Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

My Internet connection has been spotty all day, so let's see if we can get this review posted.  If not, I'll just have to post it tomorrow.  But our Studio Ghibli film du jour is Kiki's Delivery Service (1989).

SYNOPSIS:
Kiki (Kirsten Dunst), a young witch, has just turned 13 and has to spend a year on her own, developing her skills as part of her apprenticeship.  But leaving home to live on her own is a scary concept, especially since her only skill is broom flying (and she can barely handle that).  Nonetheless, she sets off with her talkative black cat, Jiji (Phil Hartman), and sets up a flying delivery service in an oceanic town.

REVIEW:
This is one of my favorite Studio Ghibli films!  Like their last film, My Neighbor Totoro (1988), this is more of a day-in-the-life kind of story.  There's not a lot going on except for some added drama and tension at the very end.  Pretty much the whole film is following Kiki as she tries to get herself established in Koriko, a fictional oceanic city in Europe.

Hayao Miyazaki and his team of artists traveled to Sweden for scenic inspiration for this film.  As a matter of fact, a lot of street signs in the film are copied directly from streets in Stockholm, Sweden.  Miyazaki has claimed that this fictional city of Koriko is located between the Mediterranean and Baltic Sea.  It's set in the 1950s, in an alternate world where WWI and WWII never happened.  You definitely see the '50s aesthetic with the cars, trucks, and busses driving around the city.

Definitely a European city in the '50s.

From the moment Kiki arrives in town, she's greeted by a nosy boy named Tombo (Matthew Lawrence).  He's part of an aviation club and is fascinated with the young witch, to the point of being a bit rude (calling her "Miss Witch" instead of asking her name).  Kiki does her best to ignore him, but he's persistent, tracking her down in order to invite her out to his aviation club meetings.

Tombo coming off a bit aggressive in meeting a new girl.

Kiki gets exceptionally lucky, as she stumbles across a place to live and work within the first day she arrives.  She helps out Osono (Tress MacNeille), the owner of a bakery shop, who offers her a room to stay in.  In lieu of payment, she asks that Kiki watch the bakery every now and then.  She also helps Kiki get started in her delivery service by promoting her to customers.

A very pregnant Osono thanking Kiki.

Kiki's first delivery goes awry, as she drops the package in a forest.  But upon retrieving it, she meets Ursula (Janeane Garofalo) a young painter in a cabin whom she becomes close friends with.  On another delivery, she also befriends a Madam (Melanie MacQueen) and her housemate, Bertha (Edie McClurg).  They send a herring and pumpkin pie to the Madam's granddaughter for her birthday, but the granddaughter isn't very grateful, saying she hates her grandma's stupid pies.

Kiki helping out Madam and Bertha.

I love the contrast between Kiki and all the other kids she meets in this film.  She's always very polite and willing to go out of her way to help others, while all the other kids we see are more selfish and uncaring.  Not only the granddaughter, but there's a young boy who gets a gift delivered and shows little interest or gratitude.  Plus, Tombo (and his friends) is inadvertently rude to Kiki and he doesn't bother to learn her actual name until later in the film.

Meanwhile, Kiki refuses to be paid for a job she didn't work and offers to do chores around the person's house to earn her pay.  She's always overly nice and helpful with everyone.  Except Tombo, whom she keeps snubbing throughout the movie for no good reason.  I mean, he's a little bit too aggressive in talking with her from the start, but we find out later that he's actually a really kind guy, and as a member of an aviation club, he got a little over-excited at a real live witch who could fly on her own.

Just as Kiki and Tombo were becoming good friends though, she falls into a depression out of nowhere and snubs him once again.  She suddenly finds it impossible to fly anymore, and Jiji isn't able to talk to her.  He only meows and acts like a regular cat.  She fears she's losing her powers and ends up taking a vacation to visit her friend Ursula in the woods, to relax and decompress for a bit.

Ursula and Kiki having a sleepover at Ursula's cabin in the woods.

I won't spoil the ending, but it takes an extreme situation to help her snap out of her funk and get control of her powers once again.  An interesting note: in the original Japanese film, Jiji never speaks to Kiki ever again. Hayao Miyazaki said that once a witch grows up, she loses the ability to communicate with her cat, which is what apparently happened to Kiki.  But the Disney dub of this film made sure that Jiji spoke to Kiki again once she gets her powers back, as they felt it would be sad if she could never speak to her cat again.

Another sad fact: Disney hired Phil Hartman do the voice work for Jiji.  But he was sadly murdered in his sleep by his third wife in a murder-suicide.  He had just completed the dub work for this film when he died, and Disney dedicated their dubbed version to his memory.

RIP Phil Hartman.  You were the best Jiji.

RECOMMENDATION:
As I said previously, this is one of my favorite Studio Ghibli films.  It's such a fun story, and everyone is so nice throughout the film.  It truly espouses Hayao Miyazaki's vision of a better world.  I'd recommend everyone watch this at least once in their life.

My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

My apologies; I meant to keep this Studio Ghibli marathon going every day, but I found myself super busy the last few days.  But I'm finally free to continue!  Today, we'll be looking at their third official film, My Neighbor Totoro (1988).

SYNOPSIS:
10-year old Satsuki (Dakota Fanning) and 4-year old Mei (Elle Fanning) move out to the countryside with their father to be closer to their hospitalized mother.  While exploring their new home, they come across several spirits of the forest whom they befriend.

