Movie Review #39

Spirited Away (2001)
Written and Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
English interpretation by Cindy Davis Hewitt & Donald H. Hewitt

Rating: 8.25/10.00 or *** 1/2 (out of 4)

Rarely is there a good animated product coming out these days. Except for Pixar, animation degradation is in full swing in today's theaters. However, Disney, in one of the smartest moves the company has ever made, purchased Hayao Miyazaki's works for American presentation in theaters. Hayao Miyazaki gives moviegoers a reason to see animated films as they still can be one of the more moving and more enchanting genres in filmmaking.

Spirited Away is the best animated film made since Beauty and the Beast. I am no expert on animated productions (I've seen fewer than ten of them.), but I know when a great movie is made. Each time I have watched an animated movie (before Spirited Away), I have felt somewhat misplaced. The worlds presented, the characters developed, and the plots displayed seem cheesy, manipulative, and overly moralistic. In a sense, the movies just were not made with my personality traits in mind (not necessarily a bad thing, except for me). Only on rare occasions (Beauty and the Beast comes to mind.) does this matter little. But it seems that most animation only has kids in mind and not necessarily family (or the general audience itself). I have always considered this as a limitation of the genre, something that doesn't need to be.

Let me contine on this diversion a bit. Animation DOES NOT have to be child-oriented. Consider the success of two television animated sitcoms: The Simpsons and South Park. Neither are at all child-oriented, but adults certainly don't mind about the animation. Often the shows are intelligent, somewhat thought-provoking, and frequently funny. To me it seems counterproductive to automatically presume or infer that animated films have to be directed toward children.

The beauty of Spirited Away is that, while the focus is most certainly on children, it has the family and the general audience in mind. Miyazaki presents a world full of colors, spirits, fantasies, and interesting creatures. Children will be in awe, and adults will focus on nothing else. The effect is immediate and undeniable. Once you see the first visuals of Spirited Away, you will not shift your eyes from the screen.

The story is centered around a family, and more personally, on the 10-year-old daughter named Chihiru (voiced by Daveigh Chase), who are driving around trying to find their new home. The family notes a mysterious tunnel, and the father, who is piqued with curiosity, foolishly enters the tunnel. Chihiru, who is the only one who feels threatened by what is on the other side, is eventually dragged along. The other side of the tunnel features a world that at first seems like an amusement park. Upon further inspection, the park appears closed. The parents of Chihiru note that the "concessions" remain open with apparent free food tempting them almost unbearably. The two begin to sit down and eat readily. Meanwhile, Chihiru goes off, serving her own curiosities. On her journey she meets Haku (voiced by Jason Marsden), a very complex individual that serves (one purpose) as her guide. Haku warns Chihiru of Yubaba (voiced by Suzanne Pleshette), an old crone who keeps innumerable captives of her world by stealing their names. Chihiru returns to her parents, who continue to eat the food but are now merely pigs (literally). Chihiru, needless to say, must find a way to convince Yubaba to change her parents back into humans and letting all of them leave the spirit world.

This is no easy task, but Chihiru makes many friends along the way. One curious friend is the spider-like Kamaji (voiced by former M*A*S*H star David Ogden Stiers), an at-first intimidating creature. Miyazaki brilliantly presents his characters in interesting, often ominous ways. Later we find that most of these characters are much friendlier than they first appear. This is an obvious message that Miyazaki is sending, but you don't realize it while watching the movie. Here is where Miyazaki shines: He is subtle with his messages. He doesn't have dialogue that openly states the moral messages; instead he chooses the more admirable and thought-provoking way of displaying them in eerily realistic yet fantastical situations. Kamaji becomes very important later in the movie, as do most other characters that Chihiru meets, including sister-like Lin (voiced by Susan Egan). The result is a complex quest that challenges Chihiru on every level. The movie continuously moves in unexpected twists and turns.

Perhaps the greatest quality of Spirited Away is its look. It dazzles the eyes in its color and complexity. I cannot imagine how many hours Miyazaki spent on the visuals, which were primarily drawn and not computer animated. Miyazaki spends an insane amount of attention on detail; just look at the numbers of dust balls scurrying around, the sparkles the river has, the toys big baby Boh has, etc.

A theme of Miyazaki's is the transformation of characters physically. For example, baby Boh turns into an obese mouse, a river monster Okuterasama is, in actuality, only trashy and smelly because of pollution, and (of course) Chihiru's parents are turned into pigs. Furthermore, Miyazaki's theme of scary-looking-does-not-necessarily-mean-evil is emphasized with the river monster's cleansing, Kamaji's kindly demeanor, and even evil Yubaba herself (who, interestingly, has a most pleasant and gentle twin sister Zeniba). On a bit of a digression, I mysteriously found Yubaba to be adorable. Perhaps it was her enormous head or her old-womanish voice, but Yubaba was the most interesting character and one of the more likable characters, eerily enough.

