Princess Mononoke (1997)

If Totoro was greatness, Mononoke is excellence.

Maybe the diversion that was Porco Rosso had to be, so that Miyazaki could come back even stronger with Mononoke.

I started looking for those quiet, still moments that drew me in, not really finding them. Then I realized they were still there, but they were even more subtly woven in. Instead of lingering moments, they were woven into the film. Was it because it was more of an action film, or because they were more evenly distributed?

Many of the old themes are revisited, and they return like welcome friends. They seem expected now, almost necessary. Plucky young girl? Check. Wise old crone? Check. Curious ball of hard dirt, sly old codger, nature in peril, the stupidity of war, cute little monsters, check, check, check, check, check. Even for an earth bound story, flight is still there, even if it is on the back of a wolf or an elk. Several themes have matured, such as the usually sympathetic enemies motivations are a little more explored, making them even more sympathetic. Perhaps part of that, wounds are deeper and more realistic; the audience is old enough to see dead bodies now. The movies hinted why fighting is bad, now its showing you. Not that I mean to imply its any less subtle about it, but there is more blood.

The characters are still a little flat, but then there's so much action in the way, there are few moments for character development. The little time there is for characters is well used. Every villain is sufficiently explored that while you can't root for most of them, you can at least hope they find a way to live together. We even get some insight into the thinking of the lesser gods, but the elder god remains unknowable, as it should be.

As good as it is, it still leaves me feeling a little empty at the end. By the end of the story, nature is saved from destruction, but at the cost of all the gods. Nature remains in a fragile state, since there are no more gods left, and we must now be its protectors, when we were recently its greatest enemy. I love the message, and you really can't miss it, yet it doesn't feel crammed down your throat. There's still something missing, and I suspect it is laughter, some sense of humor that got hurried past. The lesser and minor gods in Totoro would sometimes do stupid or senseless things, making for light and humorous moments. In Mononoke, the gods are all very serious, and are usually too busy trying to kill someone. The Deer God seems like he might have a sense of humor, but the only time he's on the screen for more than a minute, he goes bio-thermonuclear, and then he's not so funny anymore.

I don't like stories where all the magic goes out of the universe, and the end of the story points to our modern day. I've been disappointed by this theme ever since I read Lord of the Rings, some decades ago. I don't want to hear that there was once magic in this world, and we lost it, let it go, or destroyed it. Its an origin story this world doesn't need. No matter how good the rest of your message.

Porco Rosso (1992), Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

This movie doesn't seem like a step to the side, but more a step backward. If I had to arrange Miyazaki's movies chronologically without knowing the order, I would have put this one before Kiki, before Totoro, maybe even further back. Everything explored in this movie was done better, and earlier. I just don't know what to say.

The whole pig thing seems like a big distraction, or some attempt to skirt around commentary about humanity without taking it on directly. And the epilogue adds more cars to the train wreck, by adding a whole pig population to the end of the film. By the point at the end where they are hinting Porco has become human again, and is hiding out in Gina's garden, I just don't even care anymore.

I don't mean the movie is a train wreck at all. Its still worth watching, its still funny and charming and moving in many of the ways that other Miyazaki movies are. I know that sometimes big ideas can't just be pills shoved down the throat, and you need to use a little symbolism or metaphor to get those pills down smoothly. But it didn't work here. Did someone lose a drunken bet? Can this be something lost in translation? Doesn't feel like it.

Speaking of other odd things, I never really said much about Grave of the Fireflies, other than it was really sad. That's what everyone seems to say, soul rending level of sad. And its been a while since I've seen it now, but I still remember that terrible sense of doom that followed the children to the bitter end, and beyond. I know it wasn't Miyazaki that directed that movie, but it was his studio, so he must have had some hand in it. I've been getting a growing sense that many of his subsequent products are almost a rejection of that, in that there are no more unhappy endings. And most especially, terrible things don't happen to children.

Some time after I saw the movie something hit me - that movie is not really about the war, or the stupidity and tragedy of war. Those kids were basically killed by their own society, in what might be called a moment of distraction. It doesn't really matter what the tragedy was, but their aunt (or whoever) didn't have to throw them out into the street, without any knowledge of how to take care of themselves. It's like an evil step-mother story, that gets out of hand. A distracted and disorganized society is too busy with the war to notice them, and they slip through the cracks. Their plight is just as tragic, but the war seems so big an issue, that it is easy to forget that the war had no direct hand in their death.

After I realized that, the tragedy remains, but their deaths seem even more pointless. There's no message here, other than humans can be fatally careless and neglectful of their fellow man. I don't need or want movies to tell me this - the real world provides daily examples. And that makes me wonder if all I'm in it for is the mindless escapism. No, I'm in it for little more than just happy storybook endings, but I'm also in it for more than just watching two kids abandoned to starve to death.

Like Porco, Grave of the Fireflies is still worth watching. There are some moving moments, but there's nothing for you to keep, like with some of the other movies.

Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

I didn't let myself get distracted this time, and watched the whole thing through, then I immediately started watching it again from the beginning. Looking back I can't see what held my attention so tightly, but while I was in it I didn't want to leave. For the second pass, I switched it to English dub and no subtitle, and it was a different experience, but still good. I've heard that a few dubs are actually good, and they probably don't get much better than this, where you have money and artistic integrity backing the project.

I liked almost everything, so there's hardly anything to say. This is almost as good as Spirited Away in feeling, if not in execution. That it is more primitive technologically is usually not even noticeable. Sometimes the sound is a little off, or a particular animation is a little questionable, and sometimes there were some digital artifacts, any of which knock you out of the story briefly, but nothing too jarring. If Studio Ghibli products are among the best, I can only imagine that poorly produced anime must be unbearable.

I don't like stories where people have powers, and all the writers can come up with for plot is for those people to lose their powers. Maybe a few decades ago this notion was a little more fresh, but its still too weak for what's mostly a good story. Have more confidence, and your powers wil l return; good message, but not much for story, and this movie deserves better. I really want to know if she can talk to her cat again, but from the ending it should be assumed. For such a feel good movie, I would have appreciated a short scene of them talking again.

After watching several of these movies, there are some recurring themes that are becoming like a checklist. Since I'm just watching Miyazaki for now, it remains to be seen what's particular to him, to his studio, to the context of creation, or to the culture. I can only really sort that out after watching a lot more.

It really doesn't need saying, but here goes the checklist anyway: coming of age story, female protagonist, scrubbing wood floors with water, feminism, extreme attention to detail in some parts (especially of garbage in the corner you're not even supposed to notice), flight, curiosity and fear of technology, soot monsters, peace, mixing magic and technology, an old crone, love of nature (and its flora and fauna), and quiet reflective moments that run deeper than years spent in a zen monastery.