REVIEW:
Just a forewarning, there will be some spoilers in this review, just because this film is mostly a day in the life of two children, without very much conflict or drama.  It's hard to not spoil a film where the most interesting turn of events is literally the climax of the film and its last-minute resolution.

As I mentioned in my previous review, this film originally released as a double-feature with Grave of the Fireflies (1988).  It was a fun and light-hearted story written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, as opposed to the dark and tragic story of his Studio Ghibli co-founder, Isao Takahata.  Both films went on to become well-known classics.  Studio Ghibli actually derives its famous logo from the Totoro's of this film.

A classic and globally-recognizable logo comes from this film!

As with a lot of Studio Ghibli films written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, this takes place in an simpler era.  Not too far into the past, but if I had to guess, I'd say it was in the early 20th century.  It takes place out in the Japanese countryside, so it could just be that their technology is a bit behind the times, but our only examples of technology we see in this film is an old-fashioned truck, a motorcycle, and an old-timey phone.

This phone alone dates this film to a long-ago era.

The house that the kids and their father move into is an old traditional Japanese home, but it's a bit run down.  It has rotting pillars and needs a lot of cleaning to make it livable.  The girls find soot sprites living in the house, which decide to float off into the forest once the family settles in.  We'll see these soot sprites again in the film Spirited Away (2001).

A classic fixer-upper Japanese home!

A neighboring old lady was the previous caretaker for the home and insists the kids call her Granny.  She acts as a pseudo babysitter anytime the father has to go into town.  He's a professor at a nearby university, but he seems to do a lot of work from home.  Satsuki starts attending a local school, but her sister Mei stays home with her dad, playing by herself in their yard.

While playing, Mei sees a small furry creature wandering through the yard.  She chases it and another slightly larger furry creature into the forest, where she falls into a hole in the roots of a massive tree. She comes across a giant furry creature, like the other two, napping.  She crawls onto his belly and asks his name.  When he lazily roars out, she replies, "Totoro?"  Apparently, she was trying to say "troll," but the 4-year old couldn't enunciate it well.  It works better in its original Japanese, where their phonetic pronunciation of the English word "troll" would be "to-ro-ru."  A mispronunciation of this word by a Japanese child might come out as "to-to-ro" instead.

Mei meets Totoro for the first time

These trolls, or "Totoro's," are forest spirits, living in the massive tree next to a shrine and protecting the woods.  Mei describes them to Satsuki and their father, but she can't find them again to prove they exist.  The father takes them to the nearby shrine in the forest and bows toward the massive tree, thanking the Totoro's for looking out for them.

Later, during a downpour, the kids try to bring an umbrella to their father's bus stop.  But their father is delayed and they stay alone at the bus stop past dark... until the large Totoro shows up!  They offer him an umbrella in place of the giant leaf he's wearing as a hat.  He's so excited about the umbrella, he offers them a small package of acorns and seeds.  A giant cat bus runs up to the bus stop and Totoro boards it, taking off into the night.  The girls' father arrives soon after and Satsuki excitedly exclaims that she finally got to meet Totoro!

The famous bus stop scene!

One of the nice things about this film is that the adults never tell the kids that magical or spiritual things don't exist, nor do they accuse the kids of lying when they talk about seeing fantasy creatures.  Mei and Satsuki's father tells his daughters that he believes them about the forest spirits, and even provides them with more context on the spirits.  After the children described the soot sprites, it was Granny who explained what exactly they were, speaking about them as if they were fact and not a fantasy creature.  She even claims she used to be able to see them when she was a kid.

Mei finding soot sprites in the attic.

The parenting throughout this film is excellent!  The kids' concerns are handled very well, and none of the adults are just trying to correct the surface behavior, but instead addressing the root cause of frustration and empathizing with the kids.  On top of that, the kids are realistic in their behavior.  They're not super mature and can't always logic their way through their problems.  They actually behave like real children, sometimes being unreasonable or just angry, upset, or frustrated, with no real understanding of how to properly express those feelings.

The kids get excited for their mother to come home in a few days, but then they get a telegram from the hospital stating that she's gotten sick again and will need to stay a bit longer.  This sad turn of events causes an argument between the girls.  Satsuki runs home, where she breaks down crying because she fears that her mother is going to die in the hospital.  Mei, determined to help her mother, decides to walk to the hospital herself.

Of course, the hospital is miles away and little Mei gets lost on her own.  A search party is formed to find her, and Satsuki begs the large Totoro to help out.  He calls the cat bus, which takes Satsuki directly to Mei.

The twelve-legged cat bus with the Cheshire grin. It'd be super creepy in any other situation.

Here's an interesting detail you likely missed: When Mei is found, she's sitting next to a shrine with six figures.  This represents Jizo, a Buddhist deity in Japanese folklore who is known as the protector of children.  So it's implied that Mei, while lost, is still safe and sound.

The shrine honoring the Japanese Bodhisattva, Jizo: protector of children.

Learning that Mei was just trying to get to the hospital, the cat bus changes its destination and brings the children to the hospital.  They see from a distance that their mother is lively and well, chatting with their father.  Satisfied that she'll be fine, they ride home on the cat bus.

Hayao Miyazaki based parts of this film on his own childhood with his brothers.  When he was a kid, their mother was diagnosed with spinal tuberculosis and suffered from it for nine years, spending most of that time in the hospital.  He's claimed that this film would've been too hard to make if the two kids were boys instead of girls, as it would've hit a little too close to home for him.

