I would say that only Princess Mononoke and Nausicaa are better than Spirited Away.

All three are 10/10 though.

(Can't wait till the Nausicaa dvd finally gets released)

<----Owns it. Loves it. Make other people watch it when they come over.

Finally saw this movie as it was on TV here recently.


Though the animation was good I thought the story was really terrible. To me it resembled a garbled, bizarro Alice In Wonderland. I don't like anime either so I guess I can't appreciate this very much but I expected better. All hype and no substance. Way too whimsical. Here in Hawaii, young Asian kids creamed themselves over this film.


Why are many Japanese so childlike? It disturbs me.

Still haven't seen this one, but I've seen Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Nausicaa, Castle in the Sky, and Princess Mononoke. Porco Rosso is in my Netflix queue. I'll get to this one after that.

I love everything Miyazaki and everything Studio Ghibli. Only ones I haven't seen are Pom Poko, Only Yesterday, and Lupin III.

Spirited is good but not my favorite. I probably like Whisper Of The Heart best, followed by Mononoke as it was the first I saw.

Panda! Go Panda! is really, really cute too. Anyone who has small children should get it.

Wife and kids rented it this weekend and reported back to me, drooling about its magnificence and how I had to give it another try.

So I did.

And this time I liked it a lot more.
Excellent. I particularly loved No-Face, who maintained his sympathy, even while devouring several inhabitants of the bathhouse.

9/10

I love this movie. I've probably watched it over 20 times.

But I want to hop in on the Grave of the Fireflies v Barefoot Gen debatage going on on the first page.

Grave of the Fireflies is the better known of the two movies and it is pretty good... although I don't find the characters (other than the little sister) to be too sympathetic. The movie is really sad... but IMO pretty frustrating.

Barefoot Gen I found to be a much, much harder (but more rewarding) view. The characters are much more sympathetic, the deaths equally tragic, and the visual gore hits you in the gut. Definitely not a movie that should be shown to kids.

The final thing I want to imput: I've been noticing that some people are mentioning the Studio Ghibli films they like, so I might as well go ahead and rank what I've seen, eh? So in order from best to worst...

Whisper of the Heart (11/10)
Howl's Moving Castle (10/10)
Spirited Away (9.8/10)
Naussica of the Valley of the Wind (8.8/10)
The Cat Returns (8/10)
Castle in the Sky (7.9/10)
Grave of the Fireflies (7/10)
Porco Rosso (6/10)
Princess Mononoke (Which I really do not like at all. Ugh) (3/10)

(edited to include Grave of the Fireflies... which I forgot about about, even after dedicating half my post to it?? Craziness...)

Man, I would never pick these two as the best. I barely remember Whisper of the Heart other than that it seemed, light, sentimental, and tedious.

I guess I would say:

1. Nausicaa
2. Spirited Away
3. Princess Mononoke
4. Grave of Fireflies (which is Ghibli but not directed by Miyazaki)
5. Howl's Moving Castle
6. Totoro
7. Whisper of the Heart

And I think I watched the one about the raccoons that turn into people (or vice versa), but I don't remember much about that one, either.

And I would never trust your taste on most things.

Yeah, ditto.

New movie coming out:
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
LINK

[quote]Animation emperor Hayao Miyazaki's fans will not be disappointed with his latest release, “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea,â€