Studio Ghibli!

[Sophrosyne]

I liked the Yamadas but did think the animation style would turn a lot people off. It's definitely a different step from what they typically do. I didn't mind it, I thought it worked well for what they wanted to do.

Yeah, nice artwork does help a lot but then that doesn't save movies that suffer from bad writing. I liked the artwork in Grave of the Fireflies but it was a depressing movie a good first watch but not a good rewatch for me.
The Wind rises had good art but it was a lower rated by me than on IMDB. I do think on average SB movies are better than most other movies and as I greatly enjoy animated movies and TV series even if they are often a little campy and don't always translate totally well from foreign cultures to ours that can downrate them they more often or not are still better than a lot of extremely high budget movies.

 

[Jonaitis]

Ponyo

This movie was a little too strange for me & I like strange. None of the parts w/ Liam Neeson’s character or the goddess made sense. So he does stuff to protect the balance of nature, but is scheming to go back to the Cambrian, & after Ponyo gets into it, & to restore the balance of nature, the goddess says she can be human if she wants? & what did the old women have to do w/ anything? Maybe somethings got lost in translation. Like w/ a few movies I’ve seen recently, the heart of the story is what’s good, & it’s really good here. As someone who has pet fish, I connected w/ the relationship when she’s only a fish. I loved the scenes at the house where Ponyo’s learning. Studio Ghibli does characters so well! The shots of the boat floating above a flooded town w/ prehistoric fish swimming thru the streets is very memorable.

Unfortunately I’d say this is the weakest Studio Ghibli movie I’ve seen, but overall I still liked it. I recommend it if you like bizarre.

"I....WANT....HAMMMMMMM!!" lol

I give Ponyo a 4/5

Now I've seen (in watch order):
Totoro
Kiki's Delivery Service
The Secret World of Arietty
My Neighbors the Yamadas
Ponyo

Isn't Ponyo just another version of Little Mermaid? At least, that's what I saw.

 

[Sophrosyne]

Isn't Ponyo just another version of Little Mermaid? At least, that's what I saw.

Not really... Ponyo is like 5 years old.

 

[Jonaitis]

Not really... Ponyo is like 5 years old.

What I mean is that Ponyo is likely based off of Little Mermaid the same way Lion King is based off of Shakespeare's Hamlet.

 

[Sophrosyne]

What I mean is that Ponyo is likely based off of Little Mermaid the same way Lion King is based off of Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Perhaps.... and Star Wars was inspired by a Japanese writer. There is a lot of ideas that are reused or repeated in the movies these days likely even those people based them off other writings before them that may not even exist now. As long as a movie is done well, what it is based off of matters less than a good movie.

 

[DragonFox91]

The creator has said it is based on or inspired by The Little Mermaid. But it bears little resemblance. It is VERY weird, & is more of the relationship between her & the boy on land (Sosuke) & their adventure on land. I found it more similar to other 'fish out of water' stories than The Little Mermaid itself.

My best friend refuses to see it b/c he says 'it's a remake of The Little Mermaid.' That couldn't be further from the truth.

 

[Sophrosyne]

The creator has said it is based on or inspired by The Little Mermaid. But it bears little resemblance. It is VERY weird, & is more of the relationship between her & the boy on land (Sosuke) & their adventure on land. I found it more similar to other 'fish out of water' stories than The Little Mermaid itself.

My best friend refuses to see it b/c he says 'it's a remake of The Little Mermaid.' That couldn't be further from the truth.

No, not even close to a remake, I agree but does share similarities. If one thinks about it the Aquaman series is based loosely on the same thing... but doesn't have the transformation bit the idea of human types breathing under water and growing up in societies based there (Atlantis, etc.) and then meeting and interacting with earth dwellers and friendships even romance is repeated in many many places. Hans Christian Andersen wrote a lot of fairy tales that influenced a lot of movies and stories. I think that as we grow up we consume information from those around us often more mature and sometimes even deceased long ago that greatly influences us throughout our lives and stories and mannerisms that come from us incorporate their ideas. I guess you would say that copying others is flattering them so I have no problem with remakes if they are done well and not just a cash grab rip off that uses the fame of others for profit without recompense.
I liked the Disney animated Little Mermaid stories although the second was good but not great as the first one and the third was decent enough if you are bored but not really worth spending money on it for other than just finishing a collection out. As I got the second and third LM series on blu-ray/dvd for cheap and sold my dvd only copies to pay for it I'm satisfied. As much as the live action remakes of classic animated disney movies is interesting I find most of them a notch below the animated ones..... if I rate the animated an 8.0 I would rate the live action likely a 7.0. I've tried to keep track of new SG offerings but (to me) it seems like all the great ones have been done already and the newer ones are weirder or less exciting/interesting to me to bother tracking them down.