Although the ending may be a bit long (yet strangely abrupt), there are few other weaknesses in this glorious animated production. Don't let the animation, the fact that it is anime and not purely American animation, or the fact that it comes from Disney scare you (The first two shouldn't anyway.). This is a most glorious world full of amazing visuals, intelligent characters, and subtle messages. Spirited Away evokes the imagination in all of us. What a heartening thought to enter a deceivingly evil world and exit it with unforgettable and countless new friends, new lessons, and new hopes. And what an amazing way to show it.

Movie Review #38

The Core (2003)
Directed by Jon Amiel
Written by Cooper Layne & John Rogers

Rating: 7.00/10.00 or *** (out of 4)

THE ONLY WAY OUT IS IN.

So says the poster I saw advertising this movie in January. Indeed, the only way to get the Earth's core to start spinning again is to go into it and blow it up. Yes, blow the core up to jumpstart the core. What a wonderful concept for a movie.

Actually, I find it a bit ingenious. This is not a film that uses logic, common sense, scientific meaning, or intelligent filmmaking. Except maybe for the original film writers, the people who made or performed in this movie KNOW it is bad. And there's brilliance behind this concept. Unlike Thora Birch's line in Ghost World, "This is so bad it went past the good and back to the bad," this film knows where the good is in between the two bads.

Take the classic dialogue in the film:

"The earth's core has stopped spinning."
"How does that happen?"

"Torque is r cross F." (Yes, an actual cross product is used in the movie...as dialogue. Sidebar: What do you get when you cross an elephant with a mountain climber?" Answer: You can't cross them...a mountain climber is a scal(a)r.)

"Do you know what to do?"
"Yes. Do you want to hear my plan?"
"Yes."
"First, I need a cigarette."
(Next scene has the scientist taking a long inhalation and exhalation of smoke.)

"You guys do this, I'll sign your doctorates blindfolded."
"Really?"
"Do not pass go, go directly to Ph.D."

"Shouldn't you be dead now?"

"Hang on. This isn't going to be subtle."

INDEED! A movie with this kind of dialogue HAS to be good.

Perhaps I was in a good mood that day; perhaps it was because I was watching the movie with two other science nerds...but I love this movie. I cherish the two hours I had watching it (or actually, close to two and a half hours).

The Core is classic camp material. It features big name and no name actors with a horribly thought-out plot, wretched dialogue, unexpected humor, and lots of explosions and tense moments. The Core is daring, to be sure, as it lands a space shuttle in downtown Los Angeles and destroys Rome and the Golden Gate Bridge. Who can forget the great lines...

"Rome doesn't look good."
Then enormous lightning strikes and explosions rock the Italian city.

"The West Coast is out."

The "plot" of the film is simply delightful. It is discovered by freak events that the Earth's core is no longer rotating. Within a year, the electromagnetic field around the Earth will be disintegrated. Result: Solar flares/energy/radiation will burn Earth's inhabitants to a crisp. OH NO! As a display of what would happen to Earth, scientist/professor hero Dr. Joshua Keyes (Aaron Eckhart (!!!)) burns a peach with potpourri. I laughed until I cried. What a grandiose display of upcoming melodramatic events.

So what to do? After all, it's impossible to get the Earth's core to "start" spinning again.

"Can you get to the core?"
"It's impossible to get to the core."
"Yeah.........but what if we could?"

Dr. Brazzleton comes to the rescue. For he has developed the ultimate Earth drill. With his concoction, several inhabitants can drill their way to the Earth's core. Once there, several nuclear bombs will hit designated targets to (hopefully) start the core's rotation once again. We see a dramatic example of its work too (Goodness, do we.). I love the scene in which the scientists look on with drooling faces, surpised glances, and dumbfounded eagerness. It's either a poor example of acting or an excellent example of nerdy observation (Just imagine myself looking at a bunch of Greek letters...). Whatever the case, the silliness just thoroughly entertained me.

From there, we have Dr. Keyes, Dr. Brazzleton (Delroy Lindo), arrogant Dr. Conrad Zimsky (Stanley Tucci), all-work-and-no-play Commander Robert Iverson (Bruce Greenwood), and the obligatory Dr. Serge Leveque (Tcheky Karyo) and Major Rebecca Childs (Hilary Swank) manning the large screwdriver into the Earth. From there you can predict exactly what happens (in what order characters die, the frequency of which you have "quiet" and "active" scenes, the number of explosions/impacts the screwdriver will receive, the heartwarming "no hard feelings" scenes, etc.

My guess is you can see why I like the movie so much now. The filmmakers know the movie is bad, and they make fun of themselves for it. Yet, the movie is surprisingly engrossing (although way too long). The Core knows what it is doing: It features big/bad action scenes, quiet scenes that, through its obvious lack of quality, subtly chide the whole film concept, and cheesy dialogue that is meant to continue the motion of the film and yet evoke laughter with and at itself at the same time. This is camp the way it should be, and for this, I heartily recommend watching the movie (if it costs no more than a couple of bucks to view).

After all, you'll see a hero standing outside looking up saying:

"I HATE THIS SKY!"