The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)

I saw this film recommended on a forum I occasionally visit, and while I don't usually run off to watch everything recommended to me, the title sounded interesting so I decided to give it a go. Aand I'm glad I did. The story starts off rather slowly and sets itself up like a lot of other high school romance/ slice of life animes, but it slowly progressed into a sort of sci-fi romance, which was really touching. 

The story follows a girl names Makoto who likes spending time with her two best friends, Kosuke, a serious, reserved sort of guy, and Chiaki, a fun-loving joker. Though the three of them have not always been best friends, we can see that they are very close and enjoy spending a lot of time together. The point at which the story takes a more sci-fi approach is on the day Makoto is late for school. She is late more often than not, but on this specific day as she is hurdling down a hill, a train happens to be passing by at the bottom of said hill and she is going to fast to stop. She tries to slow down, but ends up hitting the barrier between the pedestrians and the train tracks and sends herself flying in the way of the train. Just before she is squashed and our story is ended however, time stops and she finds herself transported back in time, and is safe from the squishing. She has some fun with this, though doesn't yet know the significance. Around this time she discovers that one of her friends is developing feelings for her, and because she doesn't wish to change their relationship yet, uses the 'time machine' to avoid his asking her out. At the end she is forced to choose between love and friendship, but not in the way you'd think. The ending is something of a surprise (you can kind of guess what'll happen if you pay attention to the clues), but the events that take place and the choices she makes leave you with a bittersweet feeling that makes the film worth the watch.

For those who have watched the ending, it would be an interesting argument to decide whether the love interest was truly in love or whether he just wanted to preserve a certain object... The aunt's story happens to suspiciously parallel Makoto's, but it was an enjoyable movie in any case.

Whisper of the Heart (1995)

This movie reminded me slightly of Kiki's Delivery Service. Kiki's Delivery Service was made before it though, and I'd have to say that it was a better story of self discovery. But as Whisper of the Heart is also from Studio Ghibli, the fact that it pales in comparison to Kiki in no way makes it a bad film.

Whisper of the Heart is the story of a girl who is at odds with herself. She has no direction and doesn't know what she will do in the future. She meets a boy who loves music and is inspired by his passion, so decides to write a novel. There isn't a lot of action in the movie, but watching Shizuku struggle with her frustration at discovering what she enjoys and what she should do with her life, and then the passion and effort she puts into attempting to fulfill that endears her to the audience. She struggles with some conventions that the young people of today are encouraged to participate in. I won't say exactly what so as not to spoil anything, but suffice it to say that she resisted this convention because didn't see the use of participating and later returned to it when she saw the use. 

At the end of the movie, Shizuku finds her beginning, and I have to say that the story she is writing bears more than a resemblance to The Cat Returns, another Ghibli film created after this one.

Overall a sweet film, but Kiki does a better job of it on the whole.

Road to Avonlea- Season 2

The second season of Road to Avonlea is just as lively and full of character and spunk as the first one. The first season ended with Sarah deciding to stay in Avonlea with her family instead of returning to Montreal with her father, and the second season takes up where the first left off. This season focuses on allowing the audience to acquaint themselves with the residents of Avonlea, instead of using the people of Avonlea to develop Sarah's character, which is what I felt the first season did more. In many of the episodes Sarah doesn't play an inciting role as she did in the first season, she's just more along for the ride here, which unfortunately foreshadows future seasons. I personally most enjoy the episodes that focus on the king family, and while I value and enjoy the time given to going into the lives of some of the other town members, I wanted the story to focus more on the king children/ adults. I loved Marilla and Rachel in Anne of Green Gables, I already know who they are and have watched the Anne movies enough times over to have familiarized myself with their personalities and dynamic. Seeing them in Road to Avonlea is nice and provides familiarity, but I find that I don't really enjoy the episodes focused on them as I do when they're just side characters as I already know who they are.

The focus on other people provides the viewers with an outside perspective of the King family. This is one of the reasons this show is so rich and intricately woven. The story isn't told from just one perspective, but from many perspectives. So one minute we are seeing from the perspective of one person, and the next from another who shows us a different perspective on the first person. So for example, if we were to see from Hetty King's perspective, we would see her pride and sense of honour and need to do what's right, but from say, Rachel Lynd's perspective, or many of the other town's people, even Sarah sometimes, Hetty is stubborn and heartless and cares only for the King name. so we get two sides of the story.

This is as good, if not better than the first season as the children are a bit older, and therefore a bit better at acting, and the characters and story are fleshed out a bit more. Great continuation.

Princess Mononoke (2001)

This movie is a classic. The animation is spectacular and the story very well done. I happen to be somewhat into Japanese culture as of present, but before I was so into it, and people who I know now who are not into it, sometimes Japanese media goes over their heads. The cultures are kind of different and place importance on different things and when a person used to seeing one kind of story or moral repeated over and over in different ways sees something else... well they may not immediately appreciate it (an example of this would be how at the end he doesn't end up with the girl). This happens in almost every western movie because we are very focused on the 'happy ending' fairytale, validating the storyline with the 'kiss at the end', but that doesn't happen in all cultures). However, I found Princess Mononoke to somewhat transcend this confusion, because the story is so relatable and well told. I found it to be so when I first watched it, which would be late elementary school, and feel this way even more now.

