Favorite And Least Favorite Studio Ghibli Movie?

[Dacey]

I don't think my opinion of Howl's Moving Castle has changed much since I saw it. The opening is weird, the middle goes all over the place, but the last thirty minutes or so? Totally, freaking fantastic...even if I couldn't explain it all to you.

The evil witch turning into a blob...thing was a bit much, though...

[Ben]

It may be our most negative positive review ever.

Love it!

[Randall]

I knew that would appeal to you.

[EricJ]

I don't think my opinion of Howl's Moving Castle has changed much since I saw it. The opening is weird, the middle goes all over the place, but the last thirty minutes or so? Totally, freaking fantastic...even if I couldn't explain it all to you.
The evil witch turning into a blob...thing was a bit much, though...

Especially since, like 90% of the middle of the movie, it doesn't even happen in the book--The Witch is the main villain-antagonist of the story, and goes down fighting.
The fact that we got her not only as a blob, but a nice senile blob who ever forgot she was bad, was a bit of heavily PC rewriting from leftwing Miyazaki who doesn't like villains in his movies, and wishes that conflicts could end with us all spiritually understanding each other. Another example of why he was the last person to try and tackle the Rowling-esque European faiytale spoofs of Dianne Wynne-Jones.
(I mean, he could have, if he'd had a little more familiarity with them, but...)

It's particularly disappointing seeing all the embellishment he did on Kiki's Delivery Service, which are so organically in keeping with the spirit of Eiko Kadono's Astrid Lindgren imitation, you'd have to have read it to see which bits weren't in the book.

[Bill1978]

Well I've managed to catch up on my Ghibli films. I must say that Arrietty is now the Ghibli film I would recommend to non-anime fans to watch first. Mainly causethe story is familiar and doesn't require any knowledge of Japanese culture and generally it isn't as 'out there' as some other movies in the Ghibli catalogue. I prefer the UK version over the US version, but that may be because I saw the UK version first.

Whisper Of The Heart is a pleasant little story, not a gripping story but one that made me want to see how it ends. I will admit though that I cannot recall anything about the Baron sections that warranted a sequel to be made involving him. I thoroughly enjoyed The Cat Returns, a simple, funny story with a surprisining amount of tension and intrigue.

Finished watching From Up On Poppy Hill today. Because of my frame of mind today (not in a good head space) I think I will have to re-watch at a later time. But I found it interesting and I like the simplistic story.

I also re-watched Tales From Earthsea, and still don't understand the hate thrown its way. Yes the story starts off in a rushed fashion, but I think it is a wonderful story with some beautiful backdrops. The ending confrontation is simply engaging Probably helps I haven't read the books and have a slight dislike of the author based on some comments she made.

I have plans to re-watch Howl one day, just to see if it makes more sense after all these years. I am also looking forward to the day I can show my godson Totoro and Ponyo.

So after catching up, I would say that Spirited Away is still my favourite with Arrietty knocking on its door. Porco Rosso still remains my least favourite and I have no desire to rewatch it anytime soon.

The Wind Is Rising looks like it has potential.

[rabika]

The Who Framed Roger Rabbit 25th Anniversary Panel
Moderated by producer Don Hahn and featuring animators Andreas Deja, Tom Sito, James Baxter, and Nik Ranieri, visual effects artist Dave Bossert, and the voice of Roger Rabbit himself Charles Fleisher.

[Dacey]

The Who Framed Roger Rabbit 25th Anniversary Panel
Moderated by producer Don Hahn and featuring animators Andreas Deja, Tom Sito, James Baxter, and Nik Ranieri, visual effects artist Dave Bossert, and the voice of Roger Rabbit himself Charles Fleisher.

YES! That is my favorite Studio Ghibli Movie too! Glad to see I'm not alone.

[Bill1978]

So I discovered while going through my Ghibli Collection to lend to a person who wanted to watch them all, that I apparently purchased Pom Poko. I thought I should at least watch it once before giving it to the person. I'm glad I did, cause I now have a new least favourite film of Ghibli. Porco Rosso is no longer it. I honestly lost interest about 7 minutes into the movie. I kept it on, but it became background noise as I did some work. Perhaps there is a solid story there, but the constant narration bugged me no end. I felt that if you need to narrate s much to explain what is happening, then there are serious problems with your script. I doubt I will be re-watching this anytime soon. It will sit on the shelf collecting dust. I dislike it so much, I have no interest in purchasing the soundtrack. Which is a rarity since I have a slight obsession with collecting soundtracks to animated films.

[Randall]

Pom Poko is a weird little movie. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but think I decided to sort of like it. But I've never revisited it.

http://animatedviews.com/2005/pom-poko/

[EricJ]

I usually loathe and despise all things Isao Takahata (except for My Neighbors the Yamadas , which was uncharacteristically cute and un-preachy), and I found Pon Poko actually LESS preachy than I expected from the director.
It does help, if you're not on an anime board, though, to have some familiarity with local Japanese legends of shape-changing raccoons (tanuki). And it picks up considerably after the first seven minutes, but also requires a heavy dose of Japanese cultural-IQ.

When "It's not Grave of the Fireflies" is the best thing you can say about a Takahata, that's usually not high praise, but it works here.

[Bill1978]

I did sit through the whole Pom Poko, and paid more attention that my post applied, but the story just didn't grab me. As I said I think it was the constant narration. I felt i also didn't get to know the characters well enough to care about their battle. I will admit though, I feel a lot of my struggle was with my lack of Japanese culture knowledge. Although that didn't stop me from enjoying other Ghibli films.

[Randall]

My daughter, an avid Ghibli fan, actually requested to watch Pom Poko last night--- she hadn't seen that one before. I guess I mentioned it to her after writing in this thread. She liked it, and my six-year old boy thought it was very funny. I do think that it was about 12 scenes too long, and the message gets a little muddled, but it is an interesting entry in the Ghibli filmography. It certainly is identifiably Japanese, more so than many of their other films, which does tend to make it a little more inscrutable.

[Randall]

From Up On Poppy Hill reveals Miyazaki, Jr. to have some chops after all! I really liked this one...

http://animatedviews.com/2013/from-up-on-poppy-hill/

[Karizma]

I loved both 'Castle in the Sky' (1986) and 'Grave of the Fireflies' (1988). In 'Castle in the Sky', the beginning itself was so wonderful - the chase scene through a flying ship where all the passengers are after Sheeta. I also loved the way the abandoned castle of Laputa was shown, overgrown with vines and all types of plant life.

Porco Rosso (1995) was something I didn't particularly like, the story about a former World War I flying ace who is also a pig.

[Randall]

Three Studio Ghibli reviews getting posted this week! First up is the new Blu-ray of Princess Mononoke:

http://animatedviews.com/2014/princess-mononoke/