’s on his way as well,
And both airships are threatened by storms that crash and swell.
 
Pazu and Sheeta land on a peaceful grassy plot,
Just one of many turrets that Laputa has got.
They tail a lonely robot, discovering in awe
The lofty, ancient ruins that once were Laputa.
 
But then the military arrives to plunder loot,
Though Muska’s digging deeper for things of great repute.
The agent kidnaps Sheeta, descending to the core,
And taps the castle’s power which he was looking for.
 
He names himself a royal, like Sheeta, and a king,
And massacres the army as robot hordes take wing.
As Pazu hunts for Sheeta, she with her crystal flees.
Again they find each other, but Muska’s hard to please.
 
When they are at a standoff, the kids know what to say,
A spell of great destruction, which serves to save the day.
The pirates and the children escape and reunite,
But both Pazu and Sheeta fly off within their kite.
___________________
 

When Cartoon Network decided to play several Studio Ghibli films back in 2006, I steered clear of it due to my family’s poor reaction to Spirited Away, but I recall seeing a commercial that included a scene of giant robots climbing through hallways. I had no idea from which film it was, but the scene stuck in my head. When I eventually gave anime another chance and saw Castle in the Sky, I was delighted that I not only recognized that scene but also loved the movie. Castle in the Sky is the highest movie on my list directed by famed animator Hayao Miyazaki (though not necessarily the highest Studio Ghibli film), and it is a rousing adventure that showcases Miyazaki’s brilliant imagination.

Since Studio Ghibli had not been founded by the time of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky was the studio’s first official film, one that I think is much better than the more well-known Spirited Away. The hand-drawn animation is often beautiful, and certain scenes, like the impressive destruction at the end, are even spectacular. Set in a Welsh-inspired world of flying machines and steampunk inventions, the film (inspired by the floating island of Laputa in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels) is reminiscent of an Indiana Jones story with its crystalline MacGuffin and a race between pirates and the government to find an ancient civilization of power. Though Muska is a more straightforward villain than others in his filmography, it also bears Miyazaki’s recognizable fingerprints, such as his favoring of nature over technology and his love of flight. It even includes a cameo for the squirrel-fox from Nausicaä.

In the Disney dub, James Van Der Beek and Anna Paquin are likable as Pazu and Sheeta, respectively, though Paquin’s accent fluctuates a bit. Cloris Leachman sounds like she’s having fun as the no-nonsense pirate matron Dola, and Mark Hamill lapses into his famous Joker voice as the villainous Muska. My favorite thing about the film, though, is its score. Joe Hisaishi exceeded even Nausicaä’s score with his glorious orchestral compositions. Thus, the final Japanese song “Carrying You,” which borrows the film’s best theme, is in my End Credits Song Hall of Fame. Castle in the Sky is a classic of Japanese animation that has wide appeal to Western audiences. Even my anime-despising VC had to admit that it was “pretty good.”

Best line: (Louis, a pirate) “Mom, you amaze me. How do ya know these things?”   (Dola, while eating) “Oh, well, ya can’t be a sensitive woman like me without learnin’ a few things. Sheeta and I are exactly alike: all warm and mushy and sensitive!” [burps]

 
Artistry: 7
Characters/Actors: 7
Entertainment: 9
Visual Effects: 8
Originality: 9
Watchability: 8
Other (I like other films more): -3
 
TOTAL: 45 out of 60
 

Next: #176 – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

© 2014 S. G. Liput

157 Followers and Counting

 

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

21 Saturday Jun 2014

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Nausicaä, the princess of the Valley of the Wind,
Explores the toxic jungle that is spreading o’er the earth.
The girl admires Ohmu, colossal insects, armor-skinned,
Who can be quite aggressive but do have a hidden worth.
 
She saves her friend Lord Yupa from an anger-blinded Ohmu,
And flies upon her glider to announce his soon return.
In their protected valley, her small people built a home,
Content to let fierce kingdoms fight; it’s none of their concern.
 
But soon a crippled airship from Tolmekia appears
And crashes in the valley, killing everyone on board.
The threat of jungle infestation sparks the people’s fears,
And plus, the living cargo is too dire to be ignored.
 
Kushana of Tolmekia soon comes to claim their prize,
A deadly giant warrior, which bathed the earth in flame.
They kill the valley’s king but still they claim to be good guys,
For burning down the forest is their ill-considered aim.
 
The warrior’s developing as Nausicaä is bound
With others by Kushana on a journey through the air.
Their airships are shot down by one small plane that’s also downed.
The princess and Kushana land within a jungle snare.
 
Escaping from an Ohmu nest thanks to Nausicaä’s calm action,
Kushana and the other fly while Nausicaä must stand
To save the shooter pilot who is from another faction
Called Pejite, but the two of them are captured by quicksand.
 
They find themselves below the jungle, where the air is clean,
And realize that the jungle plants absorb the earth’s pollution.
Mankind corrupted all the earth, and now most people mean
To burn the jungle, ruining the planet’s last solution.
 
