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Awix (3310 KP) rated The Red Turtle (2016) in Movies
Jun 16, 2019 (Updated Jun 16, 2019)
Animated Belgo-Japanese allegorical fantasy is nice to look at and relaxing to watch. A man is washed up on a desert island after a storm, finds his attempts to leave are frustrated by a large crimson chelonian; after an attempt to kill the creature, he resolves to make friends, successfully bringing the turtle out of her shell (thanks, I'm here all week) - the two of them fall in love and have a family together.
As you can see, not short on the traditional 'WTF?!?!?' element of Studio Ghibli films, but it also possesses the typical virtues of being a really, really beautiful and well-told story. Maybe a touch under-powered story-wise, and it doesn't feel rushed even at only about 80 minutes long, but a finely-crafted and very pleasant film. The romance that HP Lovecraft never got around to writing.
As you can see, not short on the traditional 'WTF?!?!?' element of Studio Ghibli films, but it also possesses the typical virtues of being a really, really beautiful and well-told story. Maybe a touch under-powered story-wise, and it doesn't feel rushed even at only about 80 minutes long, but a finely-crafted and very pleasant film. The romance that HP Lovecraft never got around to writing.
Leah Rothwell (170 KP) rated My Neighbor Totoro (1988) in Movies
Sep 24, 2018
Beautiful and my favourite film
I was so young when I first watched this film and I can honestly say that I have never watched anything more beautiful and heartwarming.
This is a movie that shows love, friendship, loss and hardships. It’s so beautifully drawn you feel such a connection that it’s as if the characters leap off the screen and are sat there with you. Watch out for little Easter eggs that hint at their other creations and it will make the experience even more enjoyable. It’s hard to spot them all but it’s a fun game once you’ve watched it a few times.
If you haven’t watched this film yet I urge you to watch it, but be prepared to fall in love and never be able to forget this film.
Just remember once you’ve watched this, watch all the other studio Ghibli films as you can’t stop at this one.
This is a movie that shows love, friendship, loss and hardships. It’s so beautifully drawn you feel such a connection that it’s as if the characters leap off the screen and are sat there with you. Watch out for little Easter eggs that hint at their other creations and it will make the experience even more enjoyable. It’s hard to spot them all but it’s a fun game once you’ve watched it a few times.
If you haven’t watched this film yet I urge you to watch it, but be prepared to fall in love and never be able to forget this film.
Just remember once you’ve watched this, watch all the other studio Ghibli films as you can’t stop at this one.
AT (1676 KP) rated Howl's Moving Castle in Books
Mar 26, 2020 (Updated Mar 26, 2020)
This book has been on my to-read list for a long time. I love the Studio Ghibli movie version, but I had heard that the book was different. It's definitely worth reading if you liked Howl, Sophie, and Calcifer! The story was fairly similar in the beginning to the movie, but then it definitely changed toward the last 3/4 of the book. I really enjoyed the story, all the way through. I think it's difficult to write a story based on fantasy and have it make sense. To write one for a younger audience, have it make sense, AND have the characters stay interesting, that's even more improbable. Diana Wynne Jones did a marvelous job at creating a fantasy world that a reader of any age could step into without feeling lost or confused! I look forward to reading the other two books in the series, that I was unaware of until I finally read this one.
Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom
9.3
Rate It
Video Game Watch
Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is a follow-up to the critically-acclaimed Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the...
action adventure role-playing JRPG
Ronia, the Robber's Daughter
Book
Now a major animated TV series from Studio Ghibli! Ronia lives with her father, a robber chieftain,...
Lee (2222 KP) rated The Red Turtle (2016) in Movies
Mar 19, 2018
Mesmerisingly Beautiful
I'd not heard a great deal about this Studio Ghibli movie, other than some fairly positive buzz online, so when it hit Amazon Prime at Christmas last year, I quickly added it to my watch list. It's taken all this time, until a cold and wintry Sunday afternoon in March, for me to finally sit down and watch it.
