Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-hime) [Movie Review]

I have never seen an Anime movie before, however the boyfriend loves this movie and wanted so bad for me to see it.  So I saw it.  Here are my thoughts.

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Title: Princess Mononoke [Mononoke-hime (original title)]

Director: Hayao Miyazaki (Japan)

Writer: Hayao Miyazaki (Japan)

Cinematographer: Atsushi Okui

Starring:  Yôji Matsuda (Japan); Yuriko Ishida (Japan)

Year Released: 1997

Synopsis: “On a journey to find the cure for a Tatarigami’s curse, Ashitaka finds himself in the middle of a war between the forest gods and Tatara, a mining colony. In this quest he also meets San, the Mononoke Hime.”

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My Review:

Every time I hear the word “anime”, I think of greasy haired teenage boys trading their Pokémon cards, and cape wearing girls reading comic books; these are the type of people I have encountered in the library, in the manga section of the book store, and sitting alone at the lunch tables in the cafeteria.  I have never understood what was so great about “anime”, and up until now, have never even read a graphic novel, or seen a movie that deals with Japanese animated characters.  To me, anime was a “nerd” affair, which is why, when my boyfriend excitedly told me I needed to watch Princess Mononoke, I was quite taken aback.

I went into this movie quite cynically, I must admit.  ”How can an anime film be one of my non-nerdy boyfriend’s favorite movies?” I thought.  When the movie started, I sat back and just tried to enjoy it.  To my curious surprise, I didn’t even have to try.

Like all foreign films, my boyfriend and I try to watch every movie in the original language.  We put the audio in it’s original format – Japanese – with English subtitles.  Not even three minutes into the film, we had to switch the audio to English because we couldn’t keep up with the subtitles.  For long English sentences, the Japanese translation is short and quick, and the subtitles just passed on by without us able to read them and understand what was going on.  Once we switched to English, it was much easier to keep up with everything.

However, I have a problem with voice-overs.  I can’t concentrate on the images or story if I see that the lips are off of the words.  I can’t concentrate on the characters if I think their voice-overs are monotone or don’t sound like the character.  So I was quite pleased when I realized that the English voice-overs for Princess Mononoke were perfect.  Since it’s animated, you can’t necessarily tell if the lips don’t match up with the words, and the English voice actors gave the exact amount of tension, surprise, and seriousness in their voices as the original Japanese actors would have.  Good voice-overs make a movie that much more pleasant.

The images in this movie were stunning.  Just plain spectacular.  The animation was realistic – not what I was expecting from an anime movie – and the scenery, if you will, was gorgeous.  The story itself is very beautiful and inspiring as the people of the land try to live peacefully with the nature, so the wonderful images only added to the special content of the film.

All in all, I was extremely surprised at this movie.  Yes, it was long, however in this film’s case you did not want it to end.  The action scenes were great and characters were both funny and endearing.  Princess Mononoke, whether you like anime or not, is definitely one to watch.  Hey, if an “anime-hater”, such as myself, was turned into an “anime-lover” then it must be good!

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*Note: The review above is written by me.  ©Kalie Lyn 2011*

The Never Ending Story [Movie Review]

The boyfriend and I started off our nostalgia movie collection with this movie.  I have never seen it before so it was quite interesting to watch a children’s movie for the first time as an adult.  Here are my thoughts.

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Title: The Never Ending Story

Director: Wolfgang Petersen (Germany)

Writer: Wolfgang Petersen (Germany)

Cinematographer: Jost Vacano (Germany)

Starring: Barret Oliver (USA); Noah Hathaway (USA)

Year Released: 1984

Synopsis: “A troubled boy dives into a wonderous fantasy world through the pages of a mysterious book.”

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My Review:

The Never Ending Story is definitely a movie for kids.  It’s a movie of fantasy, dreaming big, and characters that captivate.  However, there’s nothing better than re-capturing the joys of youth by watching a children’s movie as an adult.

