Snoopy, Come Home

Editor’s note : a big thank you to Paramount Home Media Distribution for the promotional copy of this Blu-Ray release of this animated feature classic.

Snoopy, Come Home (Bill Melendez, 1972)

Snoopy travels to see his sick former owner and then feels obliged to return to her permanently.

From the Peanuts’ creator and writer, Charles M. Schulz, Snoopy, Come Home is another great rendition of Schulz’s unique amazing observations of life. One of the only setbacks is the fact that Vince Guaraldi was not the composer of the musical score for Snoopy, Come Home.

Spirited Away

Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)

In the middle of her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches, and monsters; where humans are changed into animals; and a bathhouse for these creatures.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick, 1993)

 After they throw another great Halloween, the people of Halloween town are convinced by Jack Skellington to take the task of doing Christmas this year. After he visits the world of Christmas and discovers many elements of the classic holiday. But you can’t ask monsters and ghouls to celebrate Christmas without being frightening and scary. On top of that, Jack falls in love with Sally the creation of the mad scientist of the village.

Grave of the Fireflies

Grave of the Fireflies (Isao Takahata, 1988)

A tragic film covering a young boy and his little sister's struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.

The Second World War has been such a huge inspiration for movies that it is almost impossible not to think of a War film without thinking of this particular Historical Event. As a Historian myself, I learned to understand the facts and the horror that happened. However, I will never know what it is to be in the center of a War as a soldier or a civilian. Well, I hope I’ll never witness any of these. Some War films depict the conflicts and battles with great action scenes and how it is a thrill to fight the bad guys. More recent War films put us of the side of the losers of the War. Very few showed us the casualties of war like Grave of the Fireflies. With that said, it is more than essential to know that this movie was animated by the Ghibli studios. Keeping it far from the Disney pictures themes that we are acquainted to.

Opening with Seita’s death in a subway station, a young Japanese boy of more or less fourteen we know that we are in for a very tough moment. From that point we see the bombing of his town, the death of his mother, his struggle to survive and care for his little sister of approx five years old. Even if it pictures the final moments of Japan into War against the Americans, Grave of the Fireflies is filled with wonderful moments between the two siblings. Moments of innocence, happiness, sadness, and desperation.

It is a film that deals with problems that children should never encounter and that we hope that will never be repeated. It would not be recommended to show this film to children even if sometimes kids are surprisingly strong facing extreme moments.

Finally, I might be one of the few that is not a fan of anime and that doesn’t get the films of the studios Ghibli. Not being a fan doesn’t mean that I hate them I just think that it is not the ultimate thing. I like the approach and the originality that it brings to animation, it’s just that I am okay with seeing the film but I won’t be buying it or watching it again. Even if I think that the IMDb Top 250 is filled with overrated films (Grave of the Fireflies is ranked #106 as I am writing those lines) it is still worth a look.

Cinderella

Cinderella (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson & Hamilton Luske, 1950)

When Cinderella's cruel stepmother prevents her from attending the Royal Ball, she gets some unexpected help from the lovable mice Gus and Jaq, and from her Fairy Godmother.

When the Disney Studios re-release one of their classic movies you must decide if you want it or not because they get them out of the vault for a limited time only. It might be considered a very greedy approach but also it brings a sense of urgency to get it before it’s no longer available. The collectors out there, like the writer of those lines, are interpellated by this mercantile aspect of DVD/Blu-Ray rarity. Back in 2008, I went on a vacation to Disney World and I brought as a souvenir and because it’s my childhood favorite The Jungle Book. Well, this year the ultimate fairy tale has been released in a slick Blu-Ray. Cinderella being my wife’s favorite, I surprised her the day it came out I gave her the film. Personally, I saw the main scenes: the transformation, the dancing and some other scenes but I never sat through the entire thing because it was a girl movie when I was young.

However, with time and a fair interest in Disney Classics, it was about time that this critic discovers Cinderella. Like aforementioned, this is every girl’s fairy tale. A charming prince is looking to marry the perfect maiden. Cinderella is an eligible young woman but living with her stepmother has been a real pain in the back. She is the slave of her stepsisters and stepmother. However, she always gets up happy, singing with the birds and playing with mice. Some of the greatest moments of the animated feature are the upgrade of the dress, and the appearance and performance of the Fairy Godmother. Every element in Cinderella is very charming and the plot is elevated with the comic relief of the animals that have equalled if not more important parts in the movie than humans.

This is one of the most beautiful films that Disney has made and even if some elements and values may be perceived as conventional, well it was released in 1950 by a very American studio and in Far Away. What do you expect? It sets the standard with Snow White as the classic fairy tale. I must conclude with the fact that I think that the early Disney classics are masterpieces and that their craft are great works of Art. Even if Walt Disney himself once said that the worst thing that could happen to him was that his films were only shown in Art Houses I think that they can be appreciated in any theatre and by a vast public. Labelling Cinderella as Art doesn’t input it to be reserved to a restricted public neither does it under evaluate it. It’s a question of giving its nobility to the film. Highly recommended.

Waking Life

Waking Life (Richard Linklater, 2001)

Richard Linklater is one of the most versatile directors working out there. He goes from doing a authorist oeuvre like Before Sunrise to a more mainstream film like School of Rock and having success in both cases. This original animated feature made with an uncommon technique of "drawing" over actual shoot footage results in a beautiful, but dreamy, graphical picture.

Apart from being visually stunning this Odyssey of dreams into dreams recalls Luis Bunuel's Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie for its many states of awakening dreams. Waking Life is mostly philosophical and alike Before Sunset/Before Sunrise the story evolves around many conversations. Some of these conversations are set with concrete matters and others just play on the metaphysical level. Waking Life feels like a film essay about life and our perceptions of the present time.

