We are all left to hope that Ghibli's studio keeps going even after Miyazaki stops.
Also The Boy and the Heron was quite a letdown for me for Miyazaki's final film. I understood the point he was trying to make, that the films he made were his attempt at creating a perfect world, but the malice in his own heart made him unable to accomplish his vision. But the rest of the film didn't really seem to be built around that message, it seemed like an afterthought for the final scenes where the great-uncle is trying to pass the mantle on to him.
In any case, Princess Mononoke is my favorite film of all time, and the closest that Miyazaki (and Studio Ghibli) ever got to perfection. If you haven't seen it you should absolutely check it out.
How are there that many of us? It really is a spectacular film.
> equally good both in sub and dub.
The dub has decent voice acting, but is plagued with changing the meaning of several scenes. Kaya is Ashitaka's little sister, not betrothed. They inserted fart jokes. Moro's voice is significantly different [1]. Also, Neil Gaiman was involved in the localization. I've never been a fan of his.
There was also a really great anecdote about Miyazaki winning out over Harvey Weinstein [2]. "No Cuts!"
Back when I was a kid, I bought Miramax's old Princess Mononoke marketing site [3]. I still have it floating around, I think.
[1] https://www.out.com/film/2022/8/24/meet-japanese-drag-queen-...
[2] https://www.youtube.com/shorts/f4BgE1kdTGQ
[3] http://www.princess-mononoke.com/ (not SSL, whoops!)
Whaaa? Can you provide any details?
The fondness of Americans of anything butt-related is well known but this is something penultimate.
a: Next to last.
edit: Actually, it was from the scene with Eboshi, Gonza, and the women talking about the threat from the emperor around the 1:17:00 - 1:18:00 mark. Right before Ashitaka wakes up in the cave and talks with Moro. It's comedic effect to get the women to laugh at the supposedly-tough Gonza.
It's meant to be either a fart or someone blowing a raspberry, but none of the characters mouths are moving. I think it's clearly meant to be the former.
I just watched the English and the Japanese versions and only the English dub has it.
I need to watch this again. It's such a good movie.
I don't think I have the willpower to check it myself, I never ever saw it it in the US dub - and I don't think I want to. But thanks for the clarification.
> I need to watch this again. It's such a good movie.
I recently just threw the whole of Art Of Mononoke Hime to my wallpaper folder, and it's a treat. May I indulge you for the same?
https://archive.org/details/artof-mononoke/ArtofMononoke_013...
But yeah, there are not many directors like Miyazaki or Kubrick left.
Maybe I could count Céline Sciamma to the same company. I wish she would make a new movie soon.
2024.
She's been at it nearly 20 years. True creativity has limits.
Totoro is certainly a close second though.
Nausicaa is my favorite for several reasons. It may also be the most significant as it is technically not a Ghibli but the movie that lead to the creation of the studios.
I'd say that Up On Poppy Hill is probably my partner and I's favorite Ghibli film. It's 'small' and 'quiet' in that the scope is a single town, and there's nothing super fantastical about it. Every time I watch it I see and hear something new. This is definitely Goro's best film as a director at Ghibli.
The film that hit me the hardest though is The Wind Rises. If you are a married man this is a film that will absolutely effect you emotionally. There are some films that are targeted as extremely specific audiences and this is one of those. I think everyone can enjoy it, but there's a handful of scenes that are so specific that I connected with so directly that I could feel every moment that Miyazaki was trying to convey at that exact time.
There's another film that is definitely more biased to adults, that is Only Yesterday. It's probably the slowest paced film that Ghibli has made, however it's one that's stuck with me so thoroughly. Especially the final few scenes, which only when they're over do you realize was something like 15-20 minutes with maybe a handful of dialogue lines. This is also another non-Miyazaki film that is extremely good.
You owe it to yourself to watch the Tale of Princess Kaguya (かぐや姫の物語). It might be his best film, and quite possibly one of the best ever produced by Ghibli.
Takahata was robbed of the Oscar that year which went to...Big Hero. Ugh.
Between Kaguya and Grave of the Fireflies, Takahata had two of the best films ever made, in any category, and never got an Oscar.
For me, they are a contrarian indicator.
It goes with him.
It goes with him. Maybe not as a business name, but as an ethos and artisty, yes.
No need to wonder: there has been, and basically all Disney 2D animation, even what little they do for the cinema, is outsourced overseas.
Basically, reverse engineering that process is probably a more expensive undertaking than most studios are willing to take. Look also at the Cuphead animated series, which was animated like a modern production (sadly).
[producer and director] had written the role of the Genie for Robin Williams, but when met with resistance, created a reel of a Williams's stand-up animation of the Genie.
