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Laputa: Castle in the Sky
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Wonderlands
Kiki's Delivery Service
Laputa: Castle in the Sky
Spirited Away
Rated G
1989, 1986, 2002 Buena Vista
A best animated feature Oscar and subsequent theatrical re-release of Spirited Away and now, a DVD release of Spirited Away and past films Laputa: Castle in the Sky and Kiki's Delivery Service, have boosted the profile of veteran Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki. For people yet to come across Miyazaki's films, it's a welcome opportunity to experience the work of one of cinema's most imaginative filmmakers. Spirited Away, a fantasy as rich as a Lewis Carroll story, tells the tale of a 10-year-old girl, Chihiro, who battles spirits and an evil witch named Yubaba to save her parents, escape from Yubaba's spirit world and return home.
Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli animators work painstakingly by hand and fill his films with stunning images. Miyazaki's child heroes possess trademark saucer eyes and innocent expressions. More importantly, they are sensitive, brave and strong. In a Miyazaki story, children experience adventures as challenging as any adult action hero.
Spirited Away claims an alternative way of looking at the world and that's caused some people to consider Miyazaki's stories as too highbrow for children. I don't agree, but it's worth noting that Miyazaki tells a variety of stories, some more rollicking than others.
The boy and girl heroes in Laputa: Castle in the Sky pilot Jules Verne-inspired flying machines and battle comical pirates on their journey to a wondrous floating city. Kiki's Delivery Service tells the comical tale of a teenage witch who moves to a new city to live on her own.
Pixar boss John Lasseter supervised the dubbed English versions for the films, and he introduces each DVD. Animators and animation buffs will appreciate the original Japanese-language versions of the films as well as the abundant storyboard galleries. Still, the best highlights of each DVD are the films themselves.
Finally, the rest of the world gets to experience the Miyazaki magic. For those people who think animated films are strictly for children, consider this: When was the last time a filmmaker was compared to Homer, Kipling and Ovid? The answer is Hayao Miyazaki.
Spirited Away grade: A.
Castle in the Sky grade: A.
Kiki's Delivery Service grade: A.
And the rest
The recent film from brothers and Italian neo-realist filmmakers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, 1998's Tu Ridi (Facets), never broke through the film festival bubble despite its humanistic qualities. The film tells two separate stories, each taken from the novels of Luigi Pirandello. The first revolves around Felice (Antonio Albanese), a frustrated opera company accountant who dreams about a colleague being tormented by thugs. It's a strange dream, one that achieves greater significance once it enters Felice's life. The film's second story involves a kidnapped boy (Steve Spedicato) who is held captive at a deserted mountain inn, the location of a similar kidnapping 100 years earlier. The boy and his kidnapper quickly strike up a friendship, although their strange relationship is short lived. Tu Ridi is more joyful than suspenseful, showing a poetic elegance equal to the Taviani brothers' earlier films. ... In the heart-wrenching period drama Rabbit-Proof Fence (Miramax), veteran filmmaker Phillip Noyce and cinematographer Christopher Doyle combine stunning landscape photography and subtle performances from three child heroines for powerful social drama. Based on a true story, the film follows the 1931 journey of three aboriginal girls, Molly Craig (Everlyn Sampi), 14, her younger sister Daisy (Tianna Sansbury), 8, and their cousin Gracie Fields (Laura Monaghan), who escape from a government-sponsored camp and return home. Noyce recreates 1931 Australia with dead-on accuracy, but it's the film's three first-time actors who best capture the film's spirit of justice and bravery.
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