Many are so conditioned towards the western approach to storytelling with a classic 3 act structure and a cause/effect driven plot. But seen with an open-mind and it's a stunning film.
I'm a Miyazaki fan and I was skeptical going into this one because of some of the reviews. I loved it. Ending was extremely abrupt but it didn't need to continue so whatever. The journey was amazing.
This is only the second animated film I have watched, never read manga etc, and my first anime cinema experience. The first act, I thought the approach was great, the sounds, score, and the silence. But even here, the story was a tad unclear. Was the father marrying the sister out of duty, or love. Was the child his, had they been having an affair? Was that even important? being unfamiliar with the genre, I didn't know. I watched the subtitled version, so I thought maybe something was missing in the translation. I hadn't seen any reviews or read anything about the film before the screening BTW. At this point, I was expecting a gentle story exploring a relationship with a heron. Then the heron speaks and a head comes out of the beak? And it got even stranger. Then the film progresses, and for me, the relationships between concepts, characters, ideas, myths, locations and even time were incoherently marked and hard to follow or understand. It didn't feel like a tale being told via cinema, but an artistic concept and feeling being explored on screen. For me, not hugely enjoyable and not something I really want to watch again, or watch more from the studio. I don't know if this helps explain the confusion. I do think having no familiarity with the studio, the genre, the culture or any possible source material, or even the structure used in such movies ... much of this just made little sense to me.
Saw it on Thursday night in the English dub and in an almost packed auditorium and really dug it. Felt so majestic and enthralling in its animation, and it leaves you feeling about what it means to live. I also love the piano-centric score from longtime composer Joe Hisaishi. His work throughout Ghibli has been incredible and I want to see him get a long overdue Oscar nomination. I grew up watching Miyazaki/Ghibli films like ‘Spirited Away’ and ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’. But it wasn’t until this summer where I decided to watch all of his previous efforts, and they’re all good. Even a film like ‘Porco Rosso’, which is highly flawed, still has some very entertaining moments. I’m also getting into the non-Miyazaki films like ‘Grave of the Fireflies’ and ‘Pom Poko’. I hope Ghibli keeps making these types of movies forever.
After seeing and reading so many glowing reviews I feel like I watched a different movie than everyone else. I thought the story was kind of a mess and the only character I found interesting was Kiriko, who is voiced by Florence Pugh in the English dub. Because I love Miyazaki so much I'll give this another shot once it's available to rent or stream, but I just felt relieved when it was over.
Well I did say I'm willing to watch it again. But I also think it's possible to understand what the movie's trying to do and still not like it very much.
@nathanjohnson7255 The issue with your statement is the idea that the story (which is different than the plot) is a mess. It objectively isn't. The story has a clear meaning and is expressed in a clearly defined but existential manner. The plot (particularly towards the end) is messy. People need to learn the difference between plot and story because too many conflate the two. Story refers to the themes and questions posed by a film while plot is the actual events themselves. So no, the story was very, very clear.
I saw the movie twice and at the end of both showings, people wonder what does it all mean and it doesn't make sense. On the surface, it's a mix of spirited away and princess mononoke. Imo, this movie is the deepest Miyazaki movie. The story is a bout a boy processing his grief and trying to live in a new life that his father has thrusted him in. It has a similar theme to The Wind Rises but a lot less obvious. At the end, it became a love letter from Miyazaki to us and the future generation. Minor spoiler alert:
Also there's so much references to older Ghibli films, like the flight of the warawara, the Mitsubishi Zero canopies, the look of the maids ect. To an extent, it's a metaphor to Miyazaki's career. At the end, he's telling us and the future generation to "create beautiful worlds untainted by malice." That block that Mahito kept at the end is a symbol that represents the movie itself, a powerful reminder that we have the power to create something beautiful.
8.7-9 ish feels just about right. Totally agree. One of his very best. And so psyched that it looks to do well at the domestic box office this weekend.