I actually enjoyed most of the film and how the story slowly evolves around the main character. The lower point of the visual effects is that sometimes there are so much movement that it makes you a little dizzy. A must see.

My Neighbor Totoro

My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988)

Besides citing the same points I've already shared about Miyazaki's films I will recommend my review on Howl's Moving Castle. Well, to sum up quickly, my arguments were that Miyazaki has a near saturated palette of colours and that his unique universe transports us with his stories. Those arguments are reinforced here, I think that the public of My Neighbor Totoro is younger than the one of Howl's Moving Castle and I think that with that in mind, My Neighbor Totoro is a far better offer.

There are some darker elements shown here and the theme of childhood is once again so well exploited. I like this kind of film where children are not treated like zombies and that their innocence should be saved from thinking and letting their imagination grow and go places they wouldn't expect. This little story about two little girls moving in an old house near a huge tree with their father to be closer to the hospital where their sick mother is recovering is quite simple. But it's what comes after, in a setting near a ghost house tale they happen to see Totoro a character from a Japanese childhood story. But only children can see him. The story lives on hope and faith in life, a strength that only children have, maybe it's some kind of innocence but it's still a strength when they see Totoro and the many fantastic characters that populate that wonderful modern fairytale.

My only regret about My Neighbor Totoro is that I haven't seen it when it came out in 1988 when I was five years old...

Howl's Moving Castle

Howl's Moving Castle (Hayao Miyazaki, 2004)

Not being a fan of mangas at the first place didn't tend me to discover the work of Asian animation. Having only seen Hayao Miyazaki's Alice in Wonderland inspired Spirited Away in the context of my journey through the 1000 Greatest Films of They Shoot Pictures Don't They?. I liked Spirited Away but I wasn't blown away by it. Since I decided to make parallel quests to the "1000GF TSPDT" I wanted to explore the 35+/- films I haven't seen yet voted by the users of IMDb. There are more than one Animation listed there, especially the ones from Miyazaki: Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro , Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle. So the later one was the first I decided to watch, well the plot seemed the most interesting and I had to start somewhere I guess.

The story: a young woman, Sofi is a hat tailor that works hard for the factory of his deceased father. One day she meets a strange but attracting sorcerer. But later that night, a witch put a spell on her and she pass from 18 to 70 years old. But she must not tell anyone. The next day she quits the town and embarks on a journey on the moving castle of the sorcerer Hauru. Helped with a scarecrow, a demon fire named Calcifer, and a little boy Markl.

As we are in an animation film, I must say that Miyazaki's visuals are very colored and candy for the eye. The colors are saturated and the contrast are strong in the colors. I kind of find them very cheesy and maybe too poppy... I'd like to see a darker palette but Asian animation is all about blazing colors. However, with that aside some of the visuals are stunning and they fit perfectly well with that kind of fantastic story.

I would have loved Howl's Moving Castle as a child, because I was very entertained by stories that take the character from its normal human life and change it drastically into some "crazy" but lovable universe. It's like when I was reading comic books as a child I always liked how a story can take you anywhere in a world completely different from our reality. And I think that is well executed with Howl's Moving Castle and it changes from the lately vast offering of animation movies that just don't have the same hold onto their stories and constantly use the same patterns over and over again.

Ice Age Part III

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Carlos Saldanha & Mike Thurmeier, 2009)

The third chapter of one of the most grossing animation franchise in Cinema History hit us back in 2009. While we are invaded by dozens and dozens of animated features each year some classics like Toy Story, Shrek, and Ice Age tend to monopolize the box office.

With the animations being more and more sophisticated and the releases of those films in 3D and/or IMAX theaters the studios spend good money on "sure shots" for the business. It's all for the great pleasure of its audience! Families, children of all ages (which I include myself at 26) are targeted in the success of animation feature.

Besides being moralistic like its precedent, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is more based on values like friendship, loyalty, respect, and how we manage to be ourselves in our world. Like I said before the line of the moral is very thin and it let the action and the story evolve and finish for the best.

After this third part it's maybe the moment to think about reverence or like the Toy Story franchise did: take a break and let some time pass on... Watching how ordinary and most of all repetitive the last Shrek was and how good pictures like Up! did in 2009 and Ratatouille in 2007, I think Ice Age could be on the ice for moment just to be back stronger and avoid being Shrek's underacheiver brother... But don't get me wrong, I actually liked Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs it's just that sometimes stopping in glory is better then retiring in shame.



A review by Michael Parent

Shrek Forever After (Mike Mitchell, 2010) Review

Tired of his perfect life as a father ogre, Shrek signs a deal with Rumpelstiltskin. The terms of his deal is that Shrek has to give one day of his life to Rumpel to be able to live a day where he can be real ogre again.

The plot seems like a modern day adaptation of Goethe's Faust. But, the comparison the greatest German writer of all time stops at feels like... For the best adaptation of this play see F.W. Murnau's Faust: an underated masterpiece.

Well, it is always time to stop after three films. Look at Indiana Jones for example... The last Shrek is not all that bad but it has many weakness. Especially when it comes to the story. We have already seen how Shrek seduced Fiona and how he became friend with Donkey, Puss, etc. Here it's this story again and again.

The story, like the character itself, is kind of tired and besides it's gentle humour it doesn't brings nothing new to the genre. The first films were funny and refreshing in their way of revisiting the fairytales and Disney classics. Now, it feels like self parody. On the plus side some jokes are excellent and efficient but it's not enough to make up for the lack of plot.


A Review by Michaël Parent