Yume to kyôki no ôkoku

If you love films as a passion go watch this.

If you love films as an art go watch this.

If you love animation go watch this.

If you want to see a glimpse of the magic of film go watch this.

This documentary is something special. If you don't know already this documentary follows one of the greatest animators of all time, Hayao Miyazaki, as he works on what is likely his last film, the Oscar-nominated 'The Wind Rises".

This small peak behind the scenes is something of an oddity among documentaries. Where as so many documentaries are focused on presenting the facts of a topic to light in a way that is both non- biased and easy to understand 'The Kingdom of Dreams and Magic' prefers to forgo this and instead attempt to provide emotion to its viewers as well as leave a lot of subjects and stories untouched or unfinished in a way that makes me think that the documentary film makers behind the camera never had any intention in attempting to make the famed studio Ghibli any less magical. I have to believe that this was done purposefully to protect the magic of the studio to which the title of this documentary alludes.

If you are reading this and wondering why I'm being so vague about describing the actual goings on of the documentary it is because I feel the emotion of what I saw in this film can never be translated properly to the written word.

If you ever watched a movie of Hayao Miyazaki then watch this flick, it will only make you respect the man, the studio, and the films even more.

Wonderful and insightful movie about Hayao Miyazaki's life and work at the famous Studio Ghibli, responsible for animation classics such as "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Spirited Away", during the making of Oscar-nominated "The Wind Rises", his most personal work to date and presumably the last. The documentary offers many personal views from the director, with plenty of photographs and archive footage, and also incredible shots of the strenuous process of making traditional hand-draw animation. At 72 years old, and facing a possible retirement, Miyazaki still manages to instill hope for more to come. Beautifully done.

This was a deeply moving look at the work ethic and - dare I say - the spirit of Hayao Miyazaki. Hayao Miyazaki is one of the most inspirational storytellers of all time, and if you haven't already seen his movies, I recommend checking out at least one if not all of them if you're a regular filmgoer or an aspiring filmmaker. The Ghibli movies were an eye-opening experience for me growing up, and even now, I consider them to be very influential, especially those by Miyazaki. Knowing how special they were, and given how nostalgic I was feeling, I really really wanted to cry after watching this documentary, as silly as that sounds. I hope Miyazaki finishes his next movie, 'How Do You Live?' I look forward to seeing it if it comes out.

Overall, I really liked this documentary, but it does have some problems I can't ignore. As someone who loves Studio Ghibli, it was really cool to see how the films I love are made, even if it only shows creation scenes from The Wind Rises. Seeing how animation legends like Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata go about their days, I felt, were fairly interesting. What I didn't like, however, was that it didn't go super deep into how other Ghibli films were made, it doesn't go that deep into how the company was formed, and Miyazaki and Takahata never really talk about their own films. I would have loved to hear what inspired them to make those films and what it meant to them personally. But, then again, I don't think they were even going for that. I just think the movie would have been more interesting if they had done what I wanted. Anyway, despite these flaws, I would still recommend this movie. Only to those who love Ghibli though. Everyone else will be quite bored.

Before I watched this documentary about Studio Ghibli and its creator, Hayao Miyazaki, I knew very little about the man but loved his films. Now, after having seen this movie, I kind of wish I hadn't. After all, in my mind, I assumed that Ghibli must have been some sort of magical place where fun and fantasy skipped hand in hand. However, it turned out to be a very different sort of film--a bit slow and amazingly downbeat!

The style of this documentary by Mami Sunada is rather free-form. It does not offer a chronological discussion of the history of Miyazaki or the studio. Instead, it just lets the staff of Ghibli (mostly but not exclusively Miyazaki) talk and there isn't much in the way of structure. At times, you hear folks talk about some of this history, but people wanting this sort of film should look elsewhere. So much of the film consists of behind the scenes discussions--some of which really surprised me. If Miyazaki didn't like someone or their work, he said so without being particularly diplomatic about this. And, to be fair, some of his employees talked about him in less than glowing terms and felt free to do so! But what really got me was how the man seemed to have an extremely depressive personality. It's not going out on a limb to draw that conclusion, either, with his comments throughout the film such as "I don't ever feel happy in my daily life" and "filmmaking only brings suffering". Wow...kind of a downer, don't you think? He also very candidly said that he didn't think the studio would survive after his death or with his son in charge. Ouch.

So is this documentary any good? Well, it all depends. If you want honesty, and too often biopics are incredibly dishonest, this one is honest...showing Miyazaki warts and all. However, if you want to enjoy a documentary or feel uplifted, you'd best try something else.