Favourite Miyazaki film

I saw Spirited Away in the theater, and it was my first Miyazaki, so it's hard not to love it - especially since it felt like one of the first truly immersive animated films I'd seen yet. I didn't want it to end, and it felt like I had spent days inside it.

Then I went to Mononoke and was promptly disappointed. How in the world was that the one which broke him into the US market?

But the 80's material is pretty solid. Nausicaa dragged a bit, and while I liked Totoro and Kiki, they're both a bit extra twee compared to the rest. I suppose my other faves would be Lupin, Laputa, and Porco.

I remember Nausicaa being good, but I have no real desire to ever see it again after becoming so immersed in the manga, which is one of my favorite comic books of all time. The movie, by comparison, feels like a cheap adaptation of that comic (although obviously the history is more complicated than that!).

Still stand by my vote for Kiki. Still need to see Howl's.

I just saw Ponyo! It's pretty cutesy, even compared to Spirited Away and Totoro, but it's good. There's this uber-catchy song that goes with it, though, that they've been playing non-stop over here and I hope for everyone's sanity back home they don't translate it into English.

Ponyo to be released in America in August.

Ponyo Ponyo Ponyo sakana no ko etc

v.v. catchy aargh

Thunder and lightening

v v frightening

> That Tales of Earthsea movie was better than I expected.

on uk tv sometime soon (saw it in tivo listings but there's no easy way of searching upcoming stuff unless you know which channel it's on (film4 i think))

http://www.animeuknews.net/news/1796/tales-from-earthsea-to-get-film4-showing
"The film will be shown twice - the first time on Sunday the 12th of April at 2:45pm, and a repeat show on Thursday the 16th of April at 6:45pm."

Loved: Spirited Away
Liked: Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's Delivery Service
Indifferent: Princess Mononoke
Disliked: My Neighbor Totoro

of these that i've seen, which is only 2 or 3, i always come away thinking that they look great and but they're kinda boring.

I saw Laputa in the cinema a week ago (hadn't seen it before), and it was great! I'd almost be willing to say it's the second best Miyazaki film after Totoro. I loved the way it never quite revealed all of the mysteries implied in the backstory (trying to avoid spoilers here) but gave just enough hints to make some guesses. I guess I've always been fond of stories where people explore the mysteries of long ago vanished cultures. Also, I thought it was nice how there clearly was a strong ecological theme (common with many other Miyazaki films) yet it was never spelled out. And there where some incredibly beautiful designs, especially the robot. Oh boy what a cool robot!

One thing I found kinda weird thougb, why does every Miyazaki film (besides Princess Mononoke) have a similar-looking teen girl as a protagonist? I'm familiar with the Japanese fetishism for school girls, but the way the sky pirates leered after Sheeta was still a bit disturbing here. At least it was done more tastefully in Porco Rosso.

Oh yeah, they showed a trailer for Ponyo before Laputa, I can confirm that the Poyno song is indeed silly and ridiculously catchy!

i totally agree with these poll results. Spirited Away is the only one that was truely magical. Totoro is sweet. Mononoke ok. Howl's Moving Castle a tragic mess.

shut up. YOUR FACE will be a tragic mess after its done getting punched. by me.

howl's moving castle 4EVA

I agree with Ludo, Howl's Moving Castle had some nice scenes, but it was very incoherent. Definitely the worst Miyazaki I've seen.

g2h

I don't think I voted in this, but it's a shame - I'm betting Nausicaa and Laputa didn't get votes just due to not being as widely seen, but there's definitely top 3 with Spirited Away for me (followed closely by Totoro).

Miyazaki's doing a brief American tour to tie in with the release of Ponyo.

I've come to find that I like Howl's as much if not a little bit more than Spirited... incoherent mess my arse.

It is too hard to pick only one.

ch4rlie fr4m3 otm - Howl's is a wonderful film.

Yeah Howl's gets better every time I see it.

The only problem with Howl is that it just misses out on being as wonderful as the original book.