Based off of German author, Michael Ende‘s 1979 novel of the same title, The Never Ending Story is a fast-paced, adventure film.  I can see why kids would love it: it gets straight to the point, has a range of interesting characters, and is packed with action and fantasy.  However, with a few scenes and characters which may frighten, I can also see how some children could be scared by the movie.

A creepy – with quotes such as, “I like kids” and “Oh, that’s good” – yet cute dragon-d0g, a child warrior, an allergic turtle, and a big bad wolf are just some of the intriguing characters throughout the movie.  Yes, I must admit that the acting is way too over dramatic, however, what children’s movie does not have its characters saying their thoughts out-loud?   The costumes of the characters are semi-believable – a two-headed couple, a troll sort of thing, and a tiny witch and a scientist – but for kids, the characters are nothing but believable, and maybe even a bit too realistic.

It’s amazing to see just how far special effects has come.  Compare this movie with Avatar and of course there will be major differences.  However, for the mid-eighties, the special effects aren’t so bad.  Yes, the green screen shots are more than noticeable, and yes, we can clearly see that the boy is just sitting on a stuffed animal with wind blowing in his face when he’s supposed to be flying the dragon, however, like I said before, for kids it is believable.

And like with every children’s movie, there has to be a point which makes you cry, or at least sniffle.  In The Never Ending Story that point came when, without going into too much detail, the child warrior’s beloved horse sank.  Yes, he sank, and it was quite sad.  Also, like I mentioned above, there were scenes that were quite scary, which also usually always appears in children’s movies.  For example, the dark scenes with the wolf could be quite frightening; at least I would be scared during those scenes if I were a nine year old girl.

It was my first time seeing this movie, and as an adult, there were parts which I found cheesy and silly.  However, I still fully enjoyed it, and if I were a child, I could only imagine how much I would love it.  The best part of the movie for me was the ultimate lesson: to never stop dreaming or wishing.  This is something I hold dear to my heart since still, at the age of 21, I have a huge imagination which never quits.  

If you are a fan of fantasy and adventure, and love movies with quirky characters and cute stories, then I definitely recommend watching The Never Ending Story.  Whether you are a kid, teenager, adult or elder, this fast-paced movie will keep you entertained and will bring back the memories of childhood.

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*Note: The review above is written by me.  ©Kalie Lyn 2011*

One Day [Movie Review]

After seeing the trailer for this movie, I made a mental list to see it.  Finally, my sister, cousin and I went and saw it last night.  Here are my thoughts on it.

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Title: One Day

Director: Lone Scherfig (Denmark)

Writer: David Nicholls (England)

Cinematographer: Benoit Delhomme (France)

Starring: Anne Hathaway (USA); Jim Sturgess (England)

Year Released: 2011

Synopsis: “After spending the night together on the night of their college graduation Dexter and Em are shown each year on the same date to see where they are in their lives. They are sometimes together, sometimes not, on that day.”

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My Review:

Romance movies are becoming more and more typical and their endings more and more predictable.  As much as we root for the love interests to get together, we sometimes secretly wish for a twist that would shift the entire story in seconds.  “One Day” provided that twist and whether or not it was satisfying, it sure was surprising.

Along with the unpredictable ending, the acting is what made the movie.  As the movie is set in England, the actors obviously needed to be or act English.  While Jim Sturgess, the male lead, is originally from the UK, Anne Hathaway, the female lead and originally from New York, really gave her all in this role.  Her accent was spot-on (at least from an American’s point-of-view) and she really developed into her character, Emma.  Jim Sturgess played his role as the irresponsible party-boy Dexter very well also.  Not to mention the natural chemistry between Hathaway and Sturgess is what made their love scenes believable.

 While the characters were believable, the character development was not.  The way Emma and Dexter became “friends” was not realistic.  It seemed that it happened in a second with an important part of their first meeting taken out.  Forget “friends”, they seemed destined to be “lovers” from the beginning.  This small note can be overlooked, however, it made for a confusing introduction.

Overall, “One Day” is a movie worth seeing.  It may not be an “award-winner” but it sure is one that watchers will remember for awhile.

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*Note: The review above is written by me.  ©Kalie Lyn 2011*