Tag Archives: Studio Ghibli

My Neighbor Totoro

Written and directed by the acclaimed Hayao Miyazaki and first released in 1988, My Neighbor Totoro returns to the big screen courtesy of Fathom Events and GKIDS as part of Studio Ghibli Fest 2018.

My Neighbor Totoro tells the story of Satsuki and Mei, two sisters who move to the country with their father while their mother remains hospitalized. As they explore their new surroundings, they encounter a number of nature spirits, including the huge and lovable Totoro, who takes the girls on some wonderful adventures, including a ride on the magical Cat Bus. That’s a giant, multilegged, hollowed out cat with rats for lights that serves as a bus, complete with furry, 70s era shag carpeted seats.

Cat Bus, Totoro, and Satsuki. IMDb.com.

Cat Bus, Totoro, and Satsuki. IMDb.com.

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Ponyo

If You Like Acid Trips, You Might Like Ponyo

Created by celebrated director Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, Ponyo is clearly not one of their better efforts. In this story, an aquatic, human-headed blob that we’re told is supposed to be a goldfish escapes from her human-looking wizard/alchemist father. After riding on a jellyfish for a while, she has a dangerous encounter with a trawler, gets stuck in a jar, and washes up on shore, where she is found and rescued by Sôsuke, a five-year-old boy who lives with his mother while his sea captain father is mostly away. He names her Ponyo. In the process of breaking her out of the jar, Sôsuke cuts his finger. Ponyo licks it and instantly heals it. More importantly, the taste of human blood gives her magical powers. Ponyo and Sôsuke form a bond, and she decides she wants to become a human girl.

Ponyo and Her Father

Ponyo and Her Father. IMDb.com

Ponyo’s father is having none of it, however, so he sends his magical water spirits to reclaim her. During a heated quarrel, she starts to transform, but her father uses magic to force her back into her original state. He leaves to summon Ponyo’s mother, and while he’s gone, she completes her transformation, gets into the storehouse of magical elixir, and unleashes a watery apocalypse upon the unsuspecting humans.

Ponyo Wreaks Havoc

Ponyo Wreaks Havoc. IMDb.com

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Mary and the Witch’s Flower

When the celebrated Studio Ghibli (My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Spirited Away, among many others) halted production in 2014, Yoshiaki Nishimura founded Studio Ponoc along with several Studio Ghibli veterans. The name is said to derive from a word meaning “midnight,” signifying the end of one day and the beginning of another. Mary and the Witch’s Flower, directed and cowritten by Hiromasa Yonebayashi (When Marnie Was There) is Studio Ponoc’s first feature film.

It tells the story of Mary, a young girl sent to stay with her Great Aunt Charlotte in the country while her parents are away for some unspecified reason. Bored out of her mind, she follows Tib the cat into the woods and discovers a rare flower that temporarily gives her magical abilities. She activates a long-forgotten broomstick and finds herself transported to Endor College, a school of magic, where she is mistaken for a new pupil. She soon discovers some unsavory experiments going on behind the scenes. Continue reading →