(no subject)

Sprited Away really is very good. Like the other Miyazaki films I've been shown it's stylish and sweet, but it also presents a coherent whole, with a wonderfully conceived world, and even creepy and exciting in places. And the characters are very vivid and memorable, and the non-humans seemed very natural but distinctive. I was definitely watching all the way through eager to know what would happen next.

Porco Rosso

Porco Rosso is also great: very funny, but about sea-plane pilots in the Adriatic between the wars, and Porco Rosso, WWI flying ace, cursed to be a pig, and turned bounty for air pirates, all the last independent fliers, and it captures the slightly tarnished heroic feel of films of the time like Casablanca.

Did I mention there was a pig flying a biplane in dogfights? He's wonderfully well drawn: clearly a pig, but it looks unfortunate, but just how he is, rather than out of place or unrealistic.

The first time I saw it, I kept thinking "Huh? Sea-plane pilots in the Adriatic between Italy and Japan? But the Adriatic isn't between Italy and Japan." But I was imagining the Japan thing because it was animé ;)

That's an interesting point actually: when you see a somewhat stylised animated feature, I often see the characters as "normal" (think of the Simpsons), which means when a foreigner is introduced, you get a rare opportunity to experience how an American looks to Italians, or a Westerner to Japanese people (arguably) :)

( Spoilers )

Totoro

I still haven't seen the Earthsea or Howl's Moving Castle films. Spirited Away and Porco Rosso were my favourites of the Miyazaki I *have* been shown. But I should include a shout out for Totoro.

I didn't find it as interesting, but if you've ever thought about a hug, or a teddy bear, and thought "Well, yes, it's *nice*, but if only it were forty-foot high, and alive, and sooooo furry and cuddly and big all over, and about five hundred times more huggy, and so sweet it makes your your teeth hurt, and also can there be lots of little anthropomorphic furry hugs running around, and a few medium sized ones, and they could make soft toys based on them, and then I could just hold one and be happy with a stupid content grin on my face like this. Then I could just explode with happiness right then." Then you should see this one.