They fly their way to Pejite, which is ravaged by insects.
Survivors plan to lure the Ohmu to Nausicaä’s homeland
To take out the Tolmekians and all of their subjects
And catch the giant warrior to have at their command.
 
Their ship is ambushed yet again, which lets the princess flee.
She goes ahead to see the Ohmu stampeding toward the valley.
The Pejites have an injured baby o’er an acid sea,
And she succeeds in freeing it before the big finale.
 
Kushana wakes the giant which annihilates some Ohmu,
Before it melts away, too undeveloped to survive.
The baby Ohmu and Nausicaä then stand before her home
In front of the invading insects, rushing to arrive.
 
They run her over but then stop to see this brave young lass;
They heal her wounds and so fulfill an ancient prophecy.
Kushana and her men return back home at this impasse,
And now the earth and all mankind may live in harmony.
______________________
 

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was Hayao Miyazaki’s breakout film as a director. It’s an environmentally heavy sci-fi action film that highlights Miyazaki’s pacifist ideology and his wildly imaginative storytelling. While Disney was working on the likes of The Black Cauldron, Japan was producing animated gems like this.

Technically made before the start of his Studio Ghibli, Nausicaä was a tale that didn’t have much support at first because most anime depends on pre-existing properties in the world of manga (Japanese comic books). Since he couldn’t get funding without an already popular manga, he made one and published Nausicaä in serial form from 1982 to 1994. This earned him the necessary backing, but since only 16 chapters (out of 59) had been completed by the time of the film, the plot encompasses only the part that he had finished. While it was a huge blockbuster upon its release because of the manga, the movie ends a bit abruptly, and it feels like there is more of the story to tell, even though the film is ambitious enough as it is.

The hand-drawn animation is detailed and impressive throughout the two-hour film, especially in the climax, and it has that Miyazaki touch that raises it above most other anime. The voice acting in Disney’s English dub is uniformly good, featuring Alison Lohman, Shia LaBeouf, Uma Thurman, Chris Sarandon, Edward James Olmos, Mark Hamill, and the inimitable Patrick Stewart as Lord Yupa. Joe Hisaishi’s outstanding score also grabbed my attention when I first saw it and, not counting the synthesizer segments, is one of my favorite film scores. As for the plot, it’s incredibly detailed, and my above poem only scratched the surface of the layered events, characters, and motivations. With its complex mythology, messianic prophecy, and giant misunderstood insectoid creatures, the closest thing I could compare it to is Frank Herbert’s Dune series.

The environmentalist theme is rather clunky, blaming mankind for polluting the earth’s topsoil and water and building the giant warriors to destroy everything while providing no details about the circumstances. Thankfully, though, the film doesn’t browbeat humanity too much, and when the focus is on the science fiction and the characters, it’s some of Miyazaki’s best work. My VC, who doesn’t care for anime, at least saw and appreciated it for what it was, but, for me, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind remains an influential sci-fi classic.

Best line: (Asbel, after eating some “healthy” nuts) “Why does everything that’s good for you have to taste so bad?”

 
Artistry: 7
Characters/Actors: 7
Entertainment: 8
Visual Effects: 7
Originality: 9
Watchability: 7
Other (heavy environmentalism): -3
 
TOTAL: 42 out of 60
 

Next: #201 – Murphy’s Romance

© 2014 S. G. Liput

135 Followers and Counting

 

The Girl Who Leapt through Time (2006)

08 Thursday May 2014

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Young Makoto Konno is always behind.
It’s hard to make up all the time she can’t find.
She makes time, however, to play catch each day
With new friend Chiaki and old friend Kosuke.
 
One day in particular seems to run long;
From quizzes to accidents, all just goes wrong.
Then Makoto finds a small nut-shaped doodad,
Which gives a brief vision that scares her a tad.
 
Her journey back home then delivers a thrill
When her bike’s brakes go out riding down a steep hill.
She’s thrown from her bike at the end of the lane,
Right into the path of an oncoming train!
 
She sees the train hit her and hears the bell chime,
Then finds she’s gone backward a minute in time.
Alive but confused, she is told by her aunt
That she can time-leap; Makoto thinks she can’t.
 
Through tentative practice, she picks up the skill
Of leaping to past and to future at will.
She starts by improving that horrible day
And making up time that had once slipped away.
 
Enjoying her power, she doesn’t see straight
That her problems are passed to another schoolmate.
When this poor guy’s had it and finally snaps,
She sees that time travel can damage perhaps.
 
The labyrinth of love is another sore spot,
As Chiaki asks her if she’ll date him or not.
She flees from the question, which never occurs
And causes a rift that she only makes worse.
 
She also tries playing the matchmaker too
For Kosuke and one timid girl, who is new.
Then after she does this, she sees a tattoo
That shows she has one time-leap left on her cue.
 
She wastes it before she sees Kosuke’s mistake
Of taking his girl on her bike that won’t brake.
She sees them rush down that notorious hill
And strike the same rails with the same deadly spill.
 