The directors asked Eric Goldberg, the Genie's supervising animator, to animate the character over one of Williams's old stand-up comedy routines to pitch the idea to the actor. The resulting test, in which Williams's stand-up about schizophrenia was translated to the Genie growing another head to argue with himself, made Williams "laugh his ass off", and convinced him to sign for the role.
Williams's appearance in Aladdin marked the beginning of a transition in animation to use celebrity voice actors rather than specifically trained voice actors
The Lion King is pretty much a flawless film. And that came out 28 years after Walt Disney died.
The Jungle Book - 1967
Little Mermaid - 1989
Beauty and the Beast - 1991
Aladdin - 1992
Lion King - 1994
It's likely more a question of what you grew up with. When I was a kid I remember heavily disliking many of the earliest Disney animated movies like Pinocchio/Dumbo/Bambi but I absolutely adored the animated Robin Hood, Sword in the Stone, etc.
Edit: The downvote is a lot less helpful than an explanation.
Sure, it’s conceivable for Ghibli to be successful again with a new talented director, but it won’t be Miyazaki’s nor Takahata’s Ghibli anymore.
Don Bluth was far superior to Miyazaki. Also, Miyazaki was a poor father and his kids movies sucked (i.e. tales of the earth sea) because he was basically forced into following in his dads footsteps.
https://www.ursulakleguin.com/adaptation-tales-of-earthsea
It really is unfortunate that this went the way it did --- I'd dearly love for Earthsea to have a film version worthy of the fact that it was one of the first books to ask the question, "Can there be fantasy which is not a retelling of _The Lord of the Rings_?" and to answer with originality and a deep insight into what fantasy has to say about human nature.
Kiki's Delivery Service, Totoro, Castle in the Sky, Arrietty, etc. are all watchable at any age.
Even the more mature films like Princess Mononoke would be unlikely to garner more than a PG rating.
I love Secret of NIMH, All Dogs Go To Heaven, etc. but let's not whitewash over history. He also did "A Troll in Central Park".
For every mediocre movie like Earthsea, there's also fantastic movies like Porco Rosso, Spirited Away, Naussica, etc - all of which I watched as a "kid".
They both had their highs and lows. Seems rather pointless to try and bench them against each other.
I hope the next generation of Studio Ghibli isn't afraid to further explore the "Miyazaki universes" he envisioned. I know that AI will make it possible for others to do so, even if they drop the ball.
I'm grateful for the work these people have done to entertain so many with heartfelt animations.
Disgusting take.
If indeed Ghibli goes with Miyazaki, then let it go. Sometimes art is just done and that's a concept as a culture we have so much friction with. If a game isn't updating, it's dead. If a movie isn't getting a sequel, it's dead. If a studio stops creating it's treated like some kind of loss, as if the beautiful things it's already made aren't good enough because there can't be any more.
Not every movie needs sequels, not every "universe" needs to have every corner of it documented and turned into subsequent works. For fucks sake just let stuff be finished, and that attitude comes with a bonus feature where maybe creatives won't be constantly burning themselves out under the demands of every audience.
I genuinely can't fathom the sort of person who is like "this artists' work moved me and elevated me as a person, but I guess if they die I can use shitty image gen programs to see more of what they might've made." Gross. Just gross.
How swiftly the strained honey of afternoon light flows into darkness
and the closed bud shrugs off its special mystery in order to break into blossom
as if what exists, exists so that it can be lost and become precious
Seems you completely miss the point of Miyazaki's work. You can watch a video of Miyazaki watching an AI generated animation and see what he think about generative "art"[1].
I don’t mean that they should necessarily have his exact same opinions on things. I mean that they should think through things and approach them in the same process and manner that Miyazaki does.
This is dramatic of me to say, but I can sincerely claim that anyone in my division that pulled something like this would be demoted or let go. If for nothing else than evaluating a technical product using and only using emotional language.
Ugh...
Either way, it probably doesn't amount to much, it was just a fad.
And you know that will also be the end of Studio Ghibli. Whatever comes next under that name, will only be a shadow of what it once was.
On to the next one.
Ghibli is a production vehicle which was put in place to allow Takahata and Miyazaki to make and release their own movies.
The studio also coproduced an interesting movie of Dudok de Wit and produced an awesome one by Kondo, a correct one by Morita and some unequal ones by Goro Miyazaki.
It’s a midsized company employing plenty of producers, animators and other specialists. It could stop with Miyazaki retirement. It could keep going on making other movies which might or might not be as good as the Takahata and Miyazaki’s ones. Neither solution is inherently better.
But, no, Ghibli isn’t Miyazaki. The idea makes as much sense as talking about a Studio Ghibli style while Takahata made movies which were widely different from one another.
IG_Semmelweiss•7h ago
https://archive.is/RcD0w