I continue my Studio Ghibli retrospective with a look at Ponyo. Studio Ghibli, as a globally preeminent maker of animated features, inevitably invites comparisons with Disney. Perhaps no Ghibli movie invites such comparisons more than Ponyo (2008), or Ponyo on the Cliff, as its original Japanese title goes. Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, Ponyo …
Tag Archives: Ghibli
The Anti-Hero’s Journey: Tales from Earthsea Review
Next in my Studio Ghibli retrospective, I turn to the not-quite-beloved Tales from Earthsea. Back in the 1980s, Peter Hyams wrote and directed a sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. Titled 2010: The Year We Make Contact, the sequel provided a follow-up to the basic events of the original movie but was …
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A Beautiful Contraption: Howl’s Moving Castle Review
Next in my Studio Ghibli retrospective comes Howl’s Moving Castle. Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, boasts perhaps the most memorable opening shot of any Ghibli movie. We open with a near-blank screen, as the frame is filled with fog that shrouds the landscape. Through the mist, the silhouette of some …
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Taking a Catnap: The Cat Returns Review
Next in my Ghibli retrospective, I look at The Cat Returns. The Cat Returns (2002), directed by Hiroyuki Morita and written by Reiko Yoshida, marks the beginning of an interesting new phase in Studio Ghibli’s work and hence in my retrospective of Ghibli movies. The studio’s previous movie, Spirited Away, was a turning point in …
A World Transformed: Spirited Away Review
Continuing with my Studio Ghibli retrospective, I turn to the Big One: Spirited Away. Among Studio Ghibli’s movies, Spirited Away (2001) is the crown jewel. Certainly it is the most commercially successful movie the studio ever produced, grossing over 30 million yen and standing for almost 20 years as the top-grossing movie in Japanese history …
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All in the Family: My Neighbors the Yamadas Review
Next in my Studio Ghibli retrospective, I look at My Neighbors the Yamadas. Imagine the kind of single-panel cartoon made famous by the New Yorker. Such cartoons are typically ironic, perhaps somewhat satirical, and, above all, elliptical. The limitations imposed by one drawing with a caption often require you, the reader, to fill in the …
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A Myth Realized on Screen: Princess Mononoke Review
I continue my Studio Ghibli retrospective with a look at the outstanding Princess Mononoke. “This book is like lightning from a clear sky…[I]n it heroic romance, gorgeous, eloquent, and unashamed, has suddenly returned…here are beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron; here is a book that will break your heart.” The passage …
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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman: Whisper of the Heart Review
Next in my Studio Ghibli retrospective, I look at a real gem in the studio’s catalog, Whisper of the Heart. One of life’s few certainties is the presence of uncertainty. We face uncertainty about what we want to do with our lives, what will make us happy, who (if anyone) we may end up sharing …
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Out of the Woods: Pom Poko Review
Next in my Studio Ghibli retrospective, I turn to Pom Poko. Pom Poko (1994), written and directed by Isao Takahata, is a tale of magical tanuki, or “raccoon dogs” (a canine species native to East Asia that resembles the North American raccoon). The movie is set among a community of tanuki living in the forest …
Pretty, but Heartless: Ocean Waves Review
I continue my Studio Ghibli retrospective with a look at one of the more obscure entries in the studio’s output. Ocean Waves (1993) stands out among Studio Ghibli movies for several reasons. It was Ghibli’s first (and, until the forthcoming Earwig and the Witch, only) TV movie. Directed by Tomomi Mochizuki, Ocean Waves was the …
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The Cameraman 