The story can be translated in many ways, but the general message I got out of it was the modern attempting to erase tradition. The people of Iron Town worked hard to destroy the forest because by doing so they could earn a living in the new world making iron. The only way they could do this however was to cut down the forests, which meant that they would have to kill the gods from the old world, who were already dying out. The thing is that the Lady Osono is painted in something of a bad light as she is cutting down the forest and killing the gods, but she is an amazingly strong humanist. She's a proactive woman in a time and place where women weren't liable to have that status (the status might help to paint her as a 'bad guy' however, because even though we are making progressions, many people are still very sexist... I would bet you that if not you yourself, someone you know thinks that women are by nature evil or devious... in 2008). So when looking at it in this light Osono is opting for humanity. She takes in lepers, she saves brothel workers from whatever fate they would face in brothels, etc. and yet she's the 'bad guy'. Interesting to note at any rate.

Ashitaka is a great protagonist. A pacifist to the end. He goes on his journey to find something to remove his curse. Not for selfish reasons I don't think, but to right the wrong. He's a pretty selfless person. At the beginning of the movie, the reason he got the curse was because his sister was in the way of the cursed boar, so he had to shoot it, but before that he was trying to talk to it and calm it's anger. This is basically how he acts throughout the movie. He tries to get things done without violence, but if it comes to it, he will resort to violence to protect himself or those he cares about.

I didn't really notice the environmental message when I first saw it. I was more focused on cultural loss. But recently, with the environmental bludgeon the media has been playing around with, I noticed just how 'for nature' this movie was. Traditionalism would of course take the stance against industry which would be a way to save the forest, so it makes sense, but I guess I just went into it too symbolically. It does have a pleasant environmental message however, better than a lot of other animated environmental movies.

So, to sum up, this is a great movie.

Yours, Mine, and Ours (2005)

I really disliked this movie. Not only does the movie run on the stereotypical plot and themes of countless movies that have come before it... but it's based on a movie that was actually very good. I suppose I wouldn't mind this version so very much if I hadn't seen the Lucille Ball version first, it would have been just another crude attempt at mashing together a feel-good movie about family values to get people to pay money to go see it, like a lot of the other things playing in theaters. But since I've seen and enjoyed the original, watching this actually offended me personally. I would have preferred that they take these characters and make a new movie.. not attempt to ride on the success of the original storyline. 

As for the movie itself, the mom was of course the one with the big heart and the dad a heartless dictator, stereotypical gender roles ftw. The mom of course had to adopt a kid from every visually different racial category so that all races were represented... while making them play out their 'racial role', one Asian boy was an effeminate designer, the other tech savy, the indian kids went barefoot and liked gardening, the black kid was 'gangsta' and made a rap song for them all at one point, and of course all the white kids were the focus of the story and required no racial marker because they're 'normal'... So they reaaaallllyyyy tried hard to create dynamic and interesting characters here, and at the same time did a most excellent job of challenging the status quo and the stereotypes that influence kids to perpetuate racist stereotypes. Not . There should be a committee or something for things like this. And of course the men made all the rules and the women had 'great personalities' and were 'strong' but did what the men said in the end. Again, great film for the kids. I'm getting a bit overly sarcastic now so I'll stop. Suffice it to say I was not impressed.

Jennifer’s Body (2009)

Jennifer's Body is movie about a girl who gets sacrificed to the devil by an indie rock band who wants to make it big, but because she is not a virgin, instead of dying she comes back as a daemon and begins feasting on the boys in her high school. The main character of this movie is Jennifer's best friend, Needy (Anita), who is the complete opposite of Jennifer. Jennifer is the stereotypical popular girl in high school. She's a cheerleader, she's hot/ borderline slutty, and has slept with several of the popular boys. Needy on the other hand is a stereotypical nerd, complete with glasses and a less than conscious fashion sense. She also has a cute boyfriend who is completely devoted to her. The story is told from the perspective of the friend Needy as she watches Jennifer change.

The story was a decent one... but was suspiciously like the film Ginger Snaps, a werewolf horror with the exact same plot. The difference was that ginger snaps was done better, the plot ran a bit smoother and the character relationships were done a bit better as well. The character of Jennifer was portrayed in regards to her sexuality most of the time. Even before she was turned into a daemon she talks casually about sleeping with various boys in their high school and uses her body to get what she wants. After she gets changed into a soul-sucking monster, we don't really see her change, just emphasize what was already there. In Ginger Snaps however, Ginger morphs from a social outcast into an animal, riding on her instincts. of course, if I'd never seen Ginger Snaps I wouldn't be overly critical of Jennifer, but I have and I prefer the growth displayed by Ginger to the cardboard sexpot Jennifer represents. But I would like to say that at the end of the movie when Needy 'broke up' with Jennifer, I felt that Jennifer was really struggling with the fact that she was no longer human and no longer had control over her actions, that was the only time I was interested in Jennifer's character on an intellectual level. The character Needy's struggle was more evident as she was the story teller and the audience had to witness the change through her eyes. We get to see how she changes because of her relationship to Jennifer and having to deal with what happened. But again.... Brigette from Ginger Snaps did it better. She was less a victim and more a proactive... fighter of the paranormal. Needy on the other hand was... well, needy. She obeyed Jennifer before the change, and after the change sniffles and goes emo for a bit. She researching possible explanations for Jennifer's behaviour and tries to fight her at the end but I didn't really buy it. Needy was a much more dynamic character than Jennifer was though. and her boyfriend was sweet.

Overall I'd say it was a decent movie. I thought that the actors did a good job of playing out their roles and I don't have any issues with the plot despite a few inconsistencies. I would watch it again and would probably enjoy it, but it's not the best movie in the genre, and is not even an original in the genre. I like the genre though, so it's ok. For people who haven't seen Ginger Snaps though... I recommend that you see it, as it is what this wanted to be.