Demetrius_Stork

Movies don't often have the ability to make me weep, and never has an animated film done so, until I saw this film. I found myself in tears for several sequences of this movie. It has the incredible ability to come off the screen and make me feel all kinds of emotions I didn't know an animated movie could make me feel. I laughed, I cried, I was shocked, I was surprised, this movie did it all.

The film starts off with a young boy dying of starvation in a public train station. A janitor finds the body and, upon going through his belongings, finds a candy container. The janitor throws the container away in a nearby field, which opens the container, releasing the souls of the young boy and his sister. We find out, through flash back the boy is a 14 young man named Seita and his sister is a four year-old named Setsuko. The two live with their mother in Kobe, Japan, while the father fights in the navy. The two are forced to live with their aunt after a bombing raid critically injures their mother. They find out that their aunt is a very mean spirited lady who steals from the kid's mother and belittles them constantly. The rest of the story revolves around Seita and Setsuko and we figure out how these two ended up dying.

I think that some people may have a problem with the fact that the movie shows you that these two are dead within the first couple minutes. However I would argue this is actually an incredible strength to this film. Not often is a story told this way, in fact none that I've ever heard, and it's really interesting and ambitious. Sure there's no mystery as to what happens to the kids. But the movie is done so well, that there exists suspense because it doesn't tell you how the girl passes away, or the status of the mother or father. This also works to the movie's advantage because it just makes you want to jump into the movie and tell the two main characters that they're in danger, because you want these two to make it. And the fact that they don't just makes it all the more heart breaking to watch.

The voice acting for this film is absolutely spectacular, some of the best I've ever heard. A lot of this comes from the voice actress playing Setsuko, who does a phenomenal job, especially for a child actress. The actor playing Seita is great too, conveying that sense of a false sense of hope that is present throughout most of this film. These two work off of each other so well and are so well written that it's hard not to support them and their efforts for survival.

Another thing I really enjoyed about this movie is it's Kafkaesque feel. This meaning, a sense of feeling like you're in a bad dream. Sometimes I feel as though Seito is in such a state of sorrow and panic that he's in sort of a dream like state of shock as to how bad his situation really is. The world is also in this sense as well. Everything, and I mean everything, that can go wrong, does and it's all so surreal but at the same time, totally believable and plausible. This poor kid is almost driven to the brink of insanity and ultimately death and it's hard to watch but at the same time, hard not to watch.

Then, of course, there's the animation. How can I not talk about it? The whole film looks fantastic, some of the scenes when nothing is really happening and no dialogue is spoken, the animation really sinks in and I can get really wrapped up in it. The song by the shelter looks beautiful, even though it's just some boring river. The scenes where it shows the city after being completely destroyed by a U.S. air raid is spectacular is how sad and powerful it is. I feel like a lot of the imagery will have the "American guilt trip" effect without even being live action, which is really impressive.

In conclusion, this film has clearly given me a lot of things to think about and reflect on, which for me is the trade mark of a great film. It will make you feel things you didn't know that an animated movie can make you feel. If you're looking for a powerful, animated film, than this is right up your alley.

Wow. This movie blew me away, to say the very least. All of it was captivating; the animation, the characters, and story, all of it done to perfection. Hayao Miyazaki, whose work I'm only beginning to take notice of, is truly a genius in terms of bringing landscapes and it's many creatures to life.

The plot revolves around Prince Ashitaka, who is told that he must leave his village and never return after he is cursed by a horrible demon. Ashitaka, along with his red elk, Yakul, sets out on a journey to "see with eyes unclouded by hate," as he puts it and his journey brings him to see many things. He comes across a prosperous settlement that produces iron, fittingly named iron town, and its leader Lady Eboshi, voiced by Minnie Driver. Ashitaka finds that Iron town is at war with the creatures of the forest due to the human's attempting to settle in the forest to create prosperity, which of course the forest dwellers aren't happy about. Ashitaka later meets the princess of the wolf tribe San, who happens to be a human despite her title. Ashitaka becomes caught in the middle of a dispute as old as time itself, man versus animal.

Several other characters are added to the mix; a strange little man named Jigo, voiced by Billy Bob Thornton, the lieutenant to Lady Eboshi Gonza, voiced by John DiMaggio (the voice of Bender), Moro, the god of the wolves, and Okkoto the god of the boars. These characters are all brilliantly written, and all have their own likability. One thing that this movie does well is that there isn't really any main villain. All of them have reasonable motivations behind what they're doing. It would have been so easy for this movie to throw in a tired message about how man is evil and how we should save the environment. Many may argue that this movie is trying to set up this message, but I don't think so. Lady Eboshi isn't necessarily a bad person. She's a strong person, who doesn't back down in times of adversity. She's a good leader who protects her people and only wants the best for them, giving a home to the lepers, fighting for the lives of her people against the boars, and sticking up for her fellow women's rights and honor. While on the other side the wolves aren't the villains either; only wanting to protect the spirits of the forest and their home from what they perceive to be their worst enemy, the humans. It's understandable why both sides feel this way, they all have a reasonable motivation and likability.

The animation in this film is breathtaking, the creatures just fly off the screen with how they're drawn and how they move. The creatures in this world are all just so creative and beautiful in their designs. The Spirit of the Forest is one of my favorite designs in animation history, especially when the sun goes down. Even the designs of creatures that already exist, like the apes or the boars, all have a unique design and charm. This movie could honestly be watched on mute and still be thoroughly enjoyed.

The story of this movie is unbelievably fantastic and deserves much more recognition than it gets in the U.S. It's a fantastic movie by a fantastic animator and is now, after seeing this for the first time yesterday, one of my all time favorites.

I don't have very much to say regarding this series, so I'll keep things short. This was almost unwatchable.

The jokes simply aren't funny, at all. Some of the jokes fail to even have a setup and/or punch line. The writing is lazy, not mixing in any creative humor and giving audiences exactly what they think is going to happen. This is also supposedly in the adult category as well. Involving several scenarios entitled Sex with ____, something that is clearly not supposed to be for kids, yet only they would find remotely funny. It's hard to say things simply aren't funny, but this is one of the few instances where I feel completely comfortable saying it.

This was an abomination. Not even so bad it's good either, just so bad it's unwatchable. I would say don't even give this thing a try and stay as far away from it as possible.