Although I love the works of the studio, I must admit that I didn't watch every one of them, in fact I had only watched 5 films. But that is enough to convince me that the studio is one of the great animation studio in the world because of their high quality anime films. In a way to honour the announcement of Hayao Miyazaki's retirement, let me introduce you (at least to those who are not familiar with the works from the studio) to the five films produced by Studio Ghibli that I had watched. Enjoy!
1) The Cat Returns
Out of the five films, I have to say that this is my least favourite film from the studio. Nevertheless, I found the story to be quite charming. The Cat Returns tell a story about a girl named Haru who were taken to the Cat Kingdom to marry a cat prince after she saved him from being hit by a moving vehicle. The characters in the movie, especially the cats, are very cute and although I feel the story could have been longer, it still offers an exciting journey into a fantasy world ruled by cats.
2) The Borrower Arrietty
Released in Japan in 2010 to much positive reviews, The Borrower Arrietty tells a story about a group of tiny people living under the floor of a house and live their lives by borrowing items from humans. Based on children's books called The Borrowers by an English author Mary Norton, the film was praised for its animation and music. I love the animation too and the different view of the world seeing from the point of views of Arrietty. You can check out more of my comments about the film in my review here.
3) Princess Mononoke
This would be the 1st film from the studio that I had watched, and it was such an amazing film. Princess Mononoke is an epic fantasy adventure film released back in 1997 and regarded as one of the film from Studio Ghibli that garnered worlwide attention. It was such a rich, fantastical and at the same time, serious film that made me realised at that time that animation was not just for children. The film is about the struggle between the spirit of the forest and the humans of a town who had been consuming the resources of the forest. Loved by critics, the film had also made into various top movie list.
4) Spirited Away
Another great film from the studio that I had watched is Spirited Away which is about a little girl who became trapped in a spirit world after her parents had been turned into pigs by a witch. With the help of a river spirit, she then worked at the witch's bathhouse while finding a way to turn her parents back into humans and return to the human world. It was released in Japan in 2001 and became the most successful film in Japanese history, it even overtook Titanic as the highest-grossing film in Japanese box-office. Another critically-acclaimed film by the studio, Spirited Away is regarded as one of the best animated films of all time.
5) Howl's Moving Castle
Last, but definitely not least, in the list is Howl's Moving Castle. It's a wonderful film loosely based on a novel by Diana Wynne Jones which is about a young teenage girl who were cursed into an old woman. The transformation however might be a blessing in disguise as she was swept into an adventure with a powerful wizard named Howl. Great visuals and the inspiring story are some of the reasons why I love this film. Received with mostly positive reviews by critics, the movie also became one of the financially successful Japanese movie in history.
So those are the five films from Studio Ghibli that I had watched. Great high-quality animated films that suitable for children and adult alike. What about you? Have you watch any of these films? Or did you watched other films from the studio that I didn't watch yet? I hope I sparked some interest in you to watch these amazing films if you haven't already watch them. Thank you for reading!
Images from Wikipedia.
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