16 Comments
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Nick Richards's avatar

Love Miyazaki!

I can never get over how he will hand illustrate a toddler stumbling over on their way to walk from here to there. Who takes the time to draw mistakes?!

But he does, because that’s what toddlers do.

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Kailani B.'s avatar

Yep! The little touches add so much.

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Susan Adams's avatar

Even though I have never heard of any of these movies, except Totoro, which I think I watched with the grandkids, and they like it, I really enjoyed reading your analysis of these foreign movies! It really amazes me how you can summarize them so concisely and so interestingly, and then that you can even rank them according to Your preference, is amazing to me. Good job!

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Carolyn Mario's avatar

That's exactly what I was thinking. Exactly.

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Kailani B.'s avatar

Thanks! I guess after years of practice, reviewing stuff has finally become second nature to me.

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Katelynsam's avatar

Howl’s moving castle and Spirited Away are my favorites! When I first saw spirited away as a child, I was a bit disturbed but now I appreciate the strange beauty of it. I would also recommend his latest movie The Boy and the Heron although I feel like it is more of an adult movie than his others, which are a bit more whimsical and cheerful.

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Kailani B.'s avatar

Good choices! And I’ll keep an eye out for the other movie.

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Ian Barr's avatar

Ghibli is great. It's some of the most whimsical stories I can think of.

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Kailani B.'s avatar

Whimsy is a hard thing to capture in books (I think), but this style of animation lends itself to whimsy and mysticism.

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FQ Yeoh's avatar

Great read! I think you might enjoy Ponyo (another cracking theme song) and the newest one, The Boy And The Heron - definitely try go in with no expectations!

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The Casual Writer's avatar

My first Ghibli movie was Kiki's Delivery Service, and it holds a very special place in my heart. My one point of push back against your analysis of Kiki: Of course she's annoying, she's thirteen lol.

I hear that the Howl's Moving Castle book is pretty different from the Ghibli version, so if that's a story you love it may be worth picking up the book for comparison. I really should watch Castle in the Sky, especially since I'm writing my own skyrates story!

Are these the Ghibli movies you've seen so far? I know that there are others, like Ponyo, and I noticed it is not included in your list.

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Kailani B.'s avatar

Yeah, I just raided my local library, so I missed a couple movies.

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The Casual Writer's avatar

I see. I hope we get a part 2 of your reviews!

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St. Paul's avatar

Looking forward to whisper of the heart

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Kailani B.'s avatar

I hope you like it!

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Charlie Morgan's avatar

In Princess Mononoke, I don't believe the main woman was supposed to be likeable. But at least, understandable. She was trying to care for her people, even if it wasn't in the best and kindest way.

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