Word: miyazaki
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...final decade she did voice work (for the English-language version of Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle), and just last year she starred as the matriarch of a troubled family in the film Shadows in the Sun, back in her native U.K. In its modest way, this marked the return of Jean Simmons, a prodigious daughter. She had beguiled the British movie world as a teen, rose to one of the higher Hollywood hills in her 20s, then had to settle for being a working actress - still very pretty, but not quite so proud...
...American children's movies, like those made by Pixar, embed their heartfelt messages in what are fundamentally entertainments. The mysterious emotional turmoil and, let's face it, weirdness that every parent deals with on a daily basis can be found in the films of the great Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki but seem to have been deemed off-limits in America. The beauty of Where the Wild Things Are is that for all its fantastical elements, it's a work of realism, an exploration of mood and emotion. Like Sendak's book, which on initial publication was considered too edgy...
...engulfing a village has to be startling to Asian viewers, who surely recall the devastation wreaked by the December 2004 Indian Ocean disaster. But in the movie, it's as if Sosuke's town has just gone through a cleansing car wash. "Rather than the tsunami destroying the town," Miyazaki says, "I took it as her own sense of life overflowing, and that helped to revitalize the town. None of the buildings were destroyed in the flood. You can see them all beneath the water. That's magic...
...Miyazaki's recent films have boasted an epic sweep, a teeming cast of characters and a two-hour-plus length that proved more daunting than endearing to some viewers. Ponyo is closer in tone to his kid-friendly '80s movies: Castle in the Sky, about a pair of orphans in pursuit of a floating island; My Neighbor Totoro, in which two girls meet some agreeable forest spirits; and Kiki's Delivery Service, about a 13-year-old witch who starts her own business. All are artistic triumphs and certified delights - close kin to Lasseter's CGI wizardry and Nick Park...
When you see Ponyo - and you must - be prepared for a movie that doesn't abide by Hollywood rules. This is a tale for children (yes, of all ages) who are ready to be coaxed into another world through simple words and luscious pictures. Miyazaki knows the secret language of children; he dives deep into the pool of childhood dreams and fears and, through his animagic, takes children down to where they can breathe, and feel, and be free...