Im not going to lie i kinda dozed off near the end(long work week) bit that for me only served to make the experience even more dream like. I also liked the way they offset some off the subtitles to not cover certain parts of the animation
Ha! I just watched this movie today, and I started to fall asleep towards the end too! It felt too similar to Totoro or Spirited Away for me, in the "normal life leads to exploring then finding a weird, magical world where they do some tasks and then big magical climax" structure. I found it hard to get fully engaged with.
Pretty much all his movies are beautiful and grotesque at the same time... hahaha... Surprised this is showing in IMAX. Will try to catch it this weekend.
I’m also at a 8.5-9 range, it wasn’t my favorite but it was definitely a good worthwhile watch that I highly recommend. It feels very self reflective and as you both mentioned, very surreal. Really love how especially imaginative this one felt. The story didn’t hit as hard as his other films have for me, but maybe because it was more about the main characters emotions, which are very complicated and layered. So I kinda liked that it didn’t feel very “plot focused” in a sense
"trying to describe a miyazaki movie is like a dream." Not really, was rewatching his entire catalog, his earlier work has more traditional storytelling. He's influenced a lot by Moebius, Euro Scifi comics, Japanese Shinto mythology, his own beliefs of hard work/environmentalism/feminism. Let me dumb it down, "it's stuff that can only be done in animation." And that's something we take for granted since even Miyazaki's Lupin work.... Lupin is a long running series, but when he comes in it's even MORE ACTION PACKS, MORE ROMANTIC, BEAUTIFUL, and after that film, everyone in the 80s did a Clocktower ending. Jesus, 1979, still thinking how the bad guy dies by the clock hands. I love love love love Miyazaki. BTW, Christty get your son to watch some of his films. I recommend Castle in the Sky, and WATCH HIM GO "OH WAIT! That's Zelda Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild." And Porco Rosso has the line "I'd rather be a Pig than a Fascist." Porco Roso influenced Disney's Tailspin and other more 1930's inspired revival of the 80s. I would say Nausicaa is better than most of his modern stuff, since it's the film that started Ghibli, there's more love in it, and also it's better than Avatar. His newer stuff is wild, but like his 70s-80s are stuff you should show your son, he would say, "Oh wait, I've seen this before." Since it's influenced MORE!
I haven't seen this film, but don't some Asian cultures refer to superiors as "big brother" "big sister", doesn't necessarily mean they're blood relatives
The reviews were very mixed, leaning towards not good when it came out in July in Japan... seems like more recent western reviews are tripping over themselves to call it a masterpiece.
"i know it's not real but i want to see it" that was in the trailer..it is belong to a different context in the movie but i think that's a clue that this movie is about afterlife and there is even a place look like that famous "island of death" picture.. and that old man at the end was miyasaki's himself as an artist who is getting closer to his own death and the end of the world he created and that emperor is the symbol of authorities who wants to take advantage of his art for their militarist purposes ( not clear in this movie but maybe for propoganda purposes) and movie ends as everything was a dream.. of course you have to end it that way because you can not come back from the dead
… didn’t love this. I was so kinda bored I wanted to walk out. I found the magical realism part of it so random and sort of uninteresting. I get that it’s deeply symbolic but this sorta feels like an anime version of Beau is afraid sorta. Micro naps the movie. The first 40 minutes is so slow. Probably my least favourite ghibli movie. Esoteric.
I feel that way w a lot of Miyazaki/Ghibli films. I like some aspects but that slice of life aspect can become monotonous (probably because the sameness of the art style renders all characters in his films interchangeable). I found this problem in Suzume too. I have to be in the mood for it
@@richgranados11I like ghibli slice of life films but this clearly isn’t one of them. I don’t know why we spent 45 minutes waiting to get to the magical world. Lots of wasted time that didn’t really seem to thematically relevant to the movie so not sure why almost half the movie is us watching is monotonous life where basically nothing happens. This movie was a rare miss for me. Just didn’t get anything from it. I get the themes and message it was going for but sloppily executed. Enjoyed the animation as usual
@@BreakfastAllDay Dunno, I wish I had a good answer. There are exceptions, I love The Last Unicorn and An American Tail to name a couple of animated movies.
