Tag Archives: Animation

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Arrietty (2010)

Studio Ghibli can turn normal situations into something special. In My Neighbour Totoro it made you believe that friendly monsters lived in trees, and in other movies that you can end up in unseen, hidden worlds (The Cat Returns or Spirited Away) and with Arrietty they try to convince us that small people live underneath our houses. They live on the things they borrow from us, which would be a perfect explanation why I have so many single socks, I guess they must be using them as sleeping bags or something. Continue reading →

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Megamind (2010)

Through the years the focus of most movies has been on the good guys. Of course there have been some exceptions like the Emperor’s New Groove or the more recent Despicable Me, where the villain was the focus of the movie. Megamind (voiced by Will Ferrell) is next villain to star in an animated movie, fighting he arch-enemy Metro Man (Brad Pitt). Metro Man is the superman of Metro City, which really annoys Megamind.
The two have been fighting for years, with Metro Man constantly winning. Megamind just keeps going until one of his plans suddenly seems to work and finally he can claim victory and is able to make his dreams come true. He takes over the city and is able to execute all his evil plans. This initially feels good, but the feeling doesn’t last long. Continue reading →

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Tangled (2010)

Tangled is based on the brothers Grimm story of Rapunzel. Disney has taken this original story and modified it heavily. Rapunzel’s hair is magical and can give back youth and heal wounds when a magical song is sung. Rapunzel also doesn’t stay in her tower as long as was the case in the original story and there is no prince involved.
Did Disney change too much of the story or has it managed to give it a nice new twist to give it a breath of fresh air? Continue reading →

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Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

The second world war has had a big impact on Japan. It lost a lot of power, cities were left in ruins and the military was no longer important. I’ve been to Hiroshima and was at the spot above which the atom bomb was detonated and if you see that place and the accompanying museum you are really at a loss for words. I had the same thing when I visited the Tokyo war museum, in which there were a couple of rooms with the walls lined with only pictures of people who lost their lives during the war. It has made a big impression on me.

Grave of the Fireflies tells the personal story of Setsuko and Seita, brother and sister who try to survive the war. The loss of their mother has already changed their lives, but because of it Setsuko is forced to leave the town and take care of his little sister. As the Americans keep bombarding the country it is very hard to survive as there is hardly anything to eat. Every day they have to search for a way to survive. Continue reading →

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Castle in the Sky (1986)

After reviewing The Cat Returns this week, I decided to focus on another Studio Ghibli movie. This one is about the legend of a castle, Laputa, which is said to exist somewhere in the sky.
Pazu is a boy who works at a mine doing maintenance until he sees a girl, Sheeta, falling out of the sky and hovering above the ground. She can do this because of a magical crystal. It doesn’t take long for Pazu to find out that a lot of people are looking for Sheeta and more specifically for the crystal she is wearing as it is the possibly key to finding the castle. Air pirates want to reach the castle as it is said to have a lot of treasure. The government also has a secret agenda which drives them to find the castle. Continue reading →

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The Cat Returns (2002)

Those who regularly read my blog know that I’m a big Studio Ghibli fan. With much more detail and deeper stories than your average Disney movie, they are in my opinion the best in the business. The Cat Returns has also been made by studio Ghibli. Haru is a schoolgirl who saves a cat from being run over by a car on her way home. She doesn’t think much of it, but during the night she gets a strange visitor, the king of the cats. The cat she saved turns out to be the prince’s son and the king wants to reward her for her deed. Continue reading →

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Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)

After the success of the first Madagascar, in which four wild animals from the New York zoo end up in the wild of Madagascar, it is no surprise that a sequel would be made. The lion Alex (Ben Stiller), hippo Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith), giraffe Melman (David Schwimmer) and zebra Marty (Chris Rock) decide to leave the island (together with the penguins) to return to New York. Because penguins are not the best mechanics, the plane they have fixed literally falls short of their goal to reach home and they crash in Africa Continue reading →

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Edison and Leo (2008)

Clay is something which kids can really go crazy with. Of course it’s also perfect to use it for stop motion films. The best examples are of course the Wallace and Grommit movies. Edison and Leo also belongs to this genre and tells the story of the Edison family. Edison is an inventor who has secluded himself from the rest of the world, he’s put up a high electrified fence making his house almost impenetrable. There are times when he does leave his house to “borrow” some ideas, but doesn’t do this often. He has two sons who are schooled at home and believe what they have been told by their parents about the world outside the fence.
When Edison finds his wife badly hurt he takes a train to and indian tribe who posses a magical light book and who are able to cure her. Edison decides to steal their book which results in the indians losing their powers. They decide to get their book back. Continue reading →

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Paprika (2006)

What’s the best way a filmmaker can visualize dreams on the big screen? Of course there are the nightmare scenes where the person suddenly wakes up, sweating, but how do you show that very surrealistic feeling you have when you dream? With Inception Christopher Nolan showed his vision about dreams. The movie had some great effects (like the city folding up and all the action in the hotel), but despite these effects and the nice sets the dreams themselves were not that strange, sometimes almost normal. This is not the case with Paprika and it shows how fantastic and scary dreams can be and it does so (at least I think so) better than Inception. Continue reading →

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The Pixar Story (2007)

At the moment Pixar is the leading company when it comes to succesful computer animated movies. With the combination of stunning graphics en extremely well written stories they have managed to build an impressive movie portfolio. This documentary shows how the company was founded and evolved. Steve Jobs, John Lasseter, Brad Bird and George Lucas are all interviewed and tell about its history and growth. Before Toy Story was made the company didn’t make any money and lost millions each year. Continue reading →