Next batch of Pixar films after the Monsters Inc. prequel

I'd been looking forward to seeing this one with my kids. Finally did tonight, and ... pretty disappointed. Reminded me a bit of one of those EPCOT pseudo-educational film before-the-ride movies, but stretched out to feature length. Not boring, just sort of functional. At the same time, it didn't seem quite fleshed out well enough to support its running time - a lot of the movie was just this not terribly thrilling "we need to get the x to the y!" race - though I did love the central conceit of sadness and joy being equally vital components of growing up. And I'd much rather something minor like this than a "Monsters U," no question. But at times I flashed back to "Monsters Inc.", and how wonderfully that movie handled somewhat similar subject matter, yet in a much more creative manner than what this one attempts literally.

Other random thoughts:

1) Design-wise, I actually thought it was pretty uninspiring for Pixar. The main characters were a bit like boring Muppets, and all the little sub-Minion tic tac characters were sort of missed opportunities.

2) I try to see most Pixar movies in 2D, but this felt like the first Pixar movie that really seemed like it was trying to be 3D. Like, lots of things flying at the screen, playing with perspective or otherwise seemingly designed to make the most of 3D. Sort of distracting.

3) I cry at virtually every movie I see with my kids. I love the experience. I probably even cried, most recently, at "Jurassic World," since I love watching them watch movies so much. But weirdly I did not cry at this one.

4) Was surprised at how not funny it was. In fact, early on they use the old "Be positive!" "OK ... I'm positive this is a bad idea" groaner. And then they do it again! And I can't believe they threw in a lame "Forget it, Jake ... " "Chinatown" gag.

5) How long was Riley at the new house? A few days? And jeez, wouldn't that house go for, like, $10 billion dollars in San Fran? Or is that the bad part of town?

6) Bing Bong also seemed like a missed opportunity. And as my older daughter pointed out, shouldn't he have made a fleeting appearance in the opening montage of formative memories?

7) Joy was pretty condescending, wasn't she? She was basically Leslie Knope.

7) The nightmare music was the music from Disney's "Haunted Mansion" ride!

8) I would watch an entire movie about the inner lives of cats.

on a side note i rewatched kiki's delivery service last week and i think that might be the stealth best ghibli movie?)

we just went thru a Miyazaki festival and, yeah, I agree.

"Kiki's" is great, one of my older daughter's faves. Also, some great Phil Hartman in the English version.

the moment where hartman comes back and says "I'm here too Kiki!" is the moment i determined never to watch a dubbed miyazaki again.

kiki is (of course) a very early miyazaki dub, none of the others are that obnoxious

(assuming that the fox totoro is out of print and wiped from memory)

Spirited Away > Kiki > Howls > Ponyo > Mononoke > The Wind Rises > Totoro

i like the fox totoro! the vhs one right?

kiki is (of course) a very early miyazaki dub, none of the others are that obnoxious

― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Monday, June 29, 2015 10:51 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i thought that there were two dubs, one for the first theatrical release, and it was re-done for the DVD/Blu-Ray. maybe i'm mixing it up with a few other films. (yes, i /know/ there was an original, botched american release of nausicaa as "warriors of the wind." i'm talking about disney re-doing a few english dubs.)

More than most need to know:

http://animeenglishdubreviews.blogspot.com/2009/09/dub-review-kikis-delivery-service.html

I saw the Japanese version of Kiki last week at a screening – marvelous.

Spirited Away > Kiki > Howls > Ponyo > Mononoke > The Wind Rises > Totoro

― Norse Jung (Eric H.)

otm

Totoro deserves more love

Was Sadness supposed to resemble Velma from Scooby Doo?

she wasn't a lesbian.

kiki > mononoke > totoro > spirited away > ponyo > howls

grew up with the fox totoro, never seen the disney one but fiercely partisan anyway

Princess Monolake.

i like the fox totoro! the vhs one right?

oh yeah i like the fox totoro too, i just forgot to acknowledge it when criticizing the disney kiki

Liking anything more than Spirited Away is fucking insanity.

spirited away has never been my favorite miyazaki film lol

kiki > mononoke > totoro > spirited away > ponyo > howls

otm except i don't rate howls

you can't put totoro at the bottom of a spectrum

It's infantile and cloying.

gtfo

Eat shit and die.

that's the ghibli spirit!

I haven't seen any of the Pixars since Toy Story 3 and was kinda thinking that I was over them, but this was wonderful. The mixed genders of the emotions in Riley's head (as opposed to the uniform gender representation in the adults) struck me too; the subtle suggestion that we only take on firm gender identities while in the process of growing up is typical of Pixar at their brilliantly subversive peak (see also, the critique of the "graduation" in The Incredibles). I teared up a good four or five times, which isn't something I normally do--I'm thinking the combination getting married yesterday and my accompanying some children to the movie (it was my friend's three-year-old's first time seeing a film in the theater) had me in an unusually (and appropriately!) vulnerable emotional state. I suppose that I could share the above gripe about the so-typically-Pixar move of overdoing the peril, but I also credit the film for its constant invention--the film never coasts on its premise, but rather keeps finding new ways to explore it (the "abstract thought" scene...wow).

Beyond that, I laughed, partially in amazement, at the joke about bears in San Francisco, and groaned at the Chinatown reference while at the same time being somewhat impressed that a children's film in 2015 even bothered making a reference to Chinatown. And I loved the fact that I was watching what is essentially a family version of a Charlie Kaufmann script.

