One of my new year resolutions was to take some time off and rewatch all the Miyazaki Hayao movies. I decided to get a jump start on this with my favorite movie of all time: Sen to Chihiro no Kamekakushi or Spirited Away as it is known in the west. It is just such a beautifully made movie with one of the most beautiful soundtracks ever to go along with it. I've actually forgotten how much I love this movie until I watched it again, noticing all the cute little details (the scene with the mouse imitating Sen is still the cutest...), breath taking scenery (the train ride is still my favorite scene of the entire movie) and of course the deeper messages involved. I was actually fortunate enough to attend the US premier of the movie at El Capitan in Hollywood where Miyazaki-san made an appearance himself. I remember how excited I was when I found out he was coming, I think I heard it driving to work (intern at AOL that summer) and I immediately called up all the friends I knew to buy tickets ASAP...
It is simply a must see movie, for all ages regardless if you like anime or not. Of course the ending song still gets me everytime... Itsumo nando demo (Always with me). Yumi Kimura's voice is so beautiful...
Of course the movie wouldn't be what it is without Joe Hisaishi's memorable pieces like this one:
I almost feel like I can watch this movie again right now and still enjoy ever second of it. Anyways, on to the next Ghibli movie... I'm debating between Kiki and Laputa... maybe Kiki first since I haven't seen that in forever :)
So Long (for Now!) and Thank You.
2 years ago
Posts
Haha Ping... I don't know... should I be surprised? I'm very fond of these movies, too. I'm just not sure what my favorite is... I love the dark athmosphere of "Mononoke Hime" - and the soundtrack... the opener with the DEEP deep drums is terrific.
ReplyDeleteWow! Now I'm glad I made this post :). At first I was worried no one reading this would care but clearly I was wrong :D. Glad to find another Miyazaki fan! As for Mononoke Hime, I absolutely love the music, the movie itself I love a little less. Perhaps I was too young when I first saw it and was shocked at the heads being popped off with the arrows so it never grew on me.
ReplyDeletePerhaps. In Germany (or maybe Europe) animated movies are always considered as being made only for children (nowadays replaced with all the computer generated stuff from Pixar, Dreamsworks SKG...). I appreciate the "fairytale for grown-ups" dark flair of Princess Mononoke.
ReplyDelete