Best Miyazaki Film?

Cafe Society
21

I’ve seen everything on the list except the Castle of Cagliostro, Castle in the Sky, Ponyo and Porco Rosso.

Ditto the first half of the sentence – but in my case I chose Howl’s Moving Castle, only because I knew Spirited Away would get the most votes and I wanted to show a little love to Howl. Of course, I know HMC isn’t an original story (then again, I don’t know if SA is original either). But it’s a gorgeous, romantic film and I love rewatching it.

Both films highlight the message of Miyazaki films that I most appreciate: the redemptive power of compassion.

22

Of the ones I’ve seen, which are
My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and Ponyo, I picked Princess Mononoke. Probably because I think it has the most “current” theme - the balance between development and respecting the environment.

23

From my limited experience:
“Mononoke” - thematic material and a gorgeous soundtrack by Jo Hisaishi
“Totoro” - my daughter grew up with this movie (and it has a Catbus!)
“Spirited”/"Howl -tied
“Porco” - but I love Miyazaki’s 30’s-era airplanes.

All of these are better than 90% of Hollywood’s output.

24

Tough call. I like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away equally as well. I think I have to give it to Sprited Away since I’ve bought the DVD for that one and haven’t for Princess Mononoke despite meaning to.

25

I’d also add that seeing Spirited Away in the theater was one of the most beautiful movies I’ve seen on screen.

The large screen really showed the details the small screen can’t capture.

26

I don’t know about the movie, but the Nausicaa comic is tremendously epic and fantastic.

27

It’s between Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away for me. Both are very rich in thematic content.

Princess Mononoke is an epic portrait that confronts long held notions of homogeneous Japanese identity, idealized harmony, progress, and spiritual loss. Interesting, complex female characters are major players who defamiliarize conventional notions of advancement, history, and gender coding as well as undermining a plethora of female stereotypes. I think it is a very complex and elegant piece of work, unlike the other films out there that are really just a facile stereotype of technology/industrialization culture as evil, where some ruthless one-dimensional human male pits his draconian technology against helpless nature (hello Avatar!).

Spirited Away presents a startling vision of excess, materialism, consumption, and toxicity plaguing contemporary Japanese society. I suppose it’s also a coming of age story that offers the potential for cultural recovery and identity renewal in a postindustrial society threatened by pollution within and without. Symbolically, it is stunning; for example, I thought it was clever to use No Face as a character who has to swallow others in order to have a voice and is animated only by the urge to consume. Or the Spirit God as a sacrifice of consumer capitalism, sullied by toxic effusions of modern life.

28

So, Ishtaw, what did you vote for?

29

Agreed, one of the finest comic series I’ve read. I read issue #1 in a used book store a few months ago and it hooked me cover to cover, and immediately Amazonned the whole series.

30

I’ve seen all but “Castle in the Sky” and “Cagliostro.” I voted for “Spirited Away” because it has a good story and some compelling imagery … the spooks, the train gliding over the water, etc. But I liked “Whispers of the Heart” better, a more compelling story and also some great visuals, but it is Studio Ghibli and not Miyazaki.

31

That theme is big in Spirited Away too.

32

Ditto – well, saw Ponyo a few weeks ago, but otherwise ditto. (Have all but Castle of Cagliostro and Ponyo on DVD and they’ve all got a fair bit of play).

Voted Totoro… but it’s a close thing with Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Howl’s Moving Castle.

My favourite of the Ghibli’s I have though is Whisper of the Heart – for which Miyazaki wrote the screenplay but didn’t direct; it being the one and only film directed by Yoshifumi Kondō.

33

I hate to interrupt my own thread, but folks, you should really check out Satoshi Kon, Japan’s 2nd greatest animator.

He just died a few hours ago and was amazing. I posted a thread already about it. Very sad.

34

Spirited Away

It was a tough call. I’m a big fan of most of Miyazaki’s work. They are all visual masterpieces, that goes without saying.

35

I’m always surprised at how little love Howl’s gets. It blew me away.

#1. Spirited
#2. Howl’s
#3. Cagliostro
#4. Mononoke
#5. Castle in the Sky

Haven’t seen Porco, Totoro, or Kiki’s yet. Didn’t really like Nausicaa or Ponyo.

36

I had a hard time choosing between Totoro and Spirited Away. In the end I picked S.A. since I found the story more compelling and because I think it had a few more really memorable scenes.

Didn’t like Porco Rosso, or Kiki for some reason. Haven’t seen Castle of Cagliostro. The others are somewhere between “good/interesting” and “very good”.

37

Spirited Away, followed by HMC. There is much that I love about Totoro but at heart it’s a very lightweight film. The others - good, but didn’t really speak to me as much. [Confession: I haven’t seen Princess Mononoke yet. Horror!]

As for other Ghibli productions Pom Poko depressed the hell out of me and my wife really likes The Cat Returns for some reason.

38

It wasn’t the annoying voice on the cat, was it?

39

I think part of it was that I saw a dubbed version. Japanese animation with American voices doesn’t work for me at all. I much prefer subtitles.

40

Phil Hartman?