Then time stops; Chiaki comes forth to impart
He came from the future in search of some art.
He used his last leap to save Kosuke, alone,
But now he must leave since his secret is known.
 
He leaves her, and Makoto weeps for her friend,
Until she takes note of a way she can mend.
The leap that he made canceled out her last one
So she cancels his out to prevent what’s been done.
 
At last, all is right, and there’s no accident,
But Chiaki must leave since his secret is spent.
Though sad, he tells Makoto he’ll wait for her,
And she is content with her waiting future.
___________________
 

I first saw The Girl Who Leapt through Time only last year, but it is apparently a very popular story in Japan, first published in novel form in 1967 and spawning multiple Japanese films since. Both well-received and author-approved, this anime version combines two of my favorite elements: animation and time travel. It isn’t a rip-roaring adventure or a laugh-out-loud comedy but instead a sensitive young adult drama (with some humor thrown in) that has the same kind of quiet tone as another favorite anime of mine, Studio Ghibli’s Whisper of the Heart.

The English dub is better than most anime dubs, as is the quality animation, which is somewhere between the more cartoonish anime and the beautiful artistry of Ghibli. Directed by Mamoru Hosoda, who later directed the previously reviewed Summer Wars, this tale has both charm and some interesting additions to the time travel genre. Regardless of quality, anime most excels at creating striking visuals, and this one is no exception. The scenes of Makoto’s weeping and the shots of characters flying in slow motion in front of a moving train have stuck in my mind long after seeing it.

As is typical of time travel films, you probably shouldn’t think about it too much, since there are a number of unexplained issues. Why did Chiaki laugh at Makoto after hearing her describe finding the time travel device? If he couldn’t return to his time, where did Chiaki have to go after using up his last time leap? In the book, the boy from the future is from the year 2660, so how far in the future did Chiaki come from? It’s from a time obviously after some kind of war and the extinction of baseball, so how can he wait for her or her for him?

It’s true that the logic of the ending falls apart, but it’s touching nonetheless. By the end of the film, with Makoto again playing catch, as she had periodically through the film, I stepped back and said “I liked that movie.” Maybe you will too.

Best line (a constant theme of the film): (Makoto) “Time waits for no one.”

 
Artistry: 7
Characters/Actors: 6
Entertainment: 8
Visual Effects: 6
Originality: 8
Watchability: 7
Other (time travel plot holes): -4
 
TOTAL: 38 out of 60
 

Next: #242 – The Abyss

© 2014 S. G. Liput

100 Followers and Counting!

 

Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

13 Sunday Apr 2014

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Thirteen-year-old Kiki’s a young novice witch
Who eagerly begs both her parents for trust.
It’s time that she left to go find her own niche
By herself for a year, as all young witches must.
 
With her black cat named Jiji, she flies on her broom
Over beautiful country to find a new town.
She locates a fine seaside city quite soon
And startles the citizens as she floats down.
 
At first she cannot find a good place to stay
Until bakery owner Osono permits
The girl to stay with her for some work each day
And helps her to find a profession that fits.
 
Her one skill is flying so she makes a job
Out of flying deliveries for a small fee.
Delivering loads for both sweetheart and snob,
She flies high above this large town by the sea.
 
Though some people seem rather cold to the lass,
That’s untrue for Tombo, a boy who’s impressed.
At first she dislikes him and gives only sass
But warms up to him at Osono’s behest.
 
When Kiki begins to just feel out of place
Around Tombo’s rich friends, she feels sad and dejected.
She turns down a blimp tour and leaves in disgrace
But finds that her magic’s no longer connected.
 
She doesn’t know why, but she simply can’t fly
And can’t understand Jiji’s cat conversation.
A woman who paints has the sense to imply
That this block may mean Kiki must find inspiration.
 
When Kiki is shocked to see Tombo in danger,
Hanging down from the blimp, which is out of control,
She grabs up a broom from a neighboring stranger
And finally flies, drawing deep from her soul.
 
The blimp crashes into a nearby clock tower,
And she seizes Tombo at just the last minute.
Her business “takes off” since she has back her power;
She likes this new town and her newfound place in it.
_______________________
 

I have very mixed feelings about Kiki’s Delivery Service, another lovely film from animation master Hayao Miyazaki. Witchcraft is not something I am fond of in movies, and I will say right now that there are no Harry Potter films on my list. I don’t mind films in which witchcraft is seen as evil, such as Hocus Pocus or Sleeping Beauty, but any attempt at normalizing or promoting it seems wrong to me. That being said, Kiki’s Delivery Service has much to like, and its good points outweigh the problematic foundation.

While there are references to other witches making potions or fortunetelling, Kiki’s only skill is flying on her broomstick, and this being her one talent makes her pretty innocuous, like Glinda the Good Witch or Wendy the Good Little Witch. On top of that, she is kind, friendly, helpful, and respectful of her elders, in sharp contrast to a thankless teenage girl to whom she delivers a grandmother’s gift. Plus, upon seeing this witch flying overhead, most people are more awe-struck than fearful, and witches are spoken of in a universally positive light, as if this is an alternate world where witches are on the level of fairies.