Lava looked pretty, but I may have been a bit more susceptible to its brand of corniness had the song not reminded me cringingly of Jack Johnson (the beach-bummmy singer/songwriter, not the guy Miles Davis wrote the one album about).

the song reminded me of "Hey Soul Sister."

Song reminded me, musically and thematically, of Josh Ritter's "The Curse."

(see also, the critique of the "graduation" in The Incredibles)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq5vt_KUj5o

(xpost)

been reading some interviews with the songwriter/director of Lava (who - not coincidentally - happens to be the president of Pixar), trying to figure out if he wrote the shitty song first and then decided to make a video for it, or decided to make a video and wrote a shitty song for it.

answer:

http://khon2.com/2014/11/03/5-questions-with-disneypixars-lava-director-james-ford-murphy/

I’ll never forget the first time I heard Israel Kamakawiwoole sing “Over the Rainbow.” It was on an episode of “ER” that I was watching with my wife. I immediately recognized this song from one of my favorite films, “The Wizard of Oz,” but when I heard Iz’s version, I was reminded of the love affair I have with Hawaii and it instantly reignited the powerful connection I feel for the love I shared with my wife there in 1989.

So when it came time for me to develop short film ideas I thought to myself, what if I could write a song that makes me feel the way that song does, and combine it with the love, admiration and powerful connect I feel to the Hawaiian islands.

dude spends like four years on this thing with an amazing team of animators and apparently never once thinks he should maybe bring in someone to help with the SONG

After LAVA was green-lit for production, for one year all I did was listen to Hawaiian music as I searched for the perfect Hawaiian singers for LAVA. Not only did I become a connoisseur of Hawaiian music, I also learned about the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards and festival. As soon as I found out about this festival, I immediately convinced our producer Andrea Warren that we had to go because all of the musicians I was interested in were going to be there, and this would be our opportunity to see, hear and meet who we wanted to work with on LAVA.

...We also hope that in some small way, our film can help expose more people to the incredible musical treasure trove that is Hawaiian music.

whhhyyy couldn't he have outsourced the songwriting though, whyyyy

that song is to hawaiian music what this song is to japanese music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUDqcnSuKWc

except, you know, less good

I’ll never forget the first time I heard Israel Kamakawiwoole sing “Over the Rainbow.” It was on an episode of “ER” that I was watching with my wife. I immediately recognized this song from one of my favorite films, “The Wizard of Oz,” but when I heard Iz’s version, I was reminded of the love affair I have with Hawaii and it instantly reignited the powerful connection I feel for the love I shared with my wife there in 1989.

song is the rotten fruit of a mauna kea beach wedding

iz's music is often beautiful, no idea why they didn't just license one of his tracks

also very disappointed none of you watched kittenbus

wait, was there actually a link to watch the video? i didn't see it

ahem

i've warmed to totoro in recent viewings but Eric is right, it's vastly overrated - infantile, cloying and a little bit boring/uneventful? the totoro themselves don't seem to have any impact on the main plotline.

Whereas Howls is very underrated.

And Kiki's is just so great. I prefer the sentiment a whole lot more than Totoro.

totoro is about coming to terms with having a new sibling, fears of losing your mother, sitting on the cusp of childhood and losing the hallucinatory magic of young wonder
kiki is about transitioning into young womanhood, new responsibilities and puberty
i've always seen them as part of a continuum.

Howl is justly rated. I was going to say that Ponyo is underrated but honestly have no clue what the ILX hivemind thinks of it or how regular people rate it in the Ghibli canon.

a little bit boring/uneventful? the totoro themselves don't seem to have any impact on the main plotline.

as a kid i watched totoro over and over and over but i made up an alternate plot, more elaborate on each pass, where mei was a secret agent sent to assassinate her mother who was also a secret agent

anyway sorry still not over i heard that iz song on e.r. and i run an animation studio so i thought why not pay powerful homage to the time i fucked in a hotel

A free screening will be held this Friday, Nov. 7, at the IBM Building Courtyard in Ward Village.

i was in this building the other day looking at the gorgeous scale model of the highrise development that's replacing the old international marketplace and i'm glad they have something to play now in the attached lava-furnished cinema besides the endless loop of a 5-minute video where construction executives compete to see who can most frequently remind you "o'ahu" means "the gathering place"

some lovely stuff in ponyo, especially when the town floods: the tethered boats floating above the houses like balloons; the kids rowing through the canopy. great eerie kid-adventure stuff. only saw it once but remember being less into the magic liam neeson plot or the mechanics of ponyo's origin and peril. definitely lower-tier but when i saw it a little kid behind me stood up after the lights came up and announced "miyazaki never disappoints!" so it is hard for me to criticize.

infantile, cloying and a little bit boring/uneventful?

i love the quasi-stasis of much of "totoro"!

Ponyo was his first genuine crossover right? That's the one my cousin's kids watch on road trips. They know every line. And they are not an art house family.

I always thought Totoro was the early crossover, at least in that I've seen the most Totoro figurines, art and stuff toted around by kids. Which is still not much, but the Totoro cat is the only bit of Ghibli iconography I come across with any frequency.

a few of the ghibli films that didn't do big theatrical box office stateside ended up becoming big hits on video over the course of decades, so it's hard to say what was a "crossover"