In the end credits, we see the kids being read a bedtime story by their mother.  The book she's reading is the Three Billy Goats Gruff, and the troll under the bridge looks exactly like Totoro.  In case you doubted he was actually a troll.

Three Billy Goats Gruff, with a familiar-looking character under the bridge and on the back cover.

This film was originally supposed to only have one 7-year old girl as the protagonist, but Hayao Miyazaki felt the ending needed a suspenseful conflict and couldn't do it well enough with the one girl.  So he split the character into two sisters, 10-yr old Satsuki and 4-year old Mei.  They forgot to update the film poster after the change, though.  It still shows a single 7-year old girl instead of the two sisters who were in that scene in the film.

Interestingly, Satsuki is an old Japanese word for the month of May, and Mei is the Japanese phonetic spelling of the English word May.  Also, in the English dub of this film, both sisters are voiced by real-life sisters, Dakota and Elle Fanning.  This was actually Elle Fanning's first acting role ever.

RECOMMENDATION:
This is a wonderful film!  It's truly a day-in-the-life style film, without much of a plot to speak of.  But the realistic interactions between the children, and the superb way the adults communicate with the children, makes it a beautifully crafted film for all ages.  It's a must-watch for everyone!

Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

Continuing my Studio Ghibli marathon, today we'll be looking at their second official film, the tragic tale of Grave of the Fireflies (1988).

SYNOPSIS:
In 1945, near the end of World War II, a 14-year old Japanese boy named Seita and his 4-year old sister Setsuko barely survive a firebombing from American planes.  With their home destroyed and their parents gone, they find themselves fighting for survival in the war-torn ruins of Japan.

REVIEW:
There will be spoilers in this review, mostly because the ending is essentially spoiled from the very first line of the film.  But also, because this film is very dark and tragic, and it's hard to discuss without talking about its plot more in-depth.  This is, without a doubt, the darkest Studio Ghibli film ever made, so beware if you've never seen it.  This is not the happy fantasy world of other popular Studio Ghibli works.

The film opens with a ghostly Seita, mentioning the exact date he died.  We see the lone boy, weak and fading in a public train station as people walk by him, scoffing at the filthy child on the floor.  Later, a station attendant is checking all the small bodies lying around the station. He pokes Seita and comments that he found another dead one. He finds a candy tin on Seita's body, and not being able to open the rusty tin, chucks it outside.  It pops open, spilling cremated ashes on the ground. It's retrieved by a ghostly Setsuko, who meets up with her older brother Seita, and the two board a train together, riding off while snacking on colorful candies from the tin.  The ghosts of Seita and Setsuko appear in a few other random spots throughout the film, watching over their story from afar.

A dying Seita, being denigrated by people in a train station.

The film jumps back in time to the day of the first firebombing and we witness Seita sending his mother off to the bomb shelters while he buries some food and supplies in their backyard.  He grabs a photo of his father, a proud Naval captain who is off fighting the war.  When the air raid sirens go off, Seita picks up his little sister and then runs off as the firebombs drop on their town, narrowly escaping the encroaching flames engulfing his neighborhood.

Firebombs from American planes set the whole city on fire!

He later tracks down his mother in a makeshift hospital, but she's severely injured, with burns covering her whole body.  She dies the next day and is cremated, a fact Seita keeps from his little sister.  He collects her ashes in a box, intent on burying her some day.  He tracks down their aunt in Kobe, who takes them in.  She gives them a place to stay and helps them sell some personal belongings in order to receive their own rations.  She comments how spoiled they are as a military family when Seita returns with the buried food and supplies from the ruins of his old home.  His saved supplies are more luxurious than most families can afford during that time.  He even has a tin of candies, which he gives to Setsuko to snack on.

The tin of candies for Setsuko.

Setsuko starts to annoy the aunt by crying for her mother throughout the nights.  When the aunt suggests going to the hospital with Setsuko to visit their mother, Seita confesses that their mother died shortly after the first firebombing and he didn't want to upset Setsuko with the truth.  The aunt realizes she's stuck caring for the kids; her sister is dead and won't come back to claim them one day.

The longer the siblings live with their aunt, the less gracious she becomes.  With the schools and factories all burned down, Seita has nowhere to go during the days, and his aunt accuses the two siblings of being freeloading burdens, eating them out of house and home at a time when supplies are severely rationed and limited.  She keeps telling Seita to write to other family members in Japan, hoping one of them will be able to take him and his sister in.  But he doesn't know their addresses, so he can't reach anyone.

The aunt and her family, starting to feel the burden of two more mouths to feed.

When Setsuko cries over having porridge multiple times a day and asks for rice instead, their aunt angrily demands that they should just eat separately from that day on.  Rather than apologize for his baby sister and beg forgiveness, Seita uses what little money he has to buy a pot and some dishes of their own, then proceeds to cook for himself and his sister from that day on, using up the few rations they had saved.

Tired of being treated like nothing but a burden by his own aunt, Seita finds a small abandoned mine near a pond and moves there with Setsuko, setting the place up as their new outdoor home.  They're now free to live however they want, without having to deal with society any longer!

Home sweet home...

They collect fireflies at night and let them loose in their mine, admiring all the lights glowing like stars over their head while Seita recounts stories of their father off fighting the war.  The next day, Seita finds Setsuko burying handfuls of dead fireflies outside.  She says she's making a grave for them and mentions that their aunt told her that mother's buried in a grave too.  A teary-eyed Seita promises her he'll take her to their mother's grave one day.  The grave he still hasn't dug, since he still has her ashes in a box in the mine.

