Anyone seen Arrietty yet?

It's The Borrowers, isn't it! It looks very good. I wonder if they have it on DVD in the right format for the DVD players we have over here.
 
Aw, I had this on my Christmas list, then saw Overread's post above. Had to cross it out and ask for Ponyo instead.
 
no but now I have clicked on the trailer my daughter won't let me not watch it lol

She adores Ghibli (she even watches stuff like the Yamadas etc) and the Borrowers.
 
I saw Ponyo the other day and found it very thin for a Ghibli film, alas. This looks more promising.
 
My daughter doesn't watch Ponyo very often - she tends to go for Laputa, Howls Moving Castle, Kiki, Totoro and the one with the Racoons. She also seems to be taken with Porco Rosso these days. (however she is only eight).

Ponyo is ok seems excessively cute and lacks the dark element of a lot of the others.
 
Mouse said:
Pom Poko. Always thought that was a bit weird... what with the parachute testicles and the no-faced people.
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I have to confess to never having watched it in it's entirety - that and the Yamadas I don't get. My daughter sits and laughs hysterically through the latter. She's into all sorts of anime and draws it constantly.

However my trip to Amazon has cost me a fortune we've pre-ordered Arietty and ordered 3 new DVDs lol
 
I didn't like the Yamadas either, basically couldn't get on with the animation style. But I'm surprised at the opinions above about Ponyo. I don't think any "missing" dark elements should be a problem, it's not a cute film, and it's stunning to watch.

Pom Poko is special and weird at the same time. My favourites though (after Spirited Away, of course) are Porco Rosso and My Neighbour Totoro, which I never get tired of.
 
Stephen Palmer said:
But I'm surprised at the opinions above about Ponyo. I don't think any "missing" dark elements should be a problem, it's not a cute film, and it's stunning to watch.
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It is lovely to watch, though the animation and backgrounds don't often have the subtlety and imaginative exuberence of Miyazaki's best. It's not so much the lack of "dark" elements as the fact that everything is resolved so easily (and often illogically) and the hero faces no real trials. The declaration of love on which the Earth depends is easy and meaningless. And the typhoon seems pretty paltry when it doesn't even cause any damage, let alone injure or kill anyone.

Probably this is all appropriate for a film aimed at young children, but it all felt too twee for me. My favourites of Miyazaki's work are Mononoke and the Nausicaa manga (better than the film) and I would have loved him to make more films in a similar, more mature, vein. Sadly, that wasn't to be.
 
re Ponyo -- my son got it for his 4th birthday and watched it over and over again until I had the song so firmly in my head that I don't think it'll ever go away. He liked that the hero was a small boy -- recognisably about his own age. I like Ponyo's father -- [possibly slighly spoiliery] he's so sinister without actually being evil.

I need to get Arrietty. We almost made it to the cinema, but didn't in the end.

My favourite is Howl's Moving Castle (though I like the book more). We don't have any of the more adult ones yet.
 
BTW, what's with the giant blob monster in Miyazaki films? It has appeared in:

Princess Mononoke (the forest god after his head's cut off)
Spirited Away (the poisoned river spirit)
Ponyo (the black fish, in one of their forms)
Nausicaa (the melted God Warrior)
Tales From Earthsea (the, er, giant blob monster)
I think there was one in Howl as well, but can't remember what.

Is it a Japanese thing?
 
I found hardly anything about the "Miyazaki ooze" on the internet, except opinions that it represents evil or environmental degradation. I think both of those are too simplistic. What links all the examples I gave -- except one -- is that the ooze comes about when a magical creature (or even a god) is subjected to evil, either its own or others'. The containment of form breaks down and a destructive primordial blob emerges (much the same as happens to Tetsuo in Akira).

But Fujimoto's fish-servants in Ponyo don't fit with that. Am I missing something, or might that be a genuine exception?

Edit: oops, it was No-Face in Spirited Away who became the blob monster, not the river spirit. And I can't remember enough of what caused that to happen to know if it fits my theory or not.
 
I think with No-Face it was linked to greed and attention. No-Face got attention (food, etc) from the people and in turn was giving them masses of gold to encourage the attention - the more food the more monstrous No-Face became. A kind of "if you buy friendship/attention it only harms yourself" kind of message and I wouldn't be surprised if the relationship shifts from story to story.
 
HareBrain said:
I think there was one in Howl as well, but can't remember what.
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That's when Howl has a bit of a paddy because his hair's gone wrong and he turns into this oozey thing. I think that's what you're thinking of!

I'm still gonna get Ponyo, and Arrietty!

Favourites of mine though are Totoro (my bro brought me back a little one from Korea. Loved seeing Totoro's cameo in Toy Story 3 too!), Spirited Away and Mononoke.

The Yamadas one never appealed to me either. Animation looks daft.
 
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