Link of the Day: “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore”

The Huffington Post: ‘The Fantastic Flying Books Of Mr. Morris Lessmore,’ Oscar-Nominated Animated Short,’ Available To Watch Online (VIDEO)

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*

Link of the Day: No, It’s Not Animated

Flavorwire:  Real-Life ‘Up’ House to be Home for Cute Movie-Loving Couple

My Nostalgia Movie Collection

Last night, the Boyfriend and I were talking about movies we used to watch and love as a kid.  Since he is much older than I (8 years difference to be exact), we loved and watched different movies growing up.

We have both decided to make a collection of our favorite movies we watched growing up.  It was quite fun reminicing and thinking about all the movies that made me giggle, cry, and excite my imagination as a child.

While the Boyfriend had a list full of action, adventure, and Power Ranger movies, I had a list that is full of Disney.

Here is my list of my Nostalgia Movie Collection (by year):

Disney Movies:

1937: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Oh, those little creepy dwarfs, the murder plotting queen, and the innocent naive Snow White.  Nothing better as a kid!

1940: Pinocchio - Talking puppet, a whistling cricket, and a man swallowing whale.  Good stuff!

1940: Fantasia - My favorite were the dancing hippos.

1941: Dumbo - A flying elephant.  Nothing more realistic than that.

1942: Bambi - Probably the reason why I’m against hunting.

1950: Cinderella - I was quite pissed off when my Fairy Godmother never appeared.

1951: Alice in Wonderland - Oh, all those drug innuendos.

1953: Peter Pan - One of my favorites, I still want to fly off to Neverland and never grow up!

1955: Lady and the Tramp - The good ol’ days when “tramp” wasn’t a mean name for a woman.

1959: Sleeping Beauty - No, you will not awake from death by being kissed by a prince, or any guy for that matter.

1961: 101 Dalmatians - Cruella de Vil scared the crap out of me.

1964: Mary Poppins - Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke were so meant to be with one another.

1967: The Jungle Book - I might have had a crush on the animated Mowgli.

1970: The Aristocats - The only thing I remember about this movie is that the tomcat was kick-ass.

1973: Robin Hood - Haven’t seen this movie in a long time, but I know I always enjoyed it.

1977: Pete’s Dragon - Oh my god.  This movie I both LOVED and was freaked out by.

1981: The Fox and the Hound - Still, to this day, I cannot get through this movie without crying through half of it.

1988: Oliver and Company - All I remember is that I was jealous of Jenny for having the cutest little kitten ever.

1989: Honey I Shrunk the Kids - Hence my love of things that are small when they are supposed to be big, and vice versa.

1989: The Little Mermaid - Actually, my obsession with mermaids happened before I ever watched this movie, but watching it did not take my obsession away!

1991: Beauty and the Beast - I loved the singing and dancing tableware.

1992: Aladdin - Jasmine was one of my favorite Disney princesses.  Plus, Robin Williams was AMAZING as Genie.

1993: Homeward Bound - LOVED, and still LOVE, this movie.  I even created imaginary friends with the names Chance, Shadow and Sassy!

1994: Lion King - Always and forever my number one animated Disney love.  Hakuna Matata!

1995: Pocahontas - Come on, Pocahontas was a kick-ass, beautiful Native American.  Plus, the talking Willow was pretty cool.

1995: Toy Story - It’s no wonder this script is taught in film school.  It’s AMAZING.

1996: The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Learned about Gypsies through this movie.

1997: Hercules - My love of Greek mythology began here.

1997: George of the Jungle - Only know of Brendan Fraser from this movie.

1998: Mulan - I don’t care what people say, I LOVED Mulan!

1998: A Bug’s Life - Much better than “Antz”.

1999: Tarzan - Haven’t watched this movie in forever, but animated Tarzan was pretty sexy.

And then the 2000′s hit, and except for a select few - Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo,  and Wall-E - Disney was never the same as before.

So, here is my list of my favorite movies I watched growing up.  These were some important movies to me, and I plan to re-build my collection and pass them down for my kids to enjoy.

What were some of your favorite movies growing up?  Tell us in the comment section below!