It's been out a while in japan and I got a chance to see it at a local arthouse cinema yesterday with my girlfriend - though hopefully Disney will release it on a larger scale at some point as well.
The storytelling in this film wasn't as good as it was in Spirited Away in my opinion, but it probably is the best looking 2D animated feature 've ever seen. Especially the first half of the film you're constantly in awe of the amazing detail of a fictional world that seemed to be a mix derived from European fashion, technology and architecture from the past 500 years up until world war one or so.
The story is great as well, about an 18-year-old girl no who a spell is cast where she suddenly turns into an old woman, but I found that the storytelling became a bit inconsistent about halfway into the film. But still, in spite of that, it's still one of the most impressive and certainly the best looking 2D animated film I've ever seen, so make sure you check it out if you have a chance to catch it on a big screen.
Anyone else got a chance to see this?
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Totoro is the best love film ever
I heard it wasn't one of his best, as well. But Skullbox, saying it's not as good as 'Spirited Away' is like saying any other regular movie isn't as good as 'Citizen Kane'.
/jzero
i thought spirited away wasn't considered one of miyazaki's best either, people seem to recommend his older works - princess mononoke comes to mind. loved both.
let's see if and when howl comes into cinemas over here. but with my usual luck i'll have missed it's run already.
'Princess Mononoke' is excellent, but more of an adult story. 'Spirited Away' is the best of his children's material that I've seen, it has a fully-formed world and a great fairy-tale storyline that doesn't hit you over the head.
/jzero
Skullbox, saying it's not as good as 'Spirited Away' is like saying any other regular movie isn't as good as 'Citizen Kane'.
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Well visually I did find it even more impressive, but you have a point. Spirited Away's the best animated film I've ever seen and I didn't expect it to be better either. But with Princess Mononoke being his second best work (imo) only after improving himself with Spirited Away, I did have some hopes. I was still compeltely blown away, though probably in part because it was the first 2D feature I had seen on the big screen since Aladdin....
Can't say the same about Citizen Kane though. Although I acknowledge its artistic importance, I didn't like it all that much.