Are we too afraid to criticize Miyazaki? By doing so you’ll lose credibility? I’ve seen it twice both sub and dub. I’m sorry but putting very little story into it so we can interpret the meaning does not make it a good movie. Everything else is top tier Ghibli so it’s enjoyable, but I can’t accept this on the level of his past creations.
@@joenelzayas obviously we’re criticizing a movie still better than anything Disney has put out in a while. It was original and beautiful, credit where credit is due
I mean, I don't like it AS MUCH as some of his best movies, but that's not a bad thing since even his "worst" movies are masterpieces in my opinion. And this isn't one of his worst movies by any means.
@@nothingserious8577 - I've been more entertained by many movies Disney has put out quite recently (including both Marvel movies, live action remakes, and traditional Disney cartoon movies). I wouldn't say any of the Disney movies felt as artistic as this movie, but being artistic but still leaving me with no real sense of why the movie exists at the end don't make the movie good. This movie was beautiful but... what is it about? The basic events are easy to follow - boy loses mother, boy moves to country and meets new step mom, boy meets heron who lies (sort of) about having his mother and is willing to take him to her, boys new step mother goes missing and boy goes looking for her which of course leads to the place the heron was going to take him anyway, boy has beautiful yet pointless mini adventures until he finds his mother, boy doesn't really acknowledge his mother in a direct way for some unknown reason although audience knows it's her and then goes with said mother to save his new step mother, but that doesn't work right either becuase of... stone magic? boy meets his great uncle , has osme more adventures which really don't seem to matter much, ends up rejecting offer to live a lonely life creating his own world and then leaves with his step mother. Did I get it? I mean, lots of other stuff happen, but even the stuff I wrote doesn't seem really important for the most part. None of the things that happen seem impactful to the main events which is his step mom getting lost and him finding her and bringing her home. All the other stuff occurred in the movie, but... they don't add anything much to the story. I see lots of room for personal interpretation if you like that sort of thing. I also agree with many reviews I've read that suggest the movie is just loaded with allegory to Myazaki's real life, but... I don't really know anything about his life and I don't really want to just to pretend like I enjoyed this film.
People would rather follow and be a hive mind. Not to mention critics don’t want to deal with the backlash of not liking a Miyazaki movie. If any western director ever produced such a loosely plotted film it would be universally panned. Without the Miyazaki and Ghibli name attached to this movie it would be forgotten. It just didn’t work and a rare miss from the studio
![[Live สด] การออกรางวัลสลากกินแบ่งรัฐบาล งวดวันที่ 16 พฤศจิกายน 2567](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wPd7VFfWHIA/mqdefault.jpg)
I am genuinely surprised that people are so confused by this film. Wonderful film with a wonderful story that a lot of people seem to miss
Many are so conditioned towards the western approach to storytelling with a classic 3 act structure and a cause/effect driven plot. But seen with an open-mind and it's a stunning film.
I'm a Miyazaki fan and I was skeptical going into this one because of some of the reviews. I loved it. Ending was extremely abrupt but it didn't need to continue so whatever. The journey was amazing.
I just want some story, this was all up to interpretation. A movie of just metaphors and ambiguity
@@nothingserious8577I agree .
This is only the second animated film I have watched, never read manga etc, and my first anime cinema experience. The first act, I thought the approach was great, the sounds, score, and the silence. But even here, the story was a tad unclear. Was the father marrying the sister out of duty, or love. Was the child his, had they been having an affair? Was that even important? being unfamiliar with the genre, I didn't know. I watched the subtitled version, so I thought maybe something was missing in the translation. I hadn't seen any reviews or read anything about the film before the screening BTW. At this point, I was expecting a gentle story exploring a relationship with a heron.
Then the heron speaks and a head comes out of the beak? And it got even stranger.
Then the film progresses, and for me, the relationships between concepts, characters, ideas, myths, locations and even time were incoherently marked and hard to follow or understand. It didn't feel like a tale being told via cinema, but an artistic concept and feeling being explored on screen. For me, not hugely enjoyable and not something I really want to watch again, or watch more from the studio.