Kiki’s Delivery Service was Disney’s first dub of a Studio Ghibli film, and though some dialogue was added or changed, I think they did a good job providing the characters with distinct voices, with Kirsten Dunst as Kiki, Matthew Lawrence as Tombo, Tress MacNeille as Osono, and Phil Hartman in one of his last roles as Jiji. The animation is lovely, especially the expansive vistas seen from Kiki’s birds-eye view. The climax is also exciting, making this the third film this past week to feature a balloon-related finale. The story is light on plot but has enough charm and likable characters to make it entertaining, and it boasts a rare 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

While Kiki’s ”inspiration” isn’t really made clear, her discussion with Ursula, the painter, about figuring out your unique reason for doing something can apply to any young person finding their place in the world. Kiki’s loss of her flight ability may even have influenced Peter Parker’s similar lack of inspiration in Spider-Man 2, which again is only resolved when he has someone to rescue.

While I have tried to downplay the magical elements of the film, the fact remains that I do not approve of this witchcraft subtext. Nevertheless, Kiki’s Delivery Service is just one of those movies that I can’t help but enjoy.

Best line: (Ursula to Kiki) “We each need to find our own inspiration, Kiki. Sometimes it’s not easy.”

 
Artistry: 7
Characters/Actors: 8
Entertainment: 6
Visual Effects: 7
Originality: 6
Watchability: 6
Other (witchcraft element): -5
 
TOTAL: 35 out of 60
 

Next: #267: Hercules

© 2014 S. G. Liput

 

The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)

21 Friday Mar 2014

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When sickly young Shawn comes to visit
His Aunt Jessica in the woods,
He sees a small lass
Swiftly pass in the grass
With an armful of miniature goods.
 
This “Borrower” is named Arrietty,
Who lives with her mother and dad.
They live under the house
As discrete as a mouse,
But Homily’s scared of the lad.
 
Pod calms his poor wife and her worries
And leaves with his daughter to borrow.
Arrietty is quite
Animated tonight,
But excitement soon changes to sorrow.
 
She loses a gained sugar cube,
And much worse, she is sighted by Shawn.
The girl’s disenchanted
And leaves empty-handed,
But Pod comforts her once they’ve gone.
 
From then on, Shawn tries to leave gifts,
Like the sugar cube he’d seen her drop.
Her dad is suspicious,
For humans are vicious,
So she tells the boy he should stop.
 
When a crow almost gets Arrietty,
Shawn saves her and earns growing trust.
He donates some wares
From a dollhouse upstairs,
Which leaves the girl’s parents nonplussed.
 
Pod feels that they now have to leave.
Arrietty then tells Shawn goodbye.
He tries to impart
That he has a weak heart,
But the girl says to live, or to try.
 
But Hara, Aunt Jessica’s maid,
Has suspected small people for years.
She searches with care
And finds Homily there
And grabs her, confirming their fears.
 
She puts Homily in a jar
And calls Pest Control to catch more.
When she sees her mom’s gone,
Arrietty, with Shawn,
Sneaks out from behind a locked door.
 
She locates her mother and frees her.
The maid later searches in vain.
Any vestige or trace,
Shawn was quick to erase
So that Hara looks rather insane.
 
The Borrowers quickly depart
With help from a boy of their race.
Arrietty and Shawn
Say farewell at the dawn.
Shawn suspects they found some safer place.
__________________
 

The Secret World of Arrietty, one of Studio Ghibli’s more recent efforts, is a sweet film that successfully shrinks the audience to see an ordinary house as a place of danger and wonder. Staples become ladder rungs; pins become swords; roly-polies become balls; and a single bay leaf can last a year. Ghibli’s typically whimsical imagination is given free rein here to create an almost magical world within our own.

The animation is almost on the level of Howl’s Moving Castle, and the studio continues to deliver beautiful hand-drawn films with amazingly detailed backgrounds. The Borrowers’ home is especially well drawn. The English dub is pretty good as well, though it doesn’t have as many big name stars as other Ghibli films. Bridget Mendler as Arrietty, Will Arnett as Pod, and Carol Burnett as Hara particularly fill their roles well, though characters go “hmm” a bit too frequently. Also, while it’s based on an English book series and the location has been moved to Japan, the music has a distinctly Celtic air to it that is quite lovely.

While there are some who will have a problem with the fact that the Borrowers steal for a living, it is not much of an issue for me since (a) their size and vulnerability warrant it, and (b) they make a point of only taking things that will not be missed. (Others have delved deeper into the moral implications, such as film critic Steven Greydanus.)

A good point that makes up for this ambiguous aspect is Arrietty’s respect for her parents. Several times, she compliments her mother and father and shows them the honor that is noticeably lacking in Western cartoons. In the end, both of their views on humans are vindicated; Arrietty is proven right in that not all humans are bad (Shawn), but her parents’ fears are clearly warranted since others (like Hara) are not as trustworthy. This end stands in marked contrast to the kid-is-always-right mentality of most American animation.

