Monday, June 15, 2009

   Recent animated viewings
Hello everyone - I hope you ar edoing well. I watched a couple of animated movies recently & thought I would share with you my feelings on those films.

The first is actually anime - it is called "Sky Crawlers". This one had a nice blend of fully rendered CGI environment and traditional 2D anime characters. The basic storyline surrounds some young pilots fighting without memory of their past or knowing the purpose of the fighting. This film is a little tough to discuss in detail because the message is tightly tied to spoilers. I did like the questions raised. The questions were very much in line with the themes of classic science fiction stories.

The pacing of the movie was definitely more art house than mainstream. There is a lot of quiet time in the first 2/3 of the movie. There is not much action or discussions in that segment that progress the movie or develop the characters. I think they were either too subtle or not subtle enough here. I picked up on a few things I was supposed to notice pretty quickly & then not much happens for about an hour. Rewatching it may show more things unfolding that I may have missed on the first viewing, but generally, I felt that this could have easily been an animated short of about 20-30 minutes and conveyed the overall messages just as well. So - I think the trick is looking at it more like art than a traditional film. If you are able to let the film wash over you & just immerse yourself in the images and atmosphere, you will most likely enjoy the film. If you are looking for complex characters or a well developed story - you might find yourself disappointed.

The other animated movie I saw was Up. I really enjoyed this film. It was not a perfect film, but there were definitely segments that were definitely a pleasant surprise. Most significantly, the backstory of the main character and his wife. I thought it was touching and very well done. I think the most disappointing aspect of it was the heavy. I don't think the movie needed a villain. I think it would have been less formulaic and could have developed the 2 leads better without it. Unfortunatley, I don't think it would have made as much money. So - comparing it to other Pixar films, I would probably put it above Cars and Bug's Life and below Toy Story.

I also just signed up for Netflix, so I hope I will get to start watching move animated movies soon. I was a little disappointed in their selection. I think Scarecrow video in Seattle had a MUCH larger selection - probably by a factor of 10. Unfortunately, I am in a not so metropolitan area now, so finding anime to rent is a little more challenging.

Until next time.

-bunraku
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