The Red Turtle Official International Trailer

The Red Turtle is a French-Belgian-Japanese animated film directed by Dutch-British animator Michaël Dudok de Wit.

Visually pleasing, The Red Turtle, is a must-see animated film from 2016.

Trailermeter: 91%

Only Yesterday Official US Release Trailer

Check out the newly released trailer for Only Yesterday.

A 27-year-old office worker travels to the countryside while reminiscing about her childhood in Tôkyô. GKIDS proudly presents Only Yesderday, from the legendary Studio Ghibli and Academy Award-nominated director Isao Takahata, never before released in North America. This new English language version stars Daisy Ridley and Dev Patel.

Trailermeter: 57%

Quotes #4 | Wise Advise

Kiki's Delivery Service, 1989

Wise Advise

Kokiri (Kiki's Mother): Kiki, it's almost time.

Kiki: Ok.

Kokiri: That's the broom you're leaving on?

Kiki: Yeah. I just made it. Pretty cute, huh?

Kokiri: It's cute, but you can't start on a broom that's too small, Take mine.

Kiki: But, Mom, that one's so old.

Kokiri: That's why you should have it. It never loses its way, even in a storm. Kiki, trust me.

Kiki: But I worked so hard on it. Right, Jiji?

Jiji (the cat): Your broom is nice, but let's take your Mother's.

87th Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature

And the Oscar goes to...

The Oscars, 2015

Best Animated Feature

• How to Train Your Dragon 2 (DreamWorks Animation)
• Song of the Sea (Cartoon Saloon)
• The BoxTrolls (LAIKA)
• Big Hero 6 (Walt Disney Animation Studios)
• The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (Studio Ghibli)

Best Animated Short Film

• Feast (Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed)
• The Bigger Picture (Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees)
• The Dam Keeper (Robert Kondo and Daisuke Tsutsumi)
• Me and My Moulton (Torill Kove)
• A Single Life (Joris Oprins)

Congratulations for the crew of Big Hero 6 and Feast! Well done and keep up the good work! The world acknowledges the work you've done. I love you, Walt Disney Animation Studios!

Review #58 | My Neighbor Totoro

It is so good to write again, I feel like I have come back from a deep sleep. Hey guys! I won't be writing for a year. I won't be writing much on 2015 but I do promise to write when I have time. So thank you for those who read and love animation.

My Neighbor Totoro, 1988

Two young girls, Mei and Satsuki, move into a new home that is close to the hospital that their mother is in. In their yard is an extremely large tree which is home to three Totoros, gods of the forest. Soon after, news from the hospital comes up that their mother can't come home as promised, so Mei (the younger daughter) runs away from home to visit her mom. Satsuki then needs to turn to Totoro for help in finding her sister.

The story of a beloved movie My Neighbor Totoro is not your typical story where you have a villain and you have to overcome it. It is a simple story with conflicts that we can face in reality. The characters, however, show cuteness and great personalities.

While story seems to lack big conflicts, characters like Mei and Satsuki’s enthusiasm make the movie fun and make you feel for those characters. They show their kind and gentle personalities through their time in their new home and find creatures like Totoro and Catbus more interesting rather than scary.

The animation looks beautiful and organic. Little bits of small details were added to the movie  that was something that made it more believable like the small scars on the little sister Mei’s leg when she fell or dirty feet when Satsuki ran bare feet looking for her sister.

Inside Outside Rating: 75%

Review #53 | Princess Mononoke

It has come time to review the epic Ghibli film, Princess Mononoke. With exotic location and mythical creatures, Princess Mononoke is indeed something unique for the animation world.

Princess Mononoke, 1997

This $20 million animated adventure/fantasy quickly became the highest grossing Japanese film in Japanese film history (making $150 million in Japan during its first seven months). Set in the 14th century, the ecology-themed epic was directed by Hayao Miyazaki whose previous films were acquired by Disney for U.S. distribution plus other territories. Princess Mononoke depicts a mystical battle between Animal Gods of the forest and humans during Japan's Muromachi Period. Young Ashitaka receives a fatal infection after a demonic wild boar attacks his northern village. Seeking a cure, he sets out to locate the deer-like god Shishigami. Along the way, he sees the rape of the Earth by a mining village. The constant plundering by the village has brought the wrath of the Wolf God, Moro, who attacks the village along with San, a human who was raised by the wolf god. She communicates with the nature spirits -- which is why she is called Princess Mononoke ("spirits of things"). Ashitaka wants these opposing forces to co-exist, and he hopes to bring peace between San and the ironworks owner, Lady Eboshi. However, he is thwarted as higher powers, intent on killing the Shishigama, intrude, and a battle erupts over the future of all nature.

Studio Ghibli introduces us the new kind of animation that has some seriousness into it. Princess Mononoke is an epic film that deals with war and conflict between nature and humans and because it deals with big themes it might lack some human love and affection.

I've enjoyed the film but I thought it took so much time for an animated film. It is long. The movie is so creative and imaginative. This is the movies strong side. Some of the effects animation is stunning.

What I didn't find satisfying was the ending. It ended somewhat warm. It did not have a strong ending or a satisfying one. It is an epic film but I doubt I’ll watch it again at my own will.

Inside Outside Rating: 70%

Review #44 | Castle in the Sky

There are something special to the Studio Ghibli films, and that can be found in the studio's first imaginative film, Castle in the Sky.

Castle in the Sky, 1986

A young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle.

Castle in the Sky is an imaginative compelling animated treat but the running time gets too long and like most sci-fi films go… it does not reach to a satisfying ending. The first act is filled with action and makes us curious about what is going on and then it kind of lags behind.

The world of Laputa is well established and we get to journey through this creative experience. The problem with this movie is that it did great to entertain us all through two hours of amazing shots but fails to come up with a satisfying ending.

Inside Outside Rating: 69%

Review #24 | Grave of the Fireflies

Grave of the Fireflies is a 1988 Japanese animated drama film written and directed by Isao Takahata and animated by Studio Ghibli. It is based on the 1967 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by Akiyuki Nosaka. (Wikipedia)

Grave of the Fireflies, 1988

Grave of the Fireflies opens on an evening in 1945, after Japan's surrender at the end of World War II; and in a train station, the young Seita dies alone. The rest of the movie tells us, in flashback, how things have come to this. Seita and Setsuko are two young Japanese children growing up in the waning days of World War II. Much to Seita's pride, their father is in the Japanese navy, and they live fairly content lives in Kobe despite rationing and the other privations of war. When their mother dies from burns suffered during an American fire-bombing raid, a distant aunt takes them in -- and conflict eventually forces the children to try to survive on their own. At first, Seita and his little sister enjoy their idyllic lives in the country, but harsh reality eventually settles in as Seita begins to understand the difficulties of taking care of a young child when both food and compassion are scarce.

Grave of the Fireflies is no movie for kids. The feature film captures the tragic moments after war. The first scene of the young Seita dying in a train station makes the audience wonder how he came to the state of dying all alone with an old rusty candy can.

Music plays a big role because it sets up the gloomy mood and the tragedy of war. Seita and his sister are left alone with no parents living one their own. The filmmakers capture small tiny parts of moments in life.

It is a melancholy movie and reveals the reality. It is a really sad film but I liked how it was different from other animated films I watched because of its sad story. There are still countries at was and the children living there will go through the similar life as Seita and Setsuko went through.

Final Thoughts: I probably won’t watch this film out of pleasure but it is a good reminder of what war brings. It did capture the essential moments of war. It is not a movie for entertainment but is for those who care for and wander why someone in the train station is sad and melancholy.

Inside Outside Rating: 67%