One minor issue is the film’s pacing. While it’s fascinating to explore Arrietty’s miniature world, the film borders on becoming boring at times. Thus, some kids and adults who require constant jokes or explosions in their entertainment won’t be able to stick with it. Still, it has better visuals and more of a plot than Ghibli’s more acclaimed but less interesting children’s movie My Neighbor Totoro.

Offering new perspectives and touching on some more mature subjects like death and survival, The Secret World of Arrietty is a charming recent reminder of the magic that hand-drawn animation can achieve.

Best line: (Arrietty, when Shawn talks about resigning oneself to fate) “Sometimes you have to stand up and fight for the things that are worth fighting for. You have to survive. That’s what my papa says.”

 
Artistry: 7
Characters/Actors: 6
Entertainment: 5
Visual Effects: 8
Originality: 7
Watchability: 5
Other (slow pace): -6
 
TOTAL:  32 out of 60
 

Next: #290: The Quick and the Dead (1987)

© 2014 S. G. Liput

 

The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)

06 Thursday Mar 2014

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Lupin III is a gentleman thief,
Who’s known for his heists and his charm.
He robs a casino but gets away clean,
Even after he prompts the alarm.
 
But soon he realizes the bills are all fake,
And so he decides to explore
The source of these infamous “goat bills” he found,
Which he, as a thief, can’t ignore.
 
The tiny Grand Duchy of Cagliostro
Is where Lupin heads with a pal.
They soon see a girl being chased in a car
And follow the thug-pursued gal.
 
They save her from gun-toting goons and a cliff,
But still she is kidnapped away.
They go to a castle that Lupin remembers
And locate a place they can stay.
 
The girl was Clarisse, the small country’s princess,
Who is scheduled to marry a count.
She met and helped Lupin a few years ago,
A story he’s loath to recount.
 
The count needs her ring, which she gave to Lupin,
So he sends out his own ninja squad.
The duo escape and then plan their break-in
Of his castle that’s sure to hold fraud.
 
The brusque Zenigata, who’s with Interpol
And who’s vowed to catch Lupin one day,
Is lured by the thief to the danger-filled castle.
It’s a game Lupin knows how to play.
 
He uses his foe as a way to get in,
Though the agent falls through a trap door.
Then, climbing the roof, Lupin gets to the tower,
Which no one has managed before.
 
He woos sweet Clarisse, who is scared to escape
(With good reason); the Count soon arrives.
He drops the thief into a fathomless pit,
But the capable Lupin survives.
 
He meets Zenigata deep down in the crypt,
Where snoopers like them lie in piles.
Agreeing to peace till they both can get out,
They outsmart the Count and his wiles.
 
They find the Count’s presses for printing fake cash,
Intended for Beijing to Cairo.
With guards on their heels, they escape from their jail,
Abducting the Count’s autogyro.
 
Assisted by Fujiko, Lupin’s ex-lover,
They hover to rescue Clarisse.
Though Lupin is shot by the Count and his men,
The good guys get out in one piece.
 
Count still has Clarisse, so, as Lupin recovers,
He plans how to get her released.
His friends crash the wedding (which is televised),
While Lupin’s disguised as the priest.
 
In all of the chaos and strife, Zenigata
Goes in so the whole world can see.
He shows off the bills and the counterfeit presses,
Exposing the Count on TV.
 
But Count Cagliostro is busy with Lupin,
Who’s fleeing the scene with Clarisse.
He chases them into a giant clock tower
And bars any chance of release.
 
At last, with them cornered, the Count gets the ring,
As to the clock face he clings.
He causes the duo to plunge in the lake
And finds the secret of the rings.
 
His actions start draining the lake down below
And move the clock’s hands till he’s crushed.
An old Roman ruin is slowly revealed
As most of the water is flushed.
 
This treasure’s too precious (and massive) to steal,
And Lupin will need a headstart;
The thief bids the lovely Clarisse an adieu,
Stealing only the princess’s heart.
_____________________
 

The Castle of Cagliostro has the distinction of being the first feature film directed by famed anime master Hayao Miyazaki, several years before he even founded Studio Ghibli. His talent is evident in the interesting characters, exciting action scenes, and detailed plot. The animation is solid, with some of his artistry showing in the natural scenes and the mountainous backdrops, though some scenes are inconsistent as far as quality. I mainly appreciate Miyazaki’s reimagining of these characters, who are based off a Japanese manga series which was inspired by Maurice LeBlanc’s French literary character Arsene Lupin (the French equivalent of Britain’s Sherlock Holmes). From what I’ve read, the usual depiction of Lupin III was as a less sympathetic lecher, and the other characters tended to be less likable as well. While Miyazaki’s revisionism for this film was not universally well-received, he did a good thing in my book, downplaying the negative qualities of the characters.

While common physics sometimes takes a backseat for the action, the exciting scenes are vastly entertaining, like the movie as a whole. Lupin’s injury midway through helps to ground the story in some semblance of real-world danger, even if he does recover unusually fast.

