And so far, I'm having a mixed reaction. I say this as someone who absolutely loves Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away (which was the best film I saw in 2002, and that includes The Two Towers).
The Valhalla in Glebe, here in small-town Sydney, capital of Austria, is showing five Miyazaki films: Nausicaa, My Neighbour Totoro, Porco Rosso, Laputa, and Kiki's Delivery Service. I caught Totoro yesterday, and Nausicaa this afternoon.
Totoro was good, but I thought Spirited Away was better. It has the usual remarkable Miyazaki visuals and soundtrack and enchanting storyline, but the way in which everyone, including the adults, treated the existence of ghosts and spirits in a seemingly casual way was rather jarring. I didn't have a problem with Satsuki and Mei being able to see the spirits, but I was expecting a rather more sceptical attitude from their parents. I don't know why. Also, the film's ending seemed rather abrupt; I was expecting the mother to come home at least, and there would be some sort of resolution to the question of how long Totoro would stay.
Nausicaa was, eh. I can see why it's considered a precursor to Mononoke, as the environmental theme is pretty much identical (and so are some of the visuals; for Ohms, substitute hunters in giant boar skins, for example). But by god, does he lay it on thick. It was like every dramatic scene had someone waving a cue card telling you what you were supposed to think. There was absolutely no room for ambiguity, and consequently, the characters all ended up feeling like caricatures. And while I didn't really mind the ending of Mononoke, the ending of Nausicaa was just too far-fetched for me: possibly because by that point, I didn't really care that much about the princess or her little Garden of Eden. OTOH the 10-year-old girls who were in the row in front of me seemed to love it, and I can't fault the imagination that went into designing some of the backdrops.
Oh well. Anyone else want to comment?
The Valhalla in Glebe, here in small-town Sydney, capital of Austria, is showing five Miyazaki films: Nausicaa, My Neighbour Totoro, Porco Rosso, Laputa, and Kiki's Delivery Service. I caught Totoro yesterday, and Nausicaa this afternoon.
Totoro was good, but I thought Spirited Away was better. It has the usual remarkable Miyazaki visuals and soundtrack and enchanting storyline, but the way in which everyone, including the adults, treated the existence of ghosts and spirits in a seemingly casual way was rather jarring. I didn't have a problem with Satsuki and Mei being able to see the spirits, but I was expecting a rather more sceptical attitude from their parents. I don't know why. Also, the film's ending seemed rather abrupt; I was expecting the mother to come home at least, and there would be some sort of resolution to the question of how long Totoro would stay.
Nausicaa was, eh. I can see why it's considered a precursor to Mononoke, as the environmental theme is pretty much identical (and so are some of the visuals; for Ohms, substitute hunters in giant boar skins, for example). But by god, does he lay it on thick. It was like every dramatic scene had someone waving a cue card telling you what you were supposed to think. There was absolutely no room for ambiguity, and consequently, the characters all ended up feeling like caricatures. And while I didn't really mind the ending of Mononoke, the ending of Nausicaa was just too far-fetched for me: possibly because by that point, I didn't really care that much about the princess or her little Garden of Eden. OTOH the 10-year-old girls who were in the row in front of me seemed to love it, and I can't fault the imagination that went into designing some of the backdrops.
Oh well. Anyone else want to comment?
