My Neighbor Totoro [Tonari no Totoro] is Hayao Miyazaki at his very best. Subtlety is clearly Miyazaki’s friend, even though Totoro presents a typical mix of his eco motives and fantastical creatures the film feels light as a feather. It’s the ideal children’s film (it even works when they can’t understand a single word that’s […]
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The Japanese animation director Isao Takahata has ever forged his own path over the course a half-century of work. A legendary perfectionist, the co-founder of Studio Ghibli (also the home of the great Hayao Miyazaki) has broken molds by, for example, creating an animated feature completely lacking in any “fantastic” element, the tender 1991 “Only Yesterday.” His […]
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Puss in Boots is an adventure movie, but the advertising and the film’s first act would like you to believe otherwise. The filmmakers can’t be held responsible for DreamWorks Animation’s marketing campaign, but they can take the blame for setting up their movie as an action-comedy before choosing to drop the jokes and shifting into a […]
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