The film is also a showcase of Miyazaki’s influence on other animation. The fight amid the clock tower’s inner gears and the final showdown on its face was clearly borrowed by Disney for the end of The Great Mouse Detective a few years later, and the end scene with the draining water revealing a lost city was an admitted influence on a similar scene in Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

The most recent dub that I saw is quite good, but with one big caveat: the language. The film is almost family appropriate by itself, but whoever translated the dialogue apparently felt they had to add in profanity for some reason. This bugs me to no end, since the obscenities add nothing and could easily be removed. Language aside though, the film is a classic in the James Bond style and one of Miyazaki’s most entertaining movies.  (No best line, sorry.)

 
Artistry: 6
Characters/Actors: 7
Entertainment: 9
Visual Effects: 5
Originality: 7
Watchability: 6
Other (language): -9 (it’s worse because it’s almost a family film otherwise)
 
TOTAL: 31 out of 60
 

Tomorrow: #303: Stuart Little

© 2014 S. G. Liput

Summer Wars (2009)

28 Tuesday Jan 2014

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On an Earth where an internet world known as OZ
Is used universally by the whole globe,
Each nation and person enjoys an account,
Including a man who controls a space probe.
 
But more on that later; right now, there’s a boy
In high school named Kenji, a timid math whiz,
Who visits the home of the great Jinnouchis
Because of one Natsuki, a classmate of his.
 
Her own great-grandmother’s about to turn ninety,
And so she’s devised a duplicitous ruse.
Her family thinks Kenji is her fiancée.
When she begs him to lie, Kenji cannot refuse.
 
He plays along with her and warily meets
Her quirky, extended, and loud family.
He’s quite overwhelmed, but at night he receives
A code-bearing e-mail and solves it deftly.
 
The next day, the news has him labeled a hacker;
They say that he broke into OZ’s mainframe.
When the family also sees through Natsuki’s lie,
They’re quick to reprove and give Kenji the blame.
 
But Kenji’s the prey of identity fraud;
A program of sorts has hijacked his account.
In the digital world, it reveals itself as
A renegade A.I. they cannot surmount.
 
Since everything, traffic lights, e-mail, and such,
Is routed through OZ, which was once thought secure,
The havoc the A.I. commits in that world
Reflects in our own planet’s infrastructure.
 
The A.I., called Love Machine, steals many more,
Several million accounts, and it gets ever stronger.
The Jinnouchi family tries to ignore
Its effects, but quite soon they cannot any longer.
 
For Granny, their matriarch who’s tough as nails,
Insists it’s a war that they all have to fight,
But, because OZ is down, they all realize too late
That she died of a heart attack late in the night.
 
The women want only to prep for her wake,
While the men crave revenge, so they work separately.
They move a plan forward to trap Love Machine,
But, because of a stupid mistake, it gets free.
 
Defeating King Kazma, an OZ fighting champ
Who belongs to a kid in the Jinnouchi clan,
The A.I. takes hold of a certain account
Controlling the space probe, as part of a plan.
 
It targets a nuclear power plant with it,
And starts a countdown for the terrible boom.
They have just two hours to get the account
That controls the space probe, or it means certain doom.
 
With the help of an uncle who made Love Machine
And whose claims of his innocence keep falling flat,
It’s Natsuki who challenges it to a match
Of Koi-Koi, a card game that she is good at.
 
By wagering OZ accounts, little by little,
They quickly win back all that Love Machine stole.
While failing the game though, it targets the probe
On the family’s home before losing control!
 
In the final few seconds, with math as his aid,
Young Kenji succeeds in diverting its course.
It misses (just barely), but, saving the day,
Kenji’s now a boyfriend that they all can endorse.
 
With Love Machine squelched and no longer a danger,
The uncle confesses and takes the results.
And, though they’ve lost Granny, they’re glad to have Kenji
As part of their home, so the family exults.
_____________________
 

Summer Wars is a Japanese animated movie that manages to be funny, sad, and exciting in a way that few anime films are, in my opinion. The best parts of the movie feature its wonderful endorsement of family, particularly forgiveness and facing the hard times together. Granny’s posthumous note to her relatives is particularly poignant and eloquent. While I didn’t know most of the Jinnouchis’ names by the end, the filmmakers did an excellent job at giving most of them a unique personality, much like in Meet the Robinsons.

Also fascinating is the film’s indictment of relying too much on technology. It is stated that usage of OZ is as pervasive as cell phone ownership, and people tend to use their accounts for business purposes, thinking that their information and identity are safe. The scenes where Love Machine does seemingly simple things in OZ, such as knocking over some dominoes, producing real-world havoc ranging from faulty fire alarms to confounding traffic, were particularly insightful. With Facebook, Twitter, and the like being so ubiquitous, the concept of OZ and its misuse seems very plausible. Also, the Madhouse animation, while not up to Studio Ghibli standards, is much improved over that of Millennium Actress eight years earlier.