I don't know if this helps explain the confusion. I do think having no familiarity with the studio, the genre, the culture or any possible source material, or even the structure used in such movies ... much of this just made little sense to me.
Me and my gf really enjoyed this. I especially liked the surrealism.
Saw it on Thursday night in the English dub and in an almost packed auditorium and really dug it. Felt so majestic and enthralling in its animation, and it leaves you feeling about what it means to live.
I also love the piano-centric score from longtime composer Joe Hisaishi. His work throughout Ghibli has been incredible and I want to see him get a long overdue Oscar nomination.
I grew up watching Miyazaki/Ghibli films like ‘Spirited Away’ and ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’. But it wasn’t until this summer where I decided to watch all of his previous efforts, and they’re all good. Even a film like ‘Porco Rosso’, which is highly flawed, still has some very entertaining moments.
I’m also getting into the non-Miyazaki films like ‘Grave of the Fireflies’ and ‘Pom Poko’. I hope Ghibli keeps making these types of movies forever.
Hope you guys get a chance to review Hirokazu Kore-eda’s new film Monster soon!
Loved this film. In my top 3 Miyazaki, a family walked out during the frog scene. Truly a surreal film.
I love that you guys do reviews for animation, thank you!
Our pleasure! Thanks, Katie.
After seeing and reading so many glowing reviews I feel like I watched a different movie than everyone else. I thought the story was kind of a mess and the only character I found interesting was Kiriko, who is voiced by Florence Pugh in the English dub. Because I love Miyazaki so much I'll give this another shot once it's available to rent or stream, but I just felt relieved when it was over.
Seems that you missed the subtext and what the story actually was
Well I did say I'm willing to watch it again. But I also think it's possible to understand what the movie's trying to do and still not like it very much.
@nathanjohnson7255 The issue with your statement is the idea that the story (which is different than the plot) is a mess. It objectively isn't. The story has a clear meaning and is expressed in a clearly defined but existential manner. The plot (particularly towards the end) is messy. People need to learn the difference between plot and story because too many conflate the two. Story refers to the themes and questions posed by a film while plot is the actual events themselves. So no, the story was very, very clear.
I honestly was bored and literally fell asleep lol 🤣 and I love Miyazaki!! My wife loved it though!!!
@@zaneplatt3533you said it yourself . Objectively
I saw the movie twice and at the end of both showings, people wonder what does it all mean and it doesn't make sense. On the surface, it's a mix of spirited away and princess mononoke. Imo, this movie is the deepest Miyazaki movie. The story is a bout a boy processing his grief and trying to live in a new life that his father has thrusted him in. It has a similar theme to The Wind Rises but a lot less obvious. At the end, it became a love letter from Miyazaki to us and the future generation.
Minor spoiler alert:
Also there's so much references to older Ghibli films, like the flight of the warawara, the Mitsubishi Zero canopies, the look of the maids ect. To an extent, it's a metaphor to Miyazaki's career. At the end, he's telling us and the future generation to "create beautiful worlds untainted by malice." That block that Mahito kept at the end is a symbol that represents the movie itself, a powerful reminder that we have the power to create something beautiful.
We will definitely catch this as we love the work of Miyazaki. Thanks C&A.
Great, enjoy!
I’m so excited to watch this one! Once I’m done singing in my choir concerts this weekend, I’m definitely seeing this on the big screen.
Please do!
I can’t wait to see this… I’m seeing it in imax on Sunday
I'm really looking forward. Been a miyazaki fan since high school.
Miyazaki is my favorite director ao I'm beyond excited for this films, cones out on January 11th in Chile, so excited.
I'm so excited for you
8.7-9 ish feels just about right. Totally agree. One of his very best. And so psyched that it looks to do well at the domestic box office this weekend.
