Favorite And Least Favorite Studio Ghibli Movie?

[droosan]

Once they get past the chases to give us the Nadia-like plot revelation, seems like it won't end until they show us every darn crumbling brick.

You remind me of a friend of mine, who refers to Steamboy as "Debris: The Movie" ..

Most of Miyazaki's feature films flirt with the 2-hour mark.

To me, Castle in the Sky seems 'brisk' by comparison with his earlier Conan: Boy of the Future TV series, which tells an essentially similar story across 26 episodes.

Nadia, BTW, was made 4 years after Castle in the Sky. So its finale-plot revelation is a CitS-like one.

[Sunday]

Spirited Away and Mononoke are pretty amazing films, but I find myself siding with the spunk and charm of Porco Rosso at the end of the day. On occasion, Whisper of the Heart dips into the same quaint and very personal styling - sometimes a sense of longing and what has been lost ... or has yet to be found. Where I am engrossed visually and mentally in Spirited Away and many of the others, viewing Porco Rosso is a more simple delight for me and will likely be a touch point I come back to in film for a long while yet.

edit: Sorry for not answering the second part of the question. For a studio with such wonderful and artful productions, I really don't want to think about having a least favorite.

[LotsoA113]

edit: Sorry for not answering the second part of the question. For a studio with such wonderful and artful productions, I really don't want to think about having a least favorite.

Hey, no problem. Feel the same way about Pixar. Castle in the Sky may be the weakest..but it's still pure magic.

[Randall]

I don't find CitS too long at all. I quite like it, even if I've usually watched the dub in order to see it with my kids. Re: the dub--- it's not that the actors are bad (though I didn't care for Cloris Leachman so much); it's that the script doesn't do the story justice. There are too many dopey jokes that shouldn't be there, crowd noise that only distracts, and off-kilter translations. Watching true English subtitles (not available on the new DVD; the new DVD only subtitles the English dub, not the Japanese script) is the best way to experience what the fim is meant to be.

I'd love to see Only Yesterday (which looks like a cousin to Whisper of the Heart), and have considered getting a VCD of it.

[Ben]

Have to say that, when Ponyo was announced for Blu-ray and the news trickled in that other Ghiblis were soon to get the same treatment, I did get excited about the thought of Porco Rosso coming to the format.

That's the one that really grabbed me, and I'm so glad to see other support for it, because when I kept bringing it up as my favorite, no one else seemed to be rooting for it and I wondered if my favorite was secretly known as the "b*****d child" of Miyazaki's films! Anyway, glad to see that's not the case!

If any of you have seen some previous posts on Miyazaki (or anime in general) from me, you'll know that I'm not the hugest fan of the medium. But...as I said to Rand in a recent email, I've got to say that I’m becoming a Ghibli convert. Film 4 here have mini-seasons every now and then and I’ve taped/disc'd (?) a whole load of them.

After seeing it again (in both English and original Japanese) Spirited Away is one I’d go for on BD, though some of the more environmental ones (save for Pom Poko) I still find a bit preachy. Since I have a bit of an issue with the animation, the story or characters have to be up to scratch for me to get engaged, and when someone splits open and becomes a giant tree monster or something else is revealed to be a floating apparition or something, it doesn’t do it for me.

I've listed the films' I'm eager to pick up on BD in another thread, but I'll add here that I also just really enjoyed Ponyo too, which does have some really nice (and more fluid than usual?) animation sequences.

[James]

Spirited Away was one of the worst pieces of film I've ever seen. A jumbled mess from beginning to end. A story that could have been written by a 9 year old child in its believing it was being complex while the adults in the room just smile and humor the kid for his juvenile way of thinking. (Example: "You must pass my test. Which of these pigs are your parents?" "None of them." "Hurray!" -- Really. Come on. You're kidding.)

Just thinking about this film makes me mad!

[Jafar]

That's blasphemy, James

I personally love most of Ghibli films and find it impossible to pick just one. However, I must admit that I find "The Cat Returns" to be their weakest till date. That was never meant to be a feature film, anyway.

I'd love to see Only Yesterday (which looks like a cousin to Whisper of the Heart), and have considered getting a VCD of it.

Randall, if you watch DVDs from other regions, you should rather consider importing a copy from R2 (UK). I used to own a VCD myself until it came out on DVD in UK. Its gorgeous looking. The poor quality of the VCD was never so evident.

I absolutely love "Only Yesterday". Not the most entertaining film in the lot, but certainly their most mature work till date. Beautiful, poignant and very heartwarming.

"Ocean Waves", which is more along the lines of "Whisper", is also worth seeking out.

[LotsoA113]

I personally love most of Ghibli films and find it impossible to pick just one. However, I must admit that I find "The Cat Returns" to be their weakest till date. That was never meant to be a feature film, anyway.

I agree with you on that 'un. The Cat Returns is third weakest, followed by Howl and then (of course) Castle.

Oddly enough, Castle and Cat are only weak thanks to bad pacing and dubbing. As for Howl...even I have weirdness limits.

[Ben]

I saw The Cat Returns last summer...and can't remember anything about it!

[Randall]

I watched it again 2 weeks ago. It's good, but not all that memorable overall. I think I have a review posted for it, actually.

[Jafar]

Randall, can you please post a link to the review here? Can't seem to find it.

[Sunday]

Aw. It's a delightful little yarn and a playful extension to Whisper of the Heart -- I think as a film it doesn't really set out to attempt much more than just that. Nicely polished, good humor, lighthearted adventure, I'd pick Cat Returns over many other animated films any day of the week.

[Randall]

Randall, can you please post a link to the review here? Can't seem to find it.

You're right--- it's not on the site. I'll have to check my hard drive, as I'm pretty sure I reviewed the title for a defunct website years ago, and maybe never transfered it over to AV.

[LotsoA113]

Is that where all the old reviews come from Randall?

[EricJ]

Aw. It's a delightful little yarn and a playful extension to Whisper of the Heart -- I think as a film it doesn't really set out to attempt much more than just that..

It's just that--WotH was just supposed to be the usual shoujo sentiment of Finding Love and Doing Your Best, but they were clearly deluged with fan requests for "More of that dream scene".
Which made "Cat" not a bad idea for a spinoff at that (and thought it was more entertaining than WotH, which was pleasant but inconsequential Miyazaki-notes), but not meant to be anything more major than the Ghibli equivalent of a good spun-off Disney-quel.