Will rep for Mononoke til the end!

LA Times interview with Miyazaki. Hoping like hell *somewhere* in the LA basin Ponyo will be screened with subtitles...

wow he turned into The Architect from the second Matrix movie

it is an interesting interview, thanks for the link

there was an advanced screening of ponyo here on friday w subtitles not dub!...i watched it about a month ago, i love it, his most innocent and childlike film since totoro. my son saw previews on cartoon network and said he has no intention of watching it, i saw the same preview yesterday and can't say i blame him, the dub sounds terrible and they chose the most disney ass bullshit scenes to show in the trailer.

miyazaki may be the only director who hasn't made one film i didn't love

Am I the only one who's intensely annoyed by the music of Spirited Away?

i saw Ponyo with subs the other week. its definitely aimed at a younger audience like Totoro, some odd but beautiful imagery at times. and no flying sequences that i can remember! worth seeing if you can handle the twee.

there was an advanced screening of ponyo here on friday w subtitles not dub!.

Man, lucky.

I am still really excited to see this.

Did Miyazaki say something like this is his last film? I forget.. I remember him not caring much for his son's work.

Tuarangalila, you may have been my neighbor on Last.fm but I can't share your annoyance. Rather the opposite.

I want to go and see this, but if there's going to be fucking subtitles scrawled all over the animation I'm outta there.

It's either that or hearing young Cyruses and Jonases speak.

B'wana Beast,

Hee! :) What's your screen name?

I'd rank "Ponyo" below everything I've seen from Miyazaki, beautiful pastel backgrounds or no. I understand the "think like a child" concept, but that's no excuse for lazy plotting and so many loose ends. It felt like there was 20 minutes missing, yet at the same time the movie felt too long (it barely held the attention of my 4 1/2 year old, who loves "Totoro" and "Kiki's"). And "Ponyo" ends as abruptly and lamely as a generic freeze-frame high-five.

Perhaps if I were better versed in Japanese mythology I'd have liked the movie better. Certainly it starts out fine, or at least fine enough. But by the 2/3rds mark the pronounced lack of plot/drama started to really irk me. Big disappointment from a director I love.

For what it's worth, I saw the "dubbed" version, but John Lasseter from Pixar typically oversees all the "dubbing" of Miyazaki's films, and the voice work was OK. And besides, as Ebert wrote in his overly enthusiastic if well-intentioned review of "Ponyo:"

“Is it only dubbed?” I was asked. You dummy! All animated films are dubbed! Little Nemo can’t really speak!

Anyway, I'd rather have more misses from this guy than hits from the usual assembly line players. But I'd still prefer hits from him all the same.

Does anyone know if there is a subtitled release in theaters in NY? I couldn't find a listing for a subbed version on moviefone...

"pronounced lack of plot" is usually a good point, with miyazaki, though

just ONE vote for cagliostro? wow ilx u siccen me yet again

lil nublets

I would say Nausicaa by a pretty heaven margin now, also,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OkT5HyumQ4

nausicaa suffers from comparison with the manga, which was some next level shit, but it has moments in it unlike anything else in miyazaki's career - it's more like a trad post-apocalyptic anime in that sense i guess

i think laputa is the weakest

porco rosso is great, especially the french dub featuring jean reno

future boy conan deserves some luv here too imo

read a think with miyazaki recently where he says he hates porco rosso, he kinda dislikes a lot of his films and didn't enjoy making any of them and is a lot crankier than I expected

Was supposed to see Nausicaa in the theater recently but it didn't happen. ;_;

i've only seen spirited away, howl's moving castle, and totoro. <3 totoro so much

i guess i should watch nausicaa next?

animators are generally miserable people

no fuck that you should watch castle of cogliostro next!!!!! nausicaa is really pretty weak

turns out cogliostro is the only one available to watch instantly on netflix so i guess that's the one for me ^_____^

kismet

ps - I know what I'm doing tonight now!