Setsuko dealing with her loss via fireflies.

Seita soon discovers that surviving on their own in the wilderness is hard, especially when there's no paid work to be found.  He sells the last of his valuables to afford what little food and supplies he can, then starts stealing from homes and farms to survive.  Ironically, he's grateful for the air raid sirens because it means abandoned homes he can loot before the American planes come.

Setsuko, meanwhile, has a sweat rash that keeps spreading across her body.  Seita does his best to treat it, but it only gets worse.  When he finally gets her to a doctor, he's told it's caused by malnutrition and he just needs to feed her more nutritious food.  Not having any other option, he goes to the bank to withdraw the last of his mother's savings (7,000 yen, roughly $467 at the time).  It's here that he learns that the entire Naval fleet has been sunk and Japan has surrendered.  He realizes his father is also dead.  It's just him and his sister left now.

Upon returning to home, he finds Setsuko lethargic, unable to sit up and barely able to speak.  She weakly offers him dirt balls, insisting that he eat up.  He tells her not to worry, that he's bought her all sorts of nutritious food to eat.  But while Seita prepares her a meal, Setsuko closes her eyes, never to open them again.

Seita trying to feed watermelon to his fading sister, Setsuko.

Seita puts her in a wicker basket with her favorite doll and cremates her, putting her ashes in the empty candy tin she was always carrying around.  The film ends with a ghostly Seita sitting on a park bench, his sister Setsuko going to sleep in his lap with her candy tin, while they look out at a modern city.  Fireflies fill the sky around them.

The ghosts of Seita and Setsuko, watching over the city.

It's been suggested that the fireflies in this film have a double-meaning.  Not only do they represent the fragility of life, but they're also symbolic of the firebombing raids that struck Japan in the later days of WWII.  They also help Setsuko deal with the loss of her mother when she buries the dead fireflies.  And every time we see the two children as ghosts, they are surrounded by fireflies.  The ghosts are always shown in a reddish light, with yellow/orange fireflies all around them, like the firebombs that fell on their home.

My wife and I couldn't stop crying throughout the whole film!  We started it in English because my wife has a hard time paying attention in other languages, but the two siblings didn't sound like kids in the English dub, so we switched back to Japanese where they actually sounded like kids (The director made a point to track down age-appropriate kids to voice the lead roles).  Setsuko was so sweet and heartfelt every time she opened her mouth, it just made her suffering and pain that much more tragic to hear!  It was very difficult to get through this film.

The film is based on a semi-autobiographical short story written in 1967 by Akiyuki Nosaka, which he also titled Grave of the Fireflies.  He and his younger sister survived a WWII firebombing in Japan when they were children, and his short story recounts a lot of his experiences trying to survive the aftermath with her, although she also succumbed to malnutrition.  He wrote the short story as an apology to his kid sister, whose death he blames on himself.  He claimed he wasn't as noble as Seita in his short story, choosing to eat food as soon as he got his hands on it and only regretting not saving more for his sister afterward.  It was a very difficult time to live in, and as proud as he was for having his kid sister look up to him as her sole caretaker, he feels he failed at the role, leading to her eventual death.

Isao Takahata, one of the co-founders of Studio Ghibli, was moved by the short story and wrote and directed this film to honor it, feeling it would resonate with Japanese teens and 20-year olds of the '80s, who were born in the decade or two after WWII.  To this day, it's still considered one of the greatest war films of all time.

Isao Takahata insists that this film isn't an anti-war film, but rather the story of a brother and sister living a failed life, isolated from society.  It's meant to explore their tragedy, and the ongoing war in the background is just incidental; a catalyst and driving force for the plot.  However, like his Studio Ghibli partner, Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata is anti-war and feared that politicians might use this film to defend the notion of war in order to protect people and their way of life.

Interestingly, this film was released as a double-feature with another Studio Ghibli film: My Neighbor Totoro (1988).  The animated kid's film, created by Hayao Miyazaki, was initially rejected and only got approved for production when it was suggested as a double-feature release with Grave of the Fireflies (1988).  Akiyuki Nosaka, the author of the Grave of the Fireflies short story, financially supported the double-feature production.  Which is fortunate, as My Neighbor Totoro (1988) is an iconic film of Studio Ghibli's.  We'll be reviewing that film tomorrow!

My Neighbor Totoro (1988) inspired the classic logo of Studio Ghibli for decades to come!

There was a live action Grave of the Fireflies film made in 2005, based on the original short story. It was made to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII.  Although it retells the story from the point of view of the aunt.  It shows how a kind and caring woman slowly turns bitter and cruel due to the stress of war and her obligation to her sister's kids, and how her lack of sympathy pushes them out the door to their eventual death.  I had never heard of this live action film before; I'll have to track it down and check it out sometime!  There was another live action film made in 2008 as well, but like the anime film, it just focused on the two siblings struggling to survive.

RECOMMENDATION:
This was a tragic tale of struggle and failure.  Not for the faint of heart.  I guarantee, you will be bawling by the end of this film.  But that's not to detract from its story; it's a hard look at life after personal tragedy strikes and the realistic outcome.  There's no fantasy or Ghibli magic to solve everyone's problems here; this is as close to real life as Studio Ghibli gets.  Watch this at your own risk.  Definitely don't show this to the kiddos until they're in their teens or later, especially if they have younger siblings.

Castle in the Sky (1986)

Welcome to day 2 of my Studio Ghibli marathon!  Today we're looking at the first official film produced by Studio Ghibli: Castle in the Sky (1986).