 

[LeafByNiggle]

I had occasion to re-watch Ponyo today and I noticed some things in never noticed before and some of them lead to questions. One thing is the meaning of all the times Ponyo's feet and hands switch between "chicken feet" and human feet. The first transformation made sense because it indicated her gradual transformation into a human. But there are numerous times after that when her hands and feet briefly turn into those chicken feet. For example, when she uses magic to make the boat larger, and I think even when she "fixes" the generator. Even her face briefly turns back into a less human face. The transformation on the walk on the road to the senior center also made sense because it was part of her reverting to a fish. But all the other times I did not understand. Then there was that confrontation with baby in the other boat. There was an extended period of silence and staring between the two of them and I had no idea of what it signified. It must have meant something because the film stayed with it so long. I also noticed that when Ponyo ran back to the baby for that confrontation, she hopped on the water, but her feet again became chicken feet during the run. On another subject, I have to give Lisa the prize for being the worst ever model of how to drive safely. There is no way anyone should insure her. And I have to give Sosuke the prize for being the most mature member of family. The way he handled to phone call from Dad to Lisa, and the subsequent soothing of Lisa's temper was outstanding. Certainly unusual for a 5-year old. Lisa says he is "very smart", but he is also more emotionally mature than she is, especially when you see her throw that tantrum when Dad wasn't coming home.

 

[Sophrosyne]

I had occasion to re-watch Ponyo today and I noticed some things in never noticed before and some of them lead to questions. One thing is the meaning of all the times Ponyo's feet and hands switch between "chicken feet" and human feet. The first transformation made sense because it indicated her gradual transformation into a human. But there are numerous times after that when her hands and feet briefly turn into those chicken feet. For example, when she uses magic to make the boat larger, and I think even when she "fixes" the generator. Even her face briefly turns back into a less human face. The transformation on the walk on the road to the senior center also made sense because it was part of her reverting to a fish. But all the other times I did not understand. Then there was that confrontation with baby in the other boat. There was an extended period of silence and staring between the two of them and I had no idea of what it signified. It must have meant something because the film stayed with it so long. I also noticed that when Ponyo ran back to the baby for that confrontation, she hopped on the water, but her feet again became chicken feet during the run. On another subject, I have to give Lisa the prize for being the worst ever model of how to drive safely. There is no way anyone should insure her. And I have to give Sosuke the prize for being the most mature member of family. The way he handled to phone call from Dad to Lisa, and the subsequent soothing of Lisa's temper was outstanding. Certainly unusual for a 5-year old. Lisa says he is "very smart", but he is also more emotionally mature than she is, especially when you see her throw that tantrum when Dad wasn't coming home.

I only watched it once and didn't notice too much as I often have a stack of movies to watch through I get them really cheap sometimes and the pile up I probably have about 50 or so titles to go through from over a year ago as when I got a smart TV and streaming I have been doing that more but I've gone trough most of what interested me so I'm watching more movies now.

 

[DragonFox91]

I’ve now seen Howl’s Moving Castle. It wasn’t my favorite but I enjoyed it. I think it was missing something.

This is the list I’ve seen now. It’s in watch order, but is similar to how I’d rank them too. I’d probably move Ponyo up some & Kiki down some.
Totoro
Kiki's Delivery Service
The Secret World of Arietty
My Neighbors the Yamadas
Ponyo
Howl’s Moving Castle

 

[DragonFox91]

I watched Princess Mononoke.

I like the smaller-scale Studio movies, & had a hard time getting into a big epic fantasy at first, but once I sat back I relaxed. It’s good, reminds me of other fantasies I enjoy, but still has enough to be unique. But it’s a little too preachy & is missing heart.

I rate all the movies in my collection and My ratings are as follows:
Castle in the Sky 8.7
The Cat Returns 7.4
Grave of the Fireflies 6.8
Howl's Moving Castle 9.0
Kiki's Delivery Service 7.4
Lupin The 3rd: The Castle Of Cagliostro 8.4
My Neighbor Totoro 7.5
Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind 8.8
Pom Poko 6.8
Ponyo 7.5
Princess Mononoke 8.7
The Secret World Of Arrietty 7.3 (aka the Borrowers)
Spirited Away 7.9
The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya 6.8
Tales From Earthsea 6.8
When Marnie Was There 7.4
The Wind Rises 6.8

As you can see the best movies I think are Castle in the Sky, Howl's Moving Castle, Lupi the 3rd, Nausicaa, and Princess Mononoke, with Spirited away decent also. Anything better than a 7 is starting into the "great range"
and anything in the 8s are Excellent with 9's a "watch anytime" the best etc.

I am sure that there are likely 4 or 5 more Studio Ghibli movies that I don't have as I pick my movies up mostly second hand that is the reason I have so many because often I pay as little as $1-$3 a movie. The lowest rating is 6.8 which is near the top of the "good" movies heading towards great IMO.

Ha ha, Howl's Moving Castle & Princess Mononoke are probably the least interesting ones, I think. I guess I like their smaller-scale movies the best. They're still good tho.