A man is washed up on a deserted island and after exploring his surroundings, sets about trying to escape. He builds a number of rafts from the trees but each time his escape is thwarted by an unknown force breaking his raft apart from beneath. On the third time this happens, the man discovers the cause of the destruction to be a large red turtle and when he later sees the turtle shuffling up the beach, he seeks revenge, overturning it and leaving it to suffer in the heat of the sun as it fails to correct itself.
Eventually the man feels remorse, but it appears to be too late...
Not a single word is spoken throughout the whole movie (other than the occasional 'Hey!'). It's a simple, beautiful tale that drew me in and left me feeling totally mesmerised and emotional with it's profound ideas and messages. Simply wonderful.
A man is washed up on a deserted island and after exploring his surroundings, sets about trying to escape. He builds a number of rafts from the trees but each time his escape is thwarted by an unknown force breaking his raft apart from beneath. On the third time this happens, the man discovers the cause of the destruction to be a large red turtle and when he later sees the turtle shuffling up the beach, he seeks revenge, overturning it and leaving it to suffer in the heat of the sun as it fails to correct itself.
Eventually the man feels remorse, but it appears to be too late...
Not a single word is spoken throughout the whole movie (other than the occasional 'Hey!'). It's a simple, beautiful tale that drew me in and left me feeling totally mesmerised and emotional with it's profound ideas and messages. Simply wonderful.
Abandoned Japan
Book
Japan is often thought of as a place where the modern world and ancient traditions meet in...
Awix (3310 KP) rated Early Man (2018) in Movies
Feb 8, 2018 (Updated Feb 8, 2018)
One Million Years F.C.
Another movie from the people who made Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep, and if you're familiar with either of those you will know that expectations will be high: Aardman are the British answer to Pixar or Studio Ghibli. Keeping such sky-high standards must be difficult, so we must try to be understanding when they fall a little short - as they do here.
A tribe of comedy cavemen with English accents are driven from their lovely valley by a nasty Bronze Age civilisation who variously sound French, Italian, and German. Brightest of the cavemen hits upon a scheme to win the valley back by playing the invaders at their sacred game, i.e. football (or soccer). Cue lots of sports movie cliches/parodies.
Well, obviously, you can't fault the craft that goes into these films, but on this occasion you can't help noticing the slightness of the story and the fact that it's neither as funny nor, crucially, as clever as many of their previous productions. (The fact that the film has a weird Brexit-friendly political subtext may be an issue for some viewers as well.) I love silly accents, absurd jokes and bad puns as much as the next person (probably more, in truth), but the fact that this film doesn't have the same kind of heart or warmth as (for example) your typical Pixar film is very noticeable. Still, not *actually* that bad.
A tribe of comedy cavemen with English accents are driven from their lovely valley by a nasty Bronze Age civilisation who variously sound French, Italian, and German. Brightest of the cavemen hits upon a scheme to win the valley back by playing the invaders at their sacred game, i.e. football (or soccer). Cue lots of sports movie cliches/parodies.
Well, obviously, you can't fault the craft that goes into these films, but on this occasion you can't help noticing the slightness of the story and the fact that it's neither as funny nor, crucially, as clever as many of their previous productions. (The fact that the film has a weird Brexit-friendly political subtext may be an issue for some viewers as well.) I love silly accents, absurd jokes and bad puns as much as the next person (probably more, in truth), but the fact that this film doesn't have the same kind of heart or warmth as (for example) your typical Pixar film is very noticeable. Still, not *actually* that bad.