SYNOPSIS:
A technologically-advanced castle named Laputa, which floats hidden in the clouds, becomes more than legend when an advanced robot falls to the ground one day.  In pursuit of the mythical castle in the sky, government agents, the military, and even sky pirates pursue a young orphan farm girl named Sheeta (Anna Paquin), who possesses a rare gemstone that can point the way to the fabled city!

REVIEW:
This film was originally released in Japan under the title Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986), but its creator, Hayao Miyazaki, discovered later that "la puta" means "the whore" in Spanish.  Regretting the name choice, it was renamed Castle in the Sky (1986) for most of its international audiences.  Laputa is actually a floating island in Jonathan Swift's novel Gulliver's Travels, which inspired parts of this film.

For these Studio Ghibli films, I will be crediting the American voice cast in my reviews, as most of my readers are English-speaking and may not be familiar with the Japanese cast.  Besides, since Disney bought the rights for American distribution of Studio Ghibli films, they've always made sure to have a star-filled cast.

Some of the cast were just starting their careers in these early films too, like Anna Paquin (Sheeta) and James Van Der Beek (Pazu), who play the two main children.  But we also have some big names in the industry, like the return of Mark Hamill (Muska) and Tress MacNeille (Okami), as well as Jim Cummings (General), Cloris Leachman (Dola), and Andy Dick (Henri).

This film jumps right into the action, with a captured Sheeta being transported in an airship by government agents.  But then they're attacked by Dola and her sky pirates! Attempting to evade everyone, Sheeta climbs out a window and clings to the outside of the airship... until she slips and plummets into the night sky!

Pazu catching a floating Sheeta

But her stone jewel necklace heirloom begins to glow and she floats gently to the ground, where she's found by an orphan miner boy named Pazu.  With the government, military, and pirates on their heels, Pazu and Sheeta take off while the miner townsfolk attempt to distract their pursuers.  Sheeta is eventually recaptured and the location to Laputa is revealed! It becomes a mad race between the pirates, military, and government agents to reach Laputa before anyone else.

Pirate vs. Miner! Manly man contest! Who can flex through their shirt best? Who can take a gut punch?

As with most Studio Ghibli films, you can't make assumptions of anyone's character or intentions based on their first impression.  Dola and her sky pirates are initially seen as a dangerous threat to Sheeta and Pazu, but once the government agents get their hands on Sheeta, Pazu teams up with the pirates to help save her.  They end up befriending the pirates and we learn that Dola and her crew are actually good people.  They become strong allies who help Sheeta save Laputa from the corruption of the military.

Originally assumed to be a threat, Dola and the sky pirates end up being good friends and allies!

We do get a solid nonredeemable villain in this film in the form of Muska, which is rare for a Studio Ghibli film.  The government agent has his own agenda and is willing to do whatever it takes to gain control over Laputa.  Played by a young(er) Mark Hamill, I definitely caught a hint of his evil Joker voice sneaking out a bit when he laughed.  He played The Joker in Batman: The Animated Series (1992) for many years; it's probably his most famous acting role outside of playing Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy.

Muska, holding Sheeta captive as a robot pursues them.

There were a lot of parallels between this film and Hayao Miyazaki's former film, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984).  To name a few, Sheeta is revealed to be a princess who is taken hostage by the military, there's another royal member who is pursuing her for their own selfish reasons, and the ultimate goal of multiple parties is to claim an ultimate weapon that will make them the undisputed rulers of the world.  Also, we see a small gathering of fox squirrels on Laputa, exactly like Nausicaä's pet Teto.

Fox squirrels!  I want one!

Sheeta herself receives a ton of help and support from Pazu, as she's just an ordinary farm girl.  But she has her own independent strengths that help her throughout the film.  Both of her parents have passed away, so she's been tending a farm by herself and is completely self-reliant.  Despite being captured several times, she's not a damsel in distress, waiting to be saved.   She manages to escape on her own every time.  And even though she has no interest in Laputa or its history, power, technology, etc., she still feels a need to save it from the corrupt powers looking to take advantage of the advanced former civilization.  She and Pazu join the sky pirates to stop the military from taking over the floating castle.

This film takes place in an era of industrial revolution, as is evidenced when Pazu admires a motorcar that pulls up to his house.  Not to mention, the flying military zeppelin, the sky pirates' own small airship, and other more primitive forms of transportation like trains.  This film actually inspired a steampunk wave across anime (animated films/shows) and manga (comic books) for the next few decades.  A lot of Japanese steampunk media today can be traced back to this film.  Not that steampunk wasn't known prior, but it had a resurgence of popularity thanks to this film.

Older military weaponry and vehicles (like airships/zeppelins) make common appearances in many Studio Ghibli films, as Hayao Miyazaki is a fan of European WWII weaponry and machinery, despite his distaste for war.  The military is portrayed as a bunch of greedy, trigger-happy fools in this film.  As soon as they set foot on Laputa, they immediately start looting treasures and antiquities, haphazardly throwing them in a pile to be loaded onto their zeppelin.

I have to say, I have a minor fear of heights, but this film does everything in its power to set it off.  From the very beginning where Sheeta falls off an airship, to Pazu trying to climb on the crumbling vines covering the underside of the floating castle.  I definitely felt anxiety watching him climbing stone pillars that were collapsing and falling miles into the ocean below, right beneath him.  Not to mention, there are no guard rails anywhere on Laputa. So many narrow paths with nothing to keep you from falling... *shudder*

Quit goofing off on that ledge! You're giving me an anxiety attack!

