An Interesting Article on Disney, Pixar and Studio Ghibli.

[Little Red Henski]

An SFGate.com article by Jeff Yang covers the on-going Studio Ghibli film festival in Berkeley and gives a general overview of the relationships and dynamics between Disney, Pixar, and Studio Ghibli.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 9/ghib.DTL

A very interesting read.

[Mr. Toad]

What an excellent article. Thanks for sharing. I agree with almost 100% of his points.

[Luke]

Interesting read. It's more dramatic to say everything Disney has done in the past five years except <i>Lilo & Stitch</i> has been bad but it's not accurate and the home video popularity of something like <i>The Emperor's New Groove</i> is a testament to that. Nonetheless, it was a very well-written and appreciated "state of affairs" on Disney, Pixar, and Ghibli animation as it stands today.

[Kenai]

I disagree with their mentioning Brother Bear not being a classic. I do agree with all the others mentioned there, though.

But a good read. I love Studio Ghibli.

[Little Red Henski]

I actually like the The Emperor's New Groove a lot better than most Disney movies.

[Mr. Toad]

I would agree that Brother Bear and Emporers New Groove were far better than the other three movies mentioned there - which were truely bad. They were critical failures however and not box office successes although both did very well on home video.

[Timon/Pumbaa fan]

A really great read!

Though I can't say I've seen a Studio Ghibli film, I can say that his ideas of copying Pixar's success and the horrid princess merchandise were excellent. As for the newer films I really like Emperor's New Groove even though it flopped it did well on home video like Luke said! And even though I'm one of the few, I think Treasure Planet is wonderful! It deserved much better credit than it got.

[Mr. Toad]

May I suggest Nausicaa, Spirited Away and Kiki's as a primer.

[Pasta67]

Treasure Planet actually wasn't a critical failure; it got mostly B's and maybe two C's (Yahoo.com takes critics reviews and converts them from the number of stars to letter grades). It was just a financial failure and was not accepted by the public. But back to the topic at hand, that was a very interesting article. I agree with almost everything that guy said. Disney does need to learn that story comes first, type of animation comes second. PIXAR and Ghibli's films are masterpieces in every sence of the word, and it's a pity that Disney thinks they're masterpieces for the wrong reasons. Very good find there, Henski.

[Timon/Pumbaa fan]

May I suggest Nausicaa, Spirited Away and Kiki's as a primer.

I remember I was with my sister when she was babysitting and I saw Kiki's Delivery Service. I thought it was awful. It was just nothing interesting. Plus Kiki was annoying!

[Mr. Toad]

A lot of the movie is about character growth. Kiki is supposed to be annoying at the begnning of the movie. A brat. That is the point. She grows up during the movie. Maybe that is lost on people who have yet to grow up (and that isnt meant to be an insult at all - at 13 you are not and should not be grown up)

[Timon/Pumbaa fan]

Okay so maybe she was surpossed to be a brat, but I still got bored with it. I want to see Spirited Away just to see if it's really that "great".

[Pasta67]

I want to see Spirited Away just to see if it's really that "great".

I got that as a blind-buy and liked it pretty well. It's not one of my favorites, but it's worth at least a couple of views.

[Luke]

If you got bored with <i>Kiki's</i>, then I don't think you'll fare much better with the other Miyazaki films. <i>Kiki's</i> is the most brisk, straightforward, and entertaining of his works, well either that or <i>Totoro</i> anyway. But give <i>Kiki</i> another shot at some point. His films are the type that generally improve upon repeat viewings.

[Little Red Henski]

I think he would like Castle in the Sky or the Castle of Cagliostro better than Kiki because both of those films are action movies. He can start with those 2 than work his way up all the way to the artsy Takahata films.

[chaychay102royal]

What a fascinating article. I agree with everything he says--yes even about Brother Bear and The Emperor's New Groovenot being classics.

[Prince Eric]

This was a very insightful read. I don't think he meant that he every Disney films is exceptionally horrible, but what he meant was that no matter what, in the grand scheme of things, you absolutely CANNOT put The Emperor's New Groove and Brother Bear next to Bambi. It just won't do. Studio Ghibli and Pixar both have their priorities straight. Disney just needs to focus back on their priorities and they'll be OK. I wonder who will take home the little golden guy next march...

DREAMWORKS!

[Mr. Toad]

From anything I have heard it should be Howl's Moving Castle.

[Prince Eric]

From anything I have heard it should be Howl's Moving Castle.

You never know, especially this year since Mr. Miyazaki will not be the only critic's darling this year. There's still The Corpse Bride and The Wallace and Grommit Movie. Disney has really no choice but to push Chicken Little, and Dreamworks (I was just being sarcastic, by the way ) will go for its blockbuster.

[Kenai]

May I suggest Nausicaa, Spirited Away and Kiki's as a primer.

Kiki's was the movie that first introduced me to Studio Ghibli. I always found it to be a very magical film that just had you rooting for Kiki's endeavors. To leave home at 13 and be all alone in a new place would've be freaky for me when I was 13. I wish they would've expanded more somehow a bit on Ursula. I still wish everyone in the world were as nice as Osono.