So, I've always been a big fan of classic animation. Heck, it was the first kind of motion picture in the form of flipbooks and Zoetropes long before cameras were invented. Getting in touch with my love of cartoons and cartooning, I've made a lot of friends over in the Artist's Corner in the Penny-Arcade.com forums. One friend in particular introduced me to a film called Les Triplettes de Belleville. It's this really neat French animated film with wonderful characters and attractive environments. You don't even need subtitles, because there are only a few uttered sentences in the movie, and really you can figure it out without them.

It was then my fiery love for animated films was reignited, with a new-found endearment with the medium. Since I had already seen nearly every classically animated Disney film, there weren't a whole lot of other choices on this side of the ocean. So I decided to move to the hard stuff.

WARNING: ANIME

More precisely, Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli (the production company.) I used to quite enjoy anime. I think it's really neat, though I do wish they'd draw every other frame rather than every third frame (that's what I'm told, anyway). It's too jumpy for me sometimes.

So, friends said "You haven't seen Princess Mononoke?!" I thought "Yeah, why don't you start me off on the most anime anime of all times. I can't wait to be anime'd to death on my first recent foray into the world of Japanese animated film." But I watched it, and it was surprisingly enjoyable! I wouldn't call it the best, but it was enough to get me interested.

I then went on to sample the filmography of Miyazaki. First it was Princess Nausicaa, a film I liked okay, but it was hard for me to identify with the people in it. No one really seemed real, and it was on an Earth I didn't recognize. Its environmentalist message kind of punches you in the gut, too. It was still better than 90% of modern American film, so I wasn't complaining. And if you prefer dubs (English voice acting) over subs (English subtitles with Japanese voice acting) this one's for you. Patrick Stewart. Uma Thurman. Chris Sarandon. Shia LaBeouf. Edward James Olmos. Whether or not you like any of those people, those are some darn professional names for a film dub. A lot of Miyazaki's films get this treatment.


Next was My Neighbor Totoro.


Great, just great. Nothing more to say. You have to see this to believe it. Dakota Fanning does the lead on this one, though I watched them subtitled anyway.


Kiki's Delivery Service. This was a fun movie that didn't have much of a plot, but it had extremely lovable characters. It was more of something where you enjoy the world they've put in front of you more than the story you're being told. I liked this one more than Princess Mononoke and Nausicaa, but not as much as My Neighbor Totoro. English voice actors include Kirsten Dunst, Phil Hartman, Janeane Garofalo  and others.


Porco Rosso. Very decent plot, extremely lovable characters again. Everyone is believable, and most of all, human. They all have flaws, they make mistakes, they have unrequited love, enemies they don't really understand who aren't really evil, just desperate. It's a fun film, but it's still deep. I'd put this above Kiki's Delivery Service. Still doesn't beat Totoro! The always lovable Michael Keaton leads the English voice acting on this one as the titular character.


Spirited Away. Oh, my lord. I knew about this movie for years, but I don't know why I never saw it. I think I went through a phase where I was scared of anime, so when I saw this, I was extremely wary. The over-sized head of the antagonist bothered me to no end. That said, this movie was the definition of epic. I don't mean that in the funny internet trope kind of way. But it was a massive scale of beauty and brilliance in the form of animated film. It's art of the highest quality. The characters were all believable and lovable. I don't recognize anyone on the English voice acting cast, however. Not that it matters.

Ponyo. Another brilliantly gorgeous film, but very funny and very endearing. I think my description of this would be similar to Spirited Away. English voice actors include Tina Fey, Matt Damon, Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett, Betty White and more.

So, that's all I'm going to say about it, other than it has reignited my love of animation, and right now, Japan is putting out the best classical animation. America continues to pump out CGI films which is fine if that's what you like, but I just don't care for the style.

Now to sample the Studio Ghibli films other than those directed by Hayao Miyazaki. See you when I'm dead of cell shading some how!