Favourite Miyazaki film

(mostly north shore Maui)

Huh, I've only watched Kiki once, probably fifteen or so years ago, and it didn't particularly stick in my mind, certainly less so than a lot of his other films. Time to revisit I guess.

It's a very low key movie, but in think that's part of the appeal. Just a young witch out there, learning about the world.

kiki is a way more anxiety-inducing watch than it should be

hm that's interesting--I was just about to post:

Kiki probably has the lowest level of dramatic conflict of any more or less mainstream movie I've ever seen

though I could see how the absence of big dramatics might be more anxiety-inducing; the grandmother/granddaughter story is softly devastating, but you could almost miss it too

my kids love all the ghibli movies so i've seen most of these over the past couple of years. totoro and ponyo are my favorites, kiki is good and visually beautiful but it makes me sad

https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2017/03/13/towards-a-true-childrens-cinema-on-my-neighbor-totoro/

this essay captures a lot about what i love about totoro

My Neighbor Totoro is a genuine children’s film, attuned to child psychology. Satsuki and Mei move and speak like children: they run and romp, giggle and yell. The sibling dynamic is sensitively rendered: Satsuki is eager to impress her parents but sometimes succumbs to silliness, while Mei is Satsuki’s shadow and echo (with an independent streak). But perhaps most uniquely, My Neighbor Totoro follows children’s goals and concerns. Its protagonists aren’t given a mission or a call to adventure—in the absence of a larger drama, they create their own, as children in stable environments do. They play.

we watched princess mononoke not realizing it was one of the pg-13 ones and were a little startled by all the heads and arms being cleaved off by arrows

it's crazy that this poll happened before ponyo came out because it's slotted right in as a classic miyazaki in our household

Kiki says towards the end of the 2nd act something along the lines of "Flying is fun until you have to do it for work". If that's not a farewell to adolescence, I don't know what is!

Her conflict mostly details her transitioning into adult responsibilities: Choosing a career, independence, sustenance, overcoming lack of motivation and social awkwardness.

There's probably something to be said about her transition into womanhood as well but I will leave that to someone else.

yes it's more a 'learning to be in your twenties' film than a film about becoming a teenager

kiki is definitely a top 25 film for me

https://www.polygon.com/2019/10/17/20918448/watch-studio-ghibli-films-miyazaki-stream-hbo-max

"why not on disney," you ask?
https://www.polygon.com/2019/10/15/20828843/studio-ghibli-movies-miyazaki-streaming-netflix-disney-plus

(non-ghibli) The Castle of Cagliostro is still up on netflix, such a great Bond send-up (for you Bond-heads).

and great fun in its own right!

wow, the streaming thing is wild tho - "not on streaming" has been such a part of the brand for so long.

Watched Totoro (again) and Ponyo (first time) with our 3 yr old - the following opinions are all mine. Ponyo didn't really grab me, it lacked emotional weight. Totoro effortlessly shows us everything we need to know in the first few minutes - sisters, a new (old) house in the country, mother in hospital. It's not a great deal - well it is for the girls - but it's totally relatable and a solid foundation for everything that follows. And obviously Totoro himself is 100% adorable - the scene where Mei first meets him via his tail is amazing. In Ponyo we get a weird fish with a human face (wtf) and an overbearing father, and a boy. That's it. (The boy also has daddy issues but fairly minor ones & we don't find out till later.) It's not clear what drives Ponyo or why they become so attached to each other. I feel like Totoro is one for the ages, it overflows with humanity; Ponyo is just a bunch of weird stuff that happens.

watched Spirited Away in theaters last night and the couple next to us were laughing hysterically about the little bird carrying the mouse/baby; like more than seemed at all normal.
seeing Porco Rosso (eng dub) and The Wind Rises (original) over the next two days as part of this:
http://www.ifccenter.com/series/the-films-of-studio-ghibli/
could maybe sneak another one or two in if i'm lucky.... would kinda like to see kaguya again in theaters. Thinking now about what I have NOT seen in theaters and the big ones are Arietty (which i haven't seen anywhere!), Tales of Earthsea (which i only watched about half of a torrent when it was out back in japan before bailing) and Ponyo... and I don't much love Ponyo.

PONYO LOVES HAM tho

ledge otm on both films: totoro is hands-down one of the greatest movies ever made

but ponyo is so staggeringly beautiful to look at that i never get tired of it

And Ponyo's myriad sisters on the submarine are voiced by one-time YMO live keyboardist (and noted singer in her own right) Akiko Yano! Tales From Earthsea really is pretty bad though, I tried to like it on re-viewing but couldn't bring myself to care even a little.

