These are sad times if you are a fan of Studio Ghibli. Recently both Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki made their final films and it currently seems that When Marnie Was There will be the last movie released by the legendary studio. The demand for animated movies has changed and financing them has become a lot harder. The studio won’t close its doors yet, so there still is hope for a new film, but chances seem slim. Is When Marnie Was There an adequate farewell? Continue reading
Do you sometimes know that feeling? That a movie has a specific element which completely keeps you from enjoying it? On paper Home is a movie I should be able to enjoy: Fun characters, funny situations and lots of science fiction fantasy. Unfortunately the movie turned out different for me. Continue reading
Spongebob Squarepants is a show which has been on television since 1999. The bizarre stories about a sponge who is working in a burger restaurant and his weird friends still manages to entertain both young and old. After his first full-length feature, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, this second movie has been made, which the trailers made out to be some sort of superhero movie. With The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water being available on DVD and Blu Ray it’s a good moment to see if the movie manages to make that come true. Continue reading
Ever since I saw the hilarious/absurd/shocking, Oscar-nominated Rejected (you can check it out on Youtube) by Don Hertzfeldt, I was a fan of both his animation style and his humour. When I heard earlier this year that he had made a new short I was curious about it. His drawings might be considered simple, but he always succeeds in getting his intention across. For this short, it’s 17 minutes, he recorded conversations he had with his 4-year-old niece, Winona Mae and used these for a story about an impressive journey to the future. Continue reading
When you think of Studio Ghibli the first thing you’ll probably also think of is Hayao Miyazaki, the director of movies like My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away, Princes Mononoke and Howl´s Moving Castle. But he started the studio together with Isao Takahata. Takahata was responsible for the heartbreaking Grave of the Fireflies. Does he manage to get out the same sort of emotions with The Tale of the Princess Kaguya? Continue reading
In general my knowledge of Mexican culture is minimal, especially since I live in Europe. The things I do know are usually from American shows and movies, but it isn’t much. The Book of Life though is a nice introduction though to a part of the culture. Continue reading
The Shaun the Sheep TV show once started as a spinoff of Wallace and Gromit. Because of their short episode length (about 7 minutes) and humor the show became very popular. Aardman Studios, who’s responsible for producing the show took the next logical step and give the popular character his own movie. Did they succeed in taking something which works in short bursts and turning it into a feature-length movie? Continue reading
If you look at Pixar’s history, the animation studio has released some amazing movies including Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, Up, Ratatouille and WALL-E. People were always excited about new Pixar movies, because they weren’t only very original and moving stories but also because the animation was more beautiful with each movie. They have released some movies which weren’t as big a success critically as they might have hoped (the Cars movies immediately come to mind) and last year they didn’t even release a movie, something they did every year since 2006. Pixar now returns with Inside Out. Are they back on top or does the film disappoint? Continue reading
When you have children of course you can’t escape having to watch movies with them. Of course this give you the opportunity as a parent to pick out quality movies and see how they react to them. Often watching their response is more enjoyable than the movie itself. Dumbo is an animation classic which is, especially compared to the current animated movies, relatively simple. It was a while for me since I had last seen it and was curious if I would still enjoy it, but I was also looking forward to seeing my own daughter respond to it as she saw it for the first time. Continue reading
Most big animated movies you watch now are computer generated. There aren’t a lot of studios anymore who still animate by hand, simply because computer animation gives more possibilities and the market has proved that those type of movies are more successful. Fortunately there are still some studios who prove differently. Of course when it comes to animation Studio Ghibli is still showing the heights this format can rise to.
When it comes to stop animation than most people will probably first think of the studio who is responsible for Wallace & Grommit and Shaun the Sheep, Aardman Animations, who definitely make enjoyable films. But to me it is Laika studios who is the current emperor in this arena. The Boxtrolls is just their third movie, but with Coraline and ParaNorman they have already proven themselves worthy. With this movie they raise the bar again. Continue reading