Im not going to lie i kinda dozed off near the end(long work week) bit that for me only served to make the experience even more dream like. I also liked the way they offset some off the subtitles to not cover certain parts of the animation
Ha! I just watched this movie today, and I started to fall asleep towards the end too! It felt too similar to Totoro or Spirited Away for me, in the "normal life leads to exploring then finding a weird, magical world where they do some tasks and then big magical climax" structure. I found it hard to get fully engaged with.
Pretty much all his movies are beautiful and grotesque at the same time... hahaha...
Surprised this is showing in IMAX. Will try to catch it this weekend.
I hope you two do your top movies of the year video. I am looking forward to it. Christy your hair looks adorable, I really like this style on you.
Of course, we'll do best and worst of 2023 the first week of January. And thanks!
I would love to watch a video where you two go to Warren Brother Studios for a day and talk about it. It might be very popular. @@BreakfastAllDay
I’m also at a 8.5-9 range, it wasn’t my favorite but it was definitely a good worthwhile watch that I highly recommend. It feels very self reflective and as you both mentioned, very surreal. Really love how especially imaginative this one felt. The story didn’t hit as hard as his other films have for me, but maybe because it was more about the main characters emotions, which are very complicated and layered. So I kinda liked that it didn’t feel very “plot focused” in a sense
"trying to describe a miyazaki movie is like a dream." Not really, was rewatching his entire catalog, his earlier work has more traditional storytelling. He's influenced a lot by Moebius, Euro Scifi comics, Japanese Shinto mythology, his own beliefs of hard work/environmentalism/feminism. Let me dumb it down, "it's stuff that can only be done in animation." And that's something we take for granted since even Miyazaki's Lupin work.... Lupin is a long running series, but when he comes in it's even MORE ACTION PACKS, MORE ROMANTIC, BEAUTIFUL, and after that film, everyone in the 80s did a Clocktower ending. Jesus, 1979, still thinking how the bad guy dies by the clock hands.
I love love love love Miyazaki. BTW, Christty get your son to watch some of his films. I recommend Castle in the Sky, and WATCH HIM GO "OH WAIT! That's Zelda Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild." And Porco Rosso has the line "I'd rather be a Pig than a Fascist." Porco Roso influenced Disney's Tailspin and other more 1930's inspired revival of the 80s. I would say Nausicaa is better than most of his modern stuff, since it's the film that started Ghibli, there's more love in it, and also it's better than Avatar. His newer stuff is wild, but like his 70s-80s are stuff you should show your son, he would say, "Oh wait, I've seen this before." Since it's influenced MORE!
I haven't seen this film, but don't some Asian cultures refer to superiors as "big brother" "big sister", doesn't necessarily mean they're blood relatives
I'm walking into my local theater to watch it
Report back afterward!
@@BreakfastAllDay After watching it, it's a 9/10 for me. Dazzling animation and it's great to see Miyazaki on the big screen again
This movie was a pure masterpiece
Enjoyed my experience with the movie. Going for a 3rd and 4th viewing lol
Just wondering if y'all are watching/reviewing any of Slow Horses, Fargo, A Murder at the End of the World for the channel?
We're doing this season of Fargo on our Patreon, come join us! www.patreon.com/bfastallday
@@BreakfastAllDay 👍 Any chance at all pls of reviewing the new french language Three Musketeers movie starring Eva Green & Vincent Cassel?
Interesting how mixed the reviews have been
They aren’t mixed. The movie has a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes
@@ssssssstssssssssreviews are mixed for sure
The reviews were very mixed, leaning towards not good when it came out in July in Japan... seems like more recent western reviews are tripping over themselves to call it a masterpiece.
I see this as the boy journey to escape his depressing life. It could be his imagination or it could be real.
"Weirder Miyazaki" 😳 So pretty freaking weird.