Neon's Nerd Nexus (360 KP) rated Weathering with You (2019) in Movies
Feb 1, 2020 (Updated Feb 1, 2020)
Change The World
Weathering With You is such an original and blissfully delightful tale that it successfully draws you in and immerses you into its breathtakingly realistic world the moment you enter it. I think we can all safely say that when Makoto Shinkai makes a movie he turns heads because he's without a doubt up there with Studio Ghibli in regards to quality, imagination, beauty and magic. Whats great about Weathering with you is just how grounded in reality it is and as we meet our lead character we get to see/feel just how tuff life can be for a young adult trying to live/survive in the world especially with no help, guidence or someone to look up to. This really helps form an instant connection to him as a character and while some of his actions maybe considered bad you sympathies and relate to him on a personal level just the same. As the film plays out a more spiritual/fantasy like plot starts to unfold and at first I did struggle to grasp what the film was actually trying to say over all but this does become clear the further in you get. To me its a story about pressure/burdens we ourselves and the world put on our heads which eventually/inevitably will lead to anxiety, emotions running wild, stress, depression and in some cases giving a person such a warped negative outlook on life that they may be lead to believe that their existence is what is causing the pain and misery of everyone else. Surprisingly climate change is a big theme here too and this has become a huge stress in its self weighing down on not only us but on our characters heads equally. However the film does have a lovely way of looking at this issue towards the end which helps manifest a more positive way of dealing with/coming to terms with this huge problem helping to take some of that pressure off us and giving us peace of mind. As you can imagine all this does get extremely heavy at times but it gives what moments of happiness we get such power and weight that by the time they appear I guarantee you will be struggling to contain your emotions as they try to escape from you. With clear influences from the likes of Spirited Away Weathering with you is animated flawlessly and is so beautiful to watch that it even makes simple actions such as preparing food absolutely captivating. Huge cassical scores gracefully a company the striking visualls too but every so often these pices distort, fracture and skip giving them a more modern/slightly futuristic feel to them which i was really impressed by. Makoto Shinkai has done it again and its nice to see his films are getting the attention they deserve with every seat filled in our showing. Honestly go see this film it really is a perfect example of animation at its absolute finest.
Mothergamer (1546 KP) rated Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch in Video Games
Apr 3, 2019
As mentioned in my last post, I am going through my backlog of video games and playing them. I picked Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch and I feel this was a great choice because this game had a lot of things I enjoyed immensely.
The hero of the story is a young boy named Oliver who is kind to everyone who lives in Motorville City with his mother. Oliver's kindness is an important aspect to the plot of the story because this isn't about his physical strength, but the strength of his heart. Oliver's adventure leads him to not only an entirely different world, but a myriad of great characters and as the story progresses you come to care about him even more as you see how much he cares for others and genuinely wants to help those in need.
Oliver and his mother
The battle system reminds me a bit of a Tales game with planning out tactics and figuring out an enemy's weakness in real time. There is also a Pokemon feel with trying to charm various creatures you fight in battle and make them your familiar. You can choose different familiars to fight alongside you and even evolve them into stronger forms. The system menu is quite easy to navigate which is always a plus with me. Level grinding did not seem like a chore because the way the game has been designed actually made it fun.
The world of Ni No Kuni is beautiful, and I was delighted to see the Studio Ghibli art and animation incorporated into the game. The musical soundtrack is also inspiring with fantastic orchestral arrangements that fit very well with the different moments of the story. I found that I loved exploring all the different areas because there was always something fantastic to see and plenty to do. I never found myself bored while playing the game at all and found that I really liked having that freedom of exploring.
Of course there are side quests in Ni No Kuni known as errands and you get various awards for them and something known as Merit Stamps. When you complete a quest, you get a certain number of stamps on Merit Cards. The more difficult the task, the more stamps you receive. You can trade in 10 merit stamps for rewards such as capturing familiars more easily, or gaining more experience in battle. While some of the quests are fetch this or that; many of the quests are about mending a person's heart and you get to see just how kind a person Oliver truly is.