However, there are two things that really bug me about Summer Wars. First of all, there is some adult content, including several (mostly light) obscenities and some scenes of near nudity. Also, I particularly don’t appreciate America being cast as the bad guy, since it is said the United States Department of Defense bought Love Machine from the uncle and were testing its abilities on OZ before the A.I. got out of hand. While I’m not saying such a thing couldn’t happen, the film paints the U.S. as being foolish and incompetent.

Despite these shortcomings, Summer Wars is very entertaining. Though a few moments in OZ devolve into something reminiscent of a Saturday morning cartoon (such as Digimon), it is nonetheless thought-provoking while also fusing fun and the importance of family.

Best line: (to Kenji, after he’s accused of hacking OZ) “Please tell me you didn’t break the Internet.”

 

Artistry: 5
Characters/Actors: 6
Entertainment: 7
Visual Effects: 6
Originality: 4
Watchability: 5
Other (adult content and anti-American subplot): -5
 
TOTAL: 28 out of 60
 

Tomorrow: #337: Psycho

© 2014 S. G. Liput

 

Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)

11 Saturday Jan 2014

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Howl’s Moving Castle is set in a land that is normal but also enchanted,
Where battleships fly and where wizards and witches are feared and yet taken for granted.
This land’s on the verge of war mainly because a neighboring realm lost its prince.
Though some welcome war, a suave wizard named Howl can just shake his head and wince.
He once broke the heart of the Witch of the Waste and now she desires his own.
He rescues a hat girl named Sophie one day from her henchman, who seep out of stone.
An innocent bystander, shy and old-fashioned, young Sophie is cursed nonetheless
As a 90-year-old by the Witch of the Waste, who is gratified by her distress.
In the hope of removing her spell, Sophie goes to the Wastes on the outskirts of town;
There she rescues a scarecrow she names Turnip Head who’s bewitched and was trapped upside-down.
She then finds Howl’s castle, which walks on four legs, and, since she’s in places unmapped,
She enters and meets with a small fire demon named Calcifer, who’s also trapped.
The next day, she cleans the whole castle for Howl, who regrets her great zeal for the chore.
He later sends her in his stead to the king, who has summoned Howl there for the war.
Sophie goes and is joined by the Witch of the Waste, because she’s been invited as well,
But Sophie soon sees it’s a trap when the Witch is depowered and sapped by a spell.
Howl then comes to the rescue and helps them escape, and later, with Calcifer’s aid,
He magically transforms their home (now in town) to keep them all safe from a raid.
He flies as a bird every night to inhibit the warships that cause such destruction,
But Sophie’s afraid he’ll be terribly hurt by his treasonous wartime obstruction.
She removes Calcifer from the castle, which causes the whole cluttered thing to collapse,
But the Witch of the Waste thinks that Calcifer must have Howl’s heart, which can be hers perhaps.
In the chaos that follows, his fire is doused, and Sophie falls out on her own
And has an odd vision of Howl in his youth, which shows what before was unknown.
When she finds Howl and Calcifer, Sophie gives back the heart that Howl shared with the sprite.
This frees the fire demon and saves injured Howl and sets about everything right.
But also, then Turnip Head gets a small kiss from Sophie, which takes off his spell:
Turns out he’s the prince who had just disappeared so he bids the whole party farewell
And ends the dumb war; so then Sophie and Howl fly off, because all now is well.
_______________
 

Howl’s Moving Castle, Hayao Miyazaki’s followup to the more acclaimed Spirited Away, is a much more enjoyable film to watch, with imagination standing in for Spirited Away’s weirdness. This film is so ridiculously inventive and so beautifully drawn that I think it is more deserving of an Oscar than the one that did win. Plus, with its elderly protagonist and moving fortress, one can see how it inspired Pixar’s Up. The amazingly detailed scenes make Howl’s Moving Castle, along with the films of the Disney Renaissance, a high water mark for hand-drawn animation. My VC, who actually braved half of the movie before falling asleep, loved the gorgeous mountain scenery.

However, the plot stumbles irrevocably in the third act. All the interesting elements Miyazaki put together, from Turnip Head and the war to the Witch of the Waste’s desire for Howl’s heart, are just not resolved in a satisfying way. While it has an interesting take on war that I didn’t get when I first saw it (men turning themselves into monsters for their king and losing their humanity in the process), the war is resolved within seconds, making it all seem completely pointless, which may have been Miyazaki’s point. I also don’t care for the ambiguous talk about sorcery and demons being potentially good; maybe that makes more sense in Japan. With a time travel element that is poorly explained in the scheme of things and everything tied up in a nice little bow within the last five minutes, the end of Howl’s Moving Castle knocks it down to #356 on the list. Still, it’s well worth seeing, if only for the characters and visuals.

Best line: (Markl) “Are you sure you’re not a witch, Sophie?”  (Sophie) “Oh, yes, I’m the worst kind of witch ever, the kind that cleans.”

VC’s best line: “When you’re old, all you want to do is stare at the scenery.”
 