"i know it's not real but i want to see it" that was in the trailer..it is belong to a different context in the movie but i think that's a clue that this movie is about afterlife and there is even a place look like that famous "island of death" picture.. and that old man at the end was miyasaki's himself as an artist who is getting closer to his own death and the end of the world he created and that emperor is the symbol of authorities who wants to take advantage of his art for their militarist purposes ( not clear in this movie but maybe for propoganda purposes) and movie ends as everything was a dream.. of course you have to end it that way because you can not come back from the dead
90% of Western animated films are just loud, milqetoast and insulting to children's intellect
… didn’t love this. I was so kinda bored I wanted to walk out. I found the magical realism part of it so random and sort of uninteresting. I get that it’s deeply symbolic but this sorta feels like an anime version of Beau is afraid sorta. Micro naps the movie. The first 40 minutes is so slow. Probably my least favourite ghibli movie. Esoteric.
I feel that way w a lot of Miyazaki/Ghibli films. I like some aspects but that slice of life aspect can become monotonous (probably because the sameness of the art style renders all characters in his films interchangeable). I found this problem in Suzume too.
I have to be in the mood for it
@@richgranados11I like ghibli slice of life films but this clearly isn’t one of them. I don’t know why we spent 45 minutes waiting to get to the magical world. Lots of wasted time that didn’t really seem to thematically relevant to the movie so not sure why almost half the movie is us watching is monotonous life where basically nothing happens. This movie was a rare miss for me. Just didn’t get anything from it. I get the themes and message it was going for but sloppily executed. Enjoyed the animation as usual
The story sounds like a rip off of Makoto Shinkais "Children who chase lost voices" and another anime film from 2021 called Child of Kamiari month.
I can appreciate the art but just can't get into these types of movies.
Interesting, how come?
@@BreakfastAllDay Dunno, I wish I had a good answer. There are exceptions, I love The Last Unicorn and An American Tail to name a couple of animated movies.
Are we too afraid to criticize Miyazaki? By doing so you’ll lose credibility? I’ve seen it twice both sub and dub. I’m sorry but putting very little story into it so we can interpret the meaning does not make it a good movie. Everything else is top tier Ghibli so it’s enjoyable, but I can’t accept this on the level of his past creations.
Thank you ! Someone has said it ! People seem so one track minded about studio ghibli films . I didn’t think this was a strong film
@@joenelzayas obviously we’re criticizing a movie still better than anything Disney has put out in a while. It was original and beautiful, credit where credit is due
I mean, I don't like it AS MUCH as some of his best movies, but that's not a bad thing since even his "worst" movies are masterpieces in my opinion. And this isn't one of his worst movies by any means.
@@nothingserious8577 - I've been more entertained by many movies Disney has put out quite recently (including both Marvel movies, live action remakes, and traditional Disney cartoon movies). I wouldn't say any of the Disney movies felt as artistic as this movie, but being artistic but still leaving me with no real sense of why the movie exists at the end don't make the movie good. This movie was beautiful but... what is it about? The basic events are easy to follow - boy loses mother, boy moves to country and meets new step mom, boy meets heron who lies (sort of) about having his mother and is willing to take him to her, boys new step mother goes missing and boy goes looking for her which of course leads to the place the heron was going to take him anyway, boy has beautiful yet pointless mini adventures until he finds his mother, boy doesn't really acknowledge his mother in a direct way for some unknown reason although audience knows it's her and then goes with said mother to save his new step mother, but that doesn't work right either becuase of... stone magic? boy meets his great uncle , has osme more adventures which really don't seem to matter much, ends up rejecting offer to live a lonely life creating his own world and then leaves with his step mother.
Did I get it? I mean, lots of other stuff happen, but even the stuff I wrote doesn't seem really important for the most part. None of the things that happen seem impactful to the main events which is his step mom getting lost and him finding her and bringing her home. All the other stuff occurred in the movie, but... they don't add anything much to the story. I see lots of room for personal interpretation if you like that sort of thing. I also agree with many reviews I've read that suggest the movie is just loaded with allegory to Myazaki's real life, but... I don't really know anything about his life and I don't really want to just to pretend like I enjoyed this film.
People would rather follow and be a hive mind. Not to mention critics don’t want to deal with the backlash of not liking a Miyazaki movie. If any western director ever produced such a loosely plotted film it would be universally panned. Without the Miyazaki and Ghibli name attached to this movie it would be forgotten. It just didn’t work and a rare miss from the studio