RECOMMENDATION:
This early Studio Ghibli film gives you a taste of the steampunk/sci-fi/fantasy adventures to come in future films, while also leaning heavily on the original film that inspired the creation of the studio (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)).  It was a great start to Studio Ghibli's history, and a fun film for Studio Ghibli enthusiasts.  I definitely recommend it!

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

Surprise! I've been planning on doing a Studio Ghibli marathon for a while now, but life kind of got in the way.  But I'm currently recovering from knee surgery and am stuck on the couch for the next 3 months while it slowly heals, so I figured... why not kick off a movie marathon?  Starting with Studio Ghibli's first full-length feature film, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984).

SYNOPSIS:
1,000 years into the future, humanity is living in a post-apocalyptic world in small pocket kingdoms.  Most of Earth is poisoned, covered in toxic spore-ridden forests full of dangerous building-sized insects. Nausicaä, the princess of the Valley of the Wind kingdom, has learned to live in harmony with the deadly forest and its creatures near their borders. But a war has broken out between two other nearby kingdoms, and the small, peaceful Valley of the Wind finds themselves caught up in the middle. Can Nausicaä quell the warring nations, save her people, and broker peace between humans and insects?

REVIEW:
This film is based on the first two volumes of Hayao Miyazaki's manga by the same name. It's important to note that, while this film is considered a Studio Ghibli film, it was actually released a year before Studio Ghibli was created. Hayao Miyazaki, along with Isao Takahata, Toshio Suzuki, and with funding from Yasuyoshi Tokuma (the founder of Tokuma Shoten), created the studio in 1985 to continue producing films in a similar vein to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984).

Studio Ghibli's current official logo, inspired by their film My Neighbor Totoro (1988).

It's also important to note that, even though Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli are sometimes used interchangeably when it comes to certain genres of family-friendly anime films, not all Studio Ghibli films are works of Hayao Miyazaki, and vice versa.  This marathon will focus on the full-length feature films produced by Studio Ghibli itself, regardless of who might be in charge of the production; this first film being the sole exception since it inspired the studio's creation.

Hayao Miyazaki has strong anti-war and anti-industrialist views, having grown up watching forests, rivers, mountains - nature in general - be destroyed in the name of socioeconomic progress.  You will see a lot of his views reflected in his works.  He is a realist, tortured by the reality of the world and its evils within.  He uses his films as a sort of escapism, showcasing a world that can be better than the one we currently live in.  It's his hope that his animated worlds will inspire people to grow up better and with more love and care in their hearts toward others and the world we live in.

As such, you rarely see a solid good vs. evil story in a Studio Ghibli film.  Everyone, even the "bad guys," are typically relatable characters who usually have justifiable reasons for their actions.  This makes Studio Ghibli films very complex and emotional.  You're not just along for the ride, watching a good guy save the day, but you're bombarded with all sides of an issue and you're left to think for yourself about who is right and who is wrong.  And sometimes, you find yourself understanding or agreeing with the motivations of supposed antagonists.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) is no exception.  It leans heavily into the man vs. nature themes, pointing out how humanity, in its greed and warmongering, destroyed the planet.  Our limited civilizations that remain are forced to live in isolated pockets that are less contaminated than the rest of the world, and are constantly fighting off the ever-growing toxic forests that are trying to claim the planet.

Nausicaä exploring the toxic forests.

Nausicaä herself is a bit of an outlier, choosing instead to explore the toxic forests and learn from them.  She's a pacifist, refusing to harm any living creature, and works hard to find a way for humans and insects to live in harmony.  She discovers that only the top layer of earth is contaminated, and that the forests and its plant life can grow safe and harmless if exposed to non-poisoned soil and water deep underground.

Nausicaä is a strong feminist icon, being a highly intelligent and respected leader of her kingdom who throws herself in harm's way to protect everyone, human and insect alike.  Despite being threatened and taken prisoner by a warmongering princess from another kingdom, she makes every effort to save the princess's life when things get hairy.  She's always the first person to step into the middle of conflict and attempt to resolve it without violence or intimidation.

Hayao Miyazaki has been celebrated for his strong positive female characters in his films.  There's no objectifying of women in his films, nor sidelining or disrespecting anyone based on gender.  He doesn't like to be called a feminist, instead believing that mutual respect across the board should be the base standard we all aspire to, not a labeled sect of our social structure. He also claims that women are more interesting to see in lead roles than men, which is why he has so many strong women protagonists in his films.

Nausicaä trying to save someone from a rampaging Ohmu by calming its rage.

Meanwhile, two nearby kingdoms end up fighting over an ultimate weapon from 1,000 years past - an unhatched pod bearing a "Giant Warrior," which is a massive bio-weapon used by ancient civilizations to conquer nations.  The conflict literally crash-lands on the shores of the Valley of the Wind, turning the peaceful nation into a war front.  Nausicaä is taken as leverage in the war and finds herself entangled between two destructive kingdoms, who are hell-bent on controlling the world-ending weapon and destroying the delicate but poisonous forests.

The Giant Warrior pod, incubating in the Valley of the Wind. Look at those menacing green eyes and massive teeth!