Ponyo might dip a little too deep into the well of Northern European folklore (HC Anderson/R Wagner) for the typical Ghibli fan. I think it's amazing.

Yes, but what did the three-year-old think, ledge?

Well we don't often sit down for whole films with her but when we do she's not often into them; she was with these but drifted towards the end of Ponyo. She asked more questions about Ponyo (especially about the wizard, I kept on having to say "shush I need to hear what he's saying to answer your questions!"), I think she was as confused as I was. I think she laughed more at Totoro (the film) & liked Totoro (the character) more than the fish but she hasn't clamoured to rewatch either so don't know if they're keepers yet.

sorry if tmi!

No, it's good! I know Ponyo was specifically aimed at very young children so was wondering if they saw more in it than us.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jan/28/studio-ghibli-ranked-netflix-princess-mononoke-spirited-away

I'm afraid I cannot agree with Porco Rosso and Only Yesterday being two of the three worst Ghiblis.

only yesterday is a top 3 ghibli film

ranking it beneath the cat returns is some bullshit

is this what I want if I want a DVD collection?

https://www.playtech-asia.com/studio-ghibli-collector-edition-dvd-english-dubbed-hd-version.html

Most of the action unfolds as the credits roll.

wha?

Takahata is way underrated on this list.

Also, does Grave of the Fireflies not qualify for some reason?

sleeve - can't say for sure but there are a ton of bootleg, low-quality ghibli box sets online. one red flag: 24 movies on eight discs does not suggest great picture quality or special features.

thanks, that's why I asked! any recommendations would be appreciated, I want to start getting hard copies.

I think the GKids DVDs and Blu-Rays are still in print, and widely available in Best Buys and the like. Those do contain the Disney dubbed versions (and I think many of the same extras?) in addition to Japanese with subs, etc.

After absconding from the RAF, Porco Rosso transforms back into a human, literally and metaphorically.

Wait what? Did they even watch the movie? This is bonkers.

that list is pretty terribly written, and also clearly doesn't have any need to be a ranked list at all apart from clickbait logic.

Also I haven’t watched Tales From Earthsea but I’ve never seen anyone describe it as better than mediocre/disappointing, let alone top-tier Studio Ghibli.

Although its child protagonists are far too young to promise to love each other, this....is one of Studio Ghibli’s best.

Okay.

My ranked list!

Spirited Away
My Neighbour Totoro
Laputa
Kiki's Delivery Service
Only Yesterday
Princess Mononoke
Grave of the Fireflies
Porco Rosso
Nausicaa
Whisper of the Heart
Howl's Moving Castle
The Tale of Princess Kaguya
Pom Poko
The Wind Rises
Castle of Cagliostro (doesn't really count I know)
Ponyo
Arrietty
My Neighbours The Yamadas
When Marnie Was There
From Up On Poppy Hill
The Cat Returns
Ocean Waves
Tales From Earthsea

Everything down to Arrietty very good to amazing. Only the last two weren't especially enjoyable.

> Also, does Grave of the Fireflies not qualify for some reason?

it wasn't on the list of things available on Netflix, the one i saw anyway.

I liked Tales from Earthsea just fine! I like the novels, it did it’s job.

Tales From Earthsea is really not great. It's super slow moving and the characters spend ages just hanging out in a house doing not very much while doom is impending.

Good to see Kiki getting rated highly but Spirited Away is too low and Princess Mononoke I've always felt I can take or leave, so I'd swap those round

The documentaries on Miyazaki that I've seen are weirdly compelling, he's so relentlessly downbeat as a person, it makes me think that his achievements are somehow snatched from the jaws of failure in some act of artistic brinkmanship. I wonder if he was like that his whole life, the dynamic between him, Suzuki and Takahata (and indeed his own son) was interesting to witness.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ondemand/video/3004569/

thanks!

Watching Laputa on Netflix with English audio & subtitles and the subs are godawful. Totally basic compared to the audio, maybe because they assume a reading rate of about one word a second; but also often a much worse fit for what's on the screen.

everyone with a low opinion of ponyo is wrong and shd have themselves checked out

(currently watching totoro for the first time)

totoro quite stressful in its later reaches :(

have you read Ebert's review of Totoro?

no i only just finished watching it

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-my-neighbor-totoro-1993