Artistry: 5
Characters/Actors: 7
Entertainment: 6
Visual Effects: 10
Originality: 7
Watchability: 5
Other (poor ending): -8
Other (ambiguous witchcraft): -5
 
TOTAL: 27 out of 60
 

Tomorrow: #354 – The Spongebob Squarepants Movie

© 2014 S. G. Liput

Millennium Actress (2001)

03 Friday Jan 2014

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Chiyoko Fujiwara is an actress of renown,
Whose star once shone out brightly but for decades has been down.
She lives now in seclusion in the home where she withdrew
Till a filmmaker named Genya comes to seek an interview.
He’s a fan of all her movies, and they settle down to talk,
As the cameraman records them and encounters quite a shock.
As Chiyoko tells the duo of her years of love and strife,
They see the woman’s memories appear and come to life.
They see her as a girl and, through her memories, relive
The time she met a handsome man, a wanted fugitive,
An artist, whom she helped escape, who left behind a key
To something quite important, but he leaves it with her free.
 
So to find him, she decided that an actress she would be,
In the hopes that she might see him and return his precious key.
She later sees the artist, not too long before the war,
Arrested and imprisoned by an agent with a scar.
Though she’s separated from him, she still acts and keeps her hope.
Through the wartime desolation, that small key helps her to cope.
In her movies, she’s a woman, pining for her absent men,
Roles that mirror her desire to be with him once again.
But she grows yet ever older, and she cannot find him still;
She is haunted by the possibility she never will.
After marriage, she misplaces the key given by her prince,
And then steps out of the limelight for the three long decades since.
But Genya used to work at the same studio as she
And found it and is there now to return her missing key.
He remembers how the scarred man that Chiyoko did despise
Had once come there to tearfully try to apologize.
Chiyoko did not know it, but Genya heard him say
That the scarred man killed the artist all those years ago that day.
 
An earthquake sends the actress to a lone hospital room,
And the doctors give to Genya no good news, only gloom.
Chiyoko then thanks Genya for returning the old key,
Which opened up a quite important thing, her memory.
And, like an astronaut role Genya was so fond of,
She launches in a spaceship in search of her lost love.
______________

Millennium Actress is probably the weirdest movie on this list. It is a Japanese anime, which I’ve only seen with subtitles, that combines the present-day interviewers with Chiyoko’s past and mixes in her film roles such that it is hard to distinguish fact from fiction. Seeing it for the second time, I was better able to understand what was going on and the depth it carried, though some scenes went on too long, and there is a lot of running.

Anime is a touchy subject in my family. I grew up on “Pokémon” and “Yu-Gi-Oh!,” but have since gotten tired of the childish cartoons with silly faces and constant yelling. I do like Hayao Miyazaki’s films, one of which is the point of contention over anime. When Spirited Away won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, my mom and dad and I saw it, expecting great things and were turned off by the bizarreness of the characters and circumstances. I have since gotten over it, but my parents have not. My VC also has sworn off Japanese animation, so she didn’t see Millennium Actress with me.

Millennium Actress, which came out the same year as Spirited Away, also has many weird elements, but the weirdness succeeds in making it unique rather than bizarre. I’d rather have a cameraman being in the middle of a flashback (and commenting on the fact) in this movie than green decapitated heads rolling around a bathhouse of spirits in Spirited Away. (For the record, I would have preferred Treasure Planet win the Oscar that year. Spirited Away was not Miyazaki’s best, but I guess they gave him the Oscar for his whole body of work.)

I will separate Millennium Actress’s artistry from its animation, since they’re on completely different levels. The story being told is one of lost love and searching for the unattainable, using metaphors and previous events in a way that heightens the emotions and is often quite beautiful (though I liked the cameraman’s funny comments throughout, which kept Millennium Actress from getting too serious). The Madhouse animation, on the other hand, is just okay. It’s obvious that more effort went into certain scenes, such as the train station scene and the “carriage ride through time,” while many crowd scenes have only one character moving while all the background characters are frozen. Still, it was good enough to evoke the requisite emotions felt by the characters.

Despite my preference for more serious anime, I’m also not a fan of gratuitously violent cartoons that are sadly abundant in Japan. I was very wary of Millennium Actress at first since its director Satoshi Kon was previously known for the gory Perfect Blue, which I have no desire to see. Still, I’m glad I gave Actress a try because Kon used considerable restraint, not including any extreme content. Kon died of pancreatic cancer in 2010 at the age of 46, and it’s a shame more of his films weren’t as relatively clean as this one.

Lastly, I just want to mention my End Credits Song Hall of Fame, where great music over the end credits will be celebrated. The score overall was pretty good, but the credits song “Rotation” is excellent head-banging music, even if the lyrics are in Japanese and don’t mean much even when translated.

Best line (and last line): “After all, it’s the chasing after him I really love.” (one of my favorites)

Artistry – 8
Characters – 3
Entertainment – 3
Visual Effects – 2
Originality – 7
Watchability – 2
TOTAL:  25 out of 60
 

Tomorrow – #362: Willow

© 2014 S. G. Liput