This film, when it released in America, got hacked up for American audiences. 22 minutes of footage was cut and the environmental message was removed.  Also a lot of the warring between nations was edited out and the giant insects (known as Ohmu) were made into the main antagonists.  The film was originally released in America under the title Warriors of the Wind (1985) and even changed characters' names.  The original message of the film was removed, instead turning it into an action/adventure tale for children about surviving rampaging giant insects.  It enraged Hayao Miyazaki so much that when Princess Mononoke (1997) was set to release in America, he personally sent a katana (Japanese curved sword) to Harvey Weinstein, with a letter that read, "NO CUTS!"

Hayao Miyazaki, on his way to threaten Harvey Weinstein.

Fortunately, when Disney bought the rights to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), they released a full, unedited version in 2005 with a new star-studded English voice cast, including talents such as Patrick Stewart (Lord Yupa), Mark Hamill (Mayor of Pejite), Tress MacNeille (Obaba), Uma Thurman (Kushana), and Shia LeBeouf (Asbel).

Apparently, I've only seen the old American cut from the '80s, because I was surprised at all the additional story included in the film during this recent viewing.  I'm watching the full film for the first time today!  I remember this film being kind of slow and boring, but with all this additional story, it actually flowed much better, with a much more entertaining plot.

RECOMMENDATION:
This is a classic story about respecting nature and all its creatures.  It's a little darker than the average Studio Ghibli film, and despite Nausicaä's pacifism, there are plenty of PG deaths portrayed.  Even Nausicaä gets a few kills in when she flies into a rage, which she later regrets.  The film doesn't shy away from the horrors of war, but does censor it enough for most audiences to enjoy it without trauma.  This was a great start to Hayao Miyazaki's independent filmmaking career, and I highly recommend you find the 2005 Disney remaster if you plan to watch it.  Or the original Japanese language film, if you prefer to watch it as it was originally released (as is my personal preference).

Werewolf by Night (2022)

Marvel Studios surprised us all with a sudden release of their very first TV special, Werewolf by Night (2022).  I had never heard of it until it was suddenly available for streaming on Disney+, but it was apparently a Marvel comic series that's been running since 1972.  Let's discuss it!

SYNOPSIS:
Monster hunters from all across the globe gather at Bloodstone Temple to honor the recently deceased Ulysses Bloodstone, their former leader.  His ultimate weapon which bears his namesake, the Bloodstone, is up for grabs and his widow has prepared a deadly monster hunt to determine who will earn the right to wield the powerful weapon.

REVIEW:
This TV special is visually stunning! With black-and-white film, spooky music, and a ton of practical effects, it successfully mimics the Universal Monsters horror film genre popular in the 30s and 40s.  Even Werewolf by Night himself looks similar to The Wolfman (1966) in appearance.  They went (mostly) practical effects on the werewolf make-up instead of giving him a CGI body like The Hulk.

Werewolf by Night, in all his horror film glory

Oh yeah - that's his actual comic book superhero name: Werewolf by Night.  His alter ego, Jack Russell (Gael García Bernal), is a timid man who has an impressive monster kill tally.  He joins the hunt for his own personal reasons.

The comic book version of Jack Russell was born with the curse of lycanthropy, inherited by an ancestor who was bitten by a werewolf in 1795.  Interestingly, it was his father who activated the werewolf curse by reading about it in the Darkhold, a powerful and evil magic book.  We actually saw the Darkhold in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), earlier this year. Do we now have a movie connection between Marvel's new horror monsters and the previously seen Darkhold?  Only time will tell...

Also joining the hunt is Elsa Bloodstone (Laura Donnelly), who is the estranged daughter of Ulysses Bloodstone.  She disagrees with the monster hunter's lifestyle and wishes to claim her (forfeited) inheritance from her stepmother so that she can disband the monster hunters once and for all.

She spends the film being tired of dealing with people, being a badass assassin, or scared for her life.  In an age of female empowerment, it's rare to see lead women scared on screen anymore, for fear of angering progressives.  But she managed to pull off the badass hunter vibe, while also being genuinely scared when her life was in danger.  It added a touch of realism to her character, which I appreciated.  Who wouldn't be terrified for their life when trapped and outmatched by a giant monster?  It also calls back to the days of the Universal Monsters, when women were essentially pretty damsels in distress and constantly fearful for their lives. Granted, Elsa is no damsel in distress and proves she can take care of herself, but it adds to the vintage tone of the film to see her scared and a bit vulnerable when confronted with actual monsters.

Elsa Bloodstone, tired of everyone's shit

We also get a small appearance of a monster familiar to long-time Marvel comic book readers: Man-Thing (Carey Jones for motion capture; Jeffrey Ford for voice).  He's an empathetic swamp monster who normally lives in the Florida Everglades, but he finds himself mixed up with the monster hunters. Despite his well-known monster name, in this special he actually goes by his former human name, Ted.

In the comics, he was originally the biochemist Dr. Theodore "Ted" Sallis, of Omaha, Nebraska. He was in the Florida Everglades, researching the development of a new super soldier serum like the one that created Captain America, but found himself running from the technological terrorist organization A.I.M.  Attempting to evade them, he injected himself with the only sample of his serum.  But while he was on the run, he crashed his car into a swamp, where the scientific chemicals in his blood and the magical properties of the swamp transformed him into the giant, lumbering Man-Thing!  Ted's mind was forever lost in that swamp, but the mentally-stunted monster manages to periodically find himself saving the day, sometimes alongside the Avengers themselves.

Man-Thing, making his live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe debut!