There are quests known as Hunts too given by a character named Derwin in the game which involves capturing the specific types of beasts that he asks for and showing them to him for rewards. While the rewards and stamps are pretty great, this is the one thing about the game I did not like. Derwin's Hunts is one of the most infuriating quests because some of the beasts have a ridiculously low charm rate. One of the beasts requested had a drop rate of 4% so of course it took a very long time to get it. This led me to wonder why the character whose talent was charming beasts wasn't at least given a spell to capture them rather than leaving it entirely random and up to chance. It became very frustrating and I almost didn't finish all of the Hunt quests because of it. I did finish however, but that was my least favorite part of the game.
Once the game is finished, there is still more to do as you get some spiffy new spells and you get some post game side quests you can do. There's even a bounty hunt with Derwin that offers some pretty great rewards if you choose to do them. These side quests do add a little more to Oliver's story and are actually fun except for that Derwin quest because those are a bit tedious.
Overall Ni No Kuni is a great RPG and I would recommend it highly to fellow RPG game lovers. It has a great story with amazing characters. The game play is actually fun, with gorgeous artwork and music which makes for a game that is quite enjoyable. I'm definitely glad I picked it up because it is a nearly perfect game and one worth playing.
The hero of the story is a young boy named Oliver who is kind to everyone who lives in Motorville City with his mother. Oliver's kindness is an important aspect to the plot of the story because this isn't about his physical strength, but the strength of his heart. Oliver's adventure leads him to not only an entirely different world, but a myriad of great characters and as the story progresses you come to care about him even more as you see how much he cares for others and genuinely wants to help those in need.
Oliver and his mother
The battle system reminds me a bit of a Tales game with planning out tactics and figuring out an enemy's weakness in real time. There is also a Pokemon feel with trying to charm various creatures you fight in battle and make them your familiar. You can choose different familiars to fight alongside you and even evolve them into stronger forms. The system menu is quite easy to navigate which is always a plus with me. Level grinding did not seem like a chore because the way the game has been designed actually made it fun.
The world of Ni No Kuni is beautiful, and I was delighted to see the Studio Ghibli art and animation incorporated into the game. The musical soundtrack is also inspiring with fantastic orchestral arrangements that fit very well with the different moments of the story. I found that I loved exploring all the different areas because there was always something fantastic to see and plenty to do. I never found myself bored while playing the game at all and found that I really liked having that freedom of exploring.
Of course there are side quests in Ni No Kuni known as errands and you get various awards for them and something known as Merit Stamps. When you complete a quest, you get a certain number of stamps on Merit Cards. The more difficult the task, the more stamps you receive. You can trade in 10 merit stamps for rewards such as capturing familiars more easily, or gaining more experience in battle. While some of the quests are fetch this or that; many of the quests are about mending a person's heart and you get to see just how kind a person Oliver truly is.
There are quests known as Hunts too given by a character named Derwin in the game which involves capturing the specific types of beasts that he asks for and showing them to him for rewards. While the rewards and stamps are pretty great, this is the one thing about the game I did not like. Derwin's Hunts is one of the most infuriating quests because some of the beasts have a ridiculously low charm rate. One of the beasts requested had a drop rate of 4% so of course it took a very long time to get it. This led me to wonder why the character whose talent was charming beasts wasn't at least given a spell to capture them rather than leaving it entirely random and up to chance. It became very frustrating and I almost didn't finish all of the Hunt quests because of it. I did finish however, but that was my least favorite part of the game.
Once the game is finished, there is still more to do as you get some spiffy new spells and you get some post game side quests you can do. There's even a bounty hunt with Derwin that offers some pretty great rewards if you choose to do them. These side quests do add a little more to Oliver's story and are actually fun except for that Derwin quest because those are a bit tedious.
Overall Ni No Kuni is a great RPG and I would recommend it highly to fellow RPG game lovers. It has a great story with amazing characters. The game play is actually fun, with gorgeous artwork and music which makes for a game that is quite enjoyable. I'm definitely glad I picked it up because it is a nearly perfect game and one worth playing.