Film Category: Animation

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This year marks the 40th anniversary of Studio Ghibli, and in line with this there has been a rerelease of Princess Mononoke (Miyazaki, 1997) in cinemas. It is such a great film and to be able to watch it on the big screen is so important to a film like this where visual spectacle is at the heart of it. It combines all the elements that make Studio Ghibli great into one film.

The film sets itself in the forest, and throughout this is where it remains. The detail in the visuals is what gives the film so much depth and why setting the film outside throughout drives the story. It is a wide open space where all the animal inhabitants are free to roam, and the audience is free to take in the landscapes. This plays in contrast to the human inhabitants where their settlement feels enclosed and claustrophobic. The use of sound gives the outside world this depth as well. You hear the sound of a stream of water flowing down the river throughout. Most importantly, you hear it when Ashitaka (the main lead) is saved by the God of the forest early on. It signifies life and the energy that it brings with it, it is the life vessel that keeps the forest going. The film can still be silent when it needs to be, arrows being fired through the air bring minimal sound and without a score in the background in some moments of battle it creates an unknowingness and ambiguity that only the forest could bring.

It brings with it the depth in landscape as it does with its narrative. There isn’t so much good against evil but more preservation of the spirit of the land. Spirit is key to this, its what unites the animals with each other and is the way in which they communicate. Whereas the humans aren’t open to any lines of communication apart from with themselves. They are the ones that live in fear, leading them to kill the God of the forest and try eradicate death but this is to their own detriment. As an audience you are positioned from Ashitaka’s perspective who tries to sew a divided forest and bring harmony to the land. Just like the evil that has infested his arm with his personal struggles, he is unable to quash the evil infested in the forest. Having his perspective is key to the distance from good against evil because he finds the humanity in their human settlement and tries to prevent any retribution from the animals.

The film is great for the fact that it has a complex storyline which reflects the intricate nature that it is set within, it also brings a depth that can only be achieved from this environment. More than anything I just enjoy the way the film flows to it and the journey you go on with the main character. You follow him on this personal journey to solve his own evils within him, and also restore the whole forest from evils.

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When I first seen that Lady And The Tramp (Luske etc, 1955) was showing in cinemas it made me quake in fright that Disney were demolishing the reputation of another popular film in their back catalogue. It turns out they already did this 6 years ago but it flopped enough that it was released straight to video. There was no need for such worry as this was the 70th anniversary rerelease of the original, and for me it was the first time of watching the film.

To get the right elements to enjoy a film like this and make it be a memorable film to watch, it has to be all about the experience of it. If this is achieved, it can create the same memories of childhood animation as you would get as a child. You live through experiences, and these are what makes past ones so memorable. Therefore, to get to go to the cinema in a near empty room of the biggest screen in the cinema seemed to be the perfect start to the whole trip. It made me feel like a child experiencing something new, in my own exclusive screening.

In terms of the film, I was quickly lost in the story and the ambiance that it brought with it. The way in which it positioned the audience from the dogs perspective was really cleverly done. You hardly even see the faces of any humans, creating a distance between audience and anything other than the dogs world which was more effective than any film about pets has been since. It also meant that when you did see a human face with the aunty, you could tell that she would be key to the story.

The ending itself seemed a bit contrived, apologies for any spoilers but think I have the freedom to do this on a 70 year old film. Lady and the tramp are taken away to the compound at the end of the film but their dog pals stop the wagon before it gets the there. The family hardly cared about Lady after the baby being born and I’m sure didn’t hear the last of it from the Auntie about the nuisance she’s caused along with her new love. But then somehow after all this she’s back in the house in the next scene along with Tramp who I’m not sure how he would’ve justified his actions to the adults but it is a miracle he managed to win over their affection. I am maybe being a bit harsh here to slander the ending of a nearly 100 year old film, especially after it was a very enjoyable experience to go see this movie.

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The opening part of Summer Wars acts as a cutscene in a game before the action starts and your thrown in headfirst into the narrative. It really shows how important world building and creating an atmosphere can be so important to an animation film and at the start of the journey you go on with the characters. You want to become enriched in the world they live in to feel like you can join them on the journey they go on. In the opening credits of this film, the editing and design elegantly show us the rich landscapes that follow Koiso on his journey towards the home of his crush, Natsuki. My favourite anime films are where the environment around them is just as important to the film as the narrative. Take for example Princess Mononoke (Miyazaki, 1997) that uses nature as somewhat its own character in the film, along with the recent release of The Boy and the Heron (Miyazaki, 2023) where the exploring of the outside world leads to the main plot point of the film.

This film starts by exploring this well and uses the outside to the advantage. Then for twenty minutes in until the end of the film, it is all pretty much confined to the one house in which he has travelled to. The main plot line of the film is about cyberspace in which communication in their society relies upon its use, and therefore this becomes the ‘outside’ of the film where the characters travel into the cyberspace. This unconventional way to approach the story didn’t really connect as your either in this fast paced alternate world where the story isn’t really easy to follow, then your put back into the house environment which is mainly just family squabbles that has some funny moments but doesn’t ever add anything new.

By the end of the film, the storyline became focused on the virtual world that included a two hour timer where they had to do something before it reached zero (I pretty much lost the plot at this point). The timer just became a visual clue to me for how long was left of the film where the less time that became on the clock, the more relieved I started to feel. The films biggest praise was that I never found myself getting too bored. Having an anime that was about technology, and more importantly set in the current day rather than the past, did feel like something different. But throughout I kept wanting it just to escape the confines that it placed itself in and just explore. It had potential and showed early on what it could achieve, yet it tried to be too relevant to the modern age and become about family drama that coincidentally included a cyberspace storyline.