The Bloodstone itself gets the honor of being the only color in this film, casting an eerie red glow among the black-and-white scenes.  Near the end of the TV special, we hear Over the Rainbow, sung by Judy Garland, playing as the black-and-white film slowly turns to color.  A very lovely tribute to The Wizard of Oz (1939), a classic film of the same black-and-white era that surprised audiences by changing into a full color spectrum when Dorothy woke up in Oz.

The vibrant red Bloodstone, stealing the scene

RECOMMENDATION:
At 53 minutes, this short film was a brilliant introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe's horror genre.  Hopefully it will spawn more monsters and creatures of the night, further expanding the world of the MCU.  We saw Sony fail to introduce Marvel's monsters with the film Morbius, which has become a running joke on the Internet.  But the MCU managed to pull off a vintage-inspired short story, teasing audiences with the darker realm of Marvel and leaving us begging for more.  Surprisingly, this special dodged the TV-MA rating, due to the black-and-white film obscuring the more visceral scenes.  So watch it along with your older children, but you might want to put the young kiddos to bed before putting this on.

Don't Hug Me I'm Scared (2011)

I said I wasn't planning to do a daily Halloween Month Movie Marathon™, but I came across something today that I felt needed a review.  Prepare yourselves for the horrifying YouTube series called Don't Hug Me I'm Scared (2011).

SYNOPSIS:
Don't Hug Me I'm Scared (2011) is a short educational British children's show, only airing six episodes at 3-1/2 to 8 minutes per episode.  Each episode teaches about a fun concept, like being creative, time, healthy eating, etc. But each episode turns dark at some point, changing from a fun, bright kid's program into psychological horror.  What exactly is this show about...?

REVIEW:
If you haven't watched this show yet, I highly recommend you do.  Like, right now, before you read further.  It's so short, you can burn through all of it in about a half hour.  You can find it on YouTube, where it originally aired.  You only need to watch episodes 1-6; the other videos are teasers for episodes, with their first video being an odd unrelated short about "Bad Things That Could Happen."

Red Guy, Duck Guy, and Yellow Guy, waiting for their favorite show to air

The show depicts three puppets: Red Guy, Yellow Guy, and Duck Guy.  Throughout the series, they explore different educational concepts that always end with a dark twist.  Red Guy, losing faith in the show, disappears after episode 4 and Duck Guy, terrified of the new direction the show takes, tries to leave in episode 5, leaving Yellow Guy to have an existential crisis by himself in episode 6.

Yellow Guy drowning after his bed turned into a pool of oil. Symbolic? Literal? I can't tell anymore.

Meanwhile, Red Guy wakes up in the "real world" and experiences humiliation at work and on a stage show, while Roy (Yellow Guy's creepy father) watches him from the shadows.

Red Guy at work in the real world... in widescreen aspect all of a sudden.

So... what's the point of this show?  What exactly is going on in each episode?  This has been an ongoing discussion with fans for many years now.  And the creators aren't helpful, claiming that they've read a ton of fan theories, and "all theories are correct."  Well, as it turns out, the creators believe in art as a personal experience; that is to say, whatever your interpretation of art is, is the correct interpretation. So if they have a point behind their show, it's inconsequential.

This leaves fans to come up with their own theories about the horrors going on within the show, and even behind the scenes.  The Film Theorist, in a 2-part video (part 1 here and part 2 here), has crafted the most popular theory on this show: that it's all a children's show created by Red Guy and sponsored by Roy.  He goes on to claim that the overall series is a critique of children's shows, telling kids to be creative, but only within certain parameters.  They brainwash children into conforming to certain educational boundaries and discouraging any true creativity, held down by sponsors who want to push their own vision to earn revenue.

Roy watching porn as his son, Yellow Guy, sings and dances about it

However, as popular as this theory is, it forgets that the creators themselves have been trying to make a sponsored TV show out of this YouTube short.  As a matter of fact, they finally got their wish, and as of September 23rd, 2022, season 2 aired exclusively on Channel 4, a British streaming service.  It's also only six episodes, but this time, they're half-hour episodes with a full production budget.  I have not seen them yet, so maybe more clues as to what's going on with this show will be shown.

One of my favorite theories is that the whole show is Red Guy's attempt to hold onto his childhood as he's approaching adulthood.  He's the only adult-sized character on the felt-covered "show," but when he wakes up in the real world in episode 6, all the adults look like him and everything is tangible and real, not felt or crafted.  Or animated either.  When he goes on stage to perform with his puppet versions of the show's cast members, a guy comments on how rude he is for being naked on the stage.  But he's wearing the same outfit as his show, while all the other "red guys" wear normal adult clothing. Ever since he left the show, the remaining characters struggle to hold onto their reality as it slowly crumbles, perhaps showing his childhood slowly being forgotten and discarded.

Duck Guy being consumed by a giant can of food. Symbolism for mindless consumerism? I have no idea anymore.

There's a recurring date throughout the show (June 19th), which could be seen as Red Guy's birthday.  The date doesn't change until the end of the show, when he also changes.  As a matter of fact, all the characters change then.  So perhaps it's symbolic of him accepting adulthood and learning to let go of his childhood.  But the next season that just released shows the original cast, with no changes.  So... I guess we'll get more clues in the next series.

Be creative!

RECOMMENDATION:
If you love shows that acknowledge the existential dread in our lives, or perhaps you enjoy a dark psychological thriller with no true meaning, you should check out this web series. Hopefully the new season will reveal more of this dark world, adding or changing current theories about it.  Meanwhile, this show is very re-watchable, because there are so many creepy details hidden in the background for you to discover.  You should definitely check it out!