flummery: (sootball)
flummery ([personal profile] flummery) wrote2004-04-24 04:23 pm
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Miyazaki Movies on the way!

(mild spoilers below!)

Studio Ghibli/Disney are finally getting around to releasing, and in two cases, re-releasing, some of Miyazaki's movies this summer! Slated for August 31st (according to nausicaa.net) are My Neighbor Totoro, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, and Porco Rosso. All three are coming out as 2-dvd sets, which hopefully means extras, and that they really spent the time to do these right.

Totoro has been out on dvd in the U.S. for some time, but in crappy quality. Pan and scan, rather than wide screen, poor video and poor audio quality, and no extras. The new version will also have new voice actors. It has the youngest intended audience of the three movies being released, and yet somehow, I have no problem sitting down and watching it over and over (and forcing others around me to as well).

Nausicaa came out in the 80s, and was released in the U.S. at that time under the title Warriors of the Wind. The US version was basically butchered. You should not watch it. A half hour of the movie was cut out. Talking and explanations were cut, and actiony stuff was left in. Names were changed to cutesy cartoon names. Studio Ghibli has asked that you forget it exists. I watched this, as a result, off a very crummy tape version of the Japanese release, and I can't remember whether or not it was subtitled, or whether [livejournal.com profile] teenygozer actually just sat there translating for us, which is a very real possibility (she knows the movie line by line, and is a useful source of older anime info). It's set in a post-apocalyptic future, where a small village is under threat both from warring surrounding nations, and from the encroaching changes the apocalypse has brought to the environment.

The third out this summer is Porco Rosso, and I'm impressed. We watched this last summer off the *cough*hongkongboxset*cough* and at the time, I think I actually said "Wow. Disney is *never* going to bother to bring this out in America." It's set between WWI and WWII, and is the story of an Italian WWI pilot who survived when his friends were all killed. But then, he was turned into a pig. (Yes, that's right, just go with it, everyone else does.) It's set to a strange background of sky pirates and mobsters and fascist governments and good engineers. Miyazaki's love of flying is all through it, and it starts with a hysterical scene with many small children at the beginning -- but this one is not for children. The language is adult, the themes are complex. At the end, there's one of the best fight scenes ever, animated or otherwise. I'm not sure I completely understood this movie, but I liked it anyway.

Totoro!

[identity profile] morgandawn.livejournal.com 2004-04-24 07:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Have seen a few of his movies -- the two last oens are new to me. Love Totoro -- even have a small gnome sized one sitting above my TV, waiting for the bus to stop by and carry him away.

Re: Totoro!

[identity profile] flummery.livejournal.com 2004-04-25 07:11 pm (UTC)(link)
I have a small, blue, Totoro purse that was given as a gift a few years back And somewhere in this mess, a Catbus pin.
ext_1637: (Default)

[identity profile] wickedwords.livejournal.com 2004-04-24 10:26 pm (UTC)(link)
One of the things I've loved about going to the local SF con (Nowescon) the past coule of years is that they have had the Miyazaki Festival --6 or 7 of his movies, most of them subtitled. His work is simply amazing. E found Mononoke Hime to be a bit disturbing, but he really loved Nausica. I haven't yet seen Porco Rosso, so I'm really excited that this set is coming out. We don't yet have Totoro on DVD, so it'll be great to get that one as well.

[identity profile] falzalot.livejournal.com 2004-04-25 11:06 am (UTC)(link)
Hey!! I watched Warriors of the Wind!! It was hysterically bad! We laughed our asses off. :-> But that was like almost 20 years ago. God, I feel old. My favorite was the voice actress for Nausicaa that sounded like Rocky the Flying Squirrel.

I buy alot of hong kong dvds now. The subtitling is pretty sad, but it's better than what we got when I was in college. :->

When Totoro was released in Japan (I wasn't there then, but my soon-to-be-roommate was), it was a double feature with Grave of the Fireflies. So you'd watch Grave, bawl your eyes out, then watch Totoro and feel bad. I'd sure hate to be the one who saw them in reverse order. I probably would've thrown myself off a bridge or something!

[identity profile] flummery.livejournal.com 2004-04-25 07:09 pm (UTC)(link)
When Totoro was released in Japan (I wasn't there then, but my soon-to-be-roommate was), it was a double feature with Grave of the Fireflies. So you'd watch Grave, bawl your eyes out, then watch Totoro and feel bad.

Surely Totoro would cheer you up, and not the opposite??

[identity profile] falzalot.livejournal.com 2004-04-25 09:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Gah. That was supposed to read "better"!! :->