Archive for Family

The first film that I saw from the Japanese animation film studio, Studio Ghibli, blew me away. It was in 2001, and the film was Spirited Away. Since then I have become somewhat obsessed with looking for releases from Studio Ghibli and the director of Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki. When I got the chance to get a copy of the latest flick from Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli last week, I was overjoyed. The film was Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea.

Like all of the Mizayaki flicks I’ve seen, Ponyo took me to a dream world that only Mizayaki can create. The story is simple, it is about a little girl fish (or a mermaid) who meets a little boy living in a house on a cliff by the sea. The girl fish (Ponyo) escapes her father who will not allow her some freedom and ventures to a place near where humans live. A boy named Sousuke discovers her after she gets stuck in a bottle near the shore and brings her to his home to become his pet. Ponyo falls in love with the boy and shows him that she can talk. But just as Ponyo’s and Sousuke’s friendship becomes deeper, Ponyo’s father catches up with her and brings her back to their home underneath the sea. But Ponyo wants to become human and with her mind power, she is able to grow her own limbs. She escapes again and is reunited with Sousuke.

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea gives us many of the kind of things that only Mizayaki can give us: stunning visuals, intricately drawn underwater scenes, realistic movements of the characters, and the meticulous manner in which every little detail in the movie is presented. But compared to Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo on the Cliff somehow left me a little disappointed. I don’t know, but I guess I just expected too much from Mizayaki. The storyline of Spirited Away is more solid than Ponyo on the Cliff; I could not get over the power of the dreaminess of every frame of Spirited Away. Probably if I hadn’t seen Spirited Away, I would say that Ponyo on the Cliff is by far one of the best animated films I have seen.

On March 12, the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival opened in San Francisco with Lee Yoon-Ki’s My Dear Enemy. Organized by the Center for Asian American Media, happening March of every year, it celebrates the voice of Asian American independent filmmakers and the future of new Asian Cinema.

Some featured films include:

1. The Forgotten Woman (India)

The Forgotten Woman is a documentary from Dilip Mehta about the widows of India and how they have been forgotten by society. One by one, their families have died but they remain alive.

2. White Rice (Japan/USA)

White Rice, directed by David Boyle, is about a divorced man named Jimmy, who is 40 and shares a bunk bed with his 10-year-old nephew. Boyle shows us a man’s desperate attempt to postpone maturity and have even a hint of happiness. White Rice is the Opening Night Film for the Film Festival’s schedule in San Jose

3. Dirty Hands (USA)

Dirty Hands is a documentary film from Harry Kim about street artist David Choe. The documentary follows Choe’s transformation and evolution as an artist from a lesbian fiction ghostwriter to an artist displaying his pieces in multi-million dollar galleries. But the documentary also shows Choe’s failures, that what goes up must also go down.

4. Adela (Philippines)

Adela, directed by Adolfo Alix, Jr., is about Adela, who wants to unite her family to celebrate her 80th birthday, but she realizes it’s slowly becoming an unsuccessful mission.

5. Tokyo Sonata (Japan/Netherlands)

Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Tokyo Sonata is part of the Festival’s Spotlight on Kurosawa. Tokyo Sonata is about a modern Japanese family trying to evolve in a world that changes everyday.

The SF International Asian American Film Festival will run in San Francisco from March 12 to 19, in Berkeley from March 13 to 21 and in San Jose from March 20 to 22.

It may be the dead of winter, but you can look forward to the spring and some new animated movies from Pixar and Dreamworks.

First, Dreamworks’ Monsters vs. Aliens is a seemingly funny movie about alien forces attacking the planet, and the United States government using monsters to take them down. It contains voice talents from Stephen Colbert, Will Arnett, Seth Rogen, Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Hugh Laurie, Rainn Wilson, and Keifer Sutherland. This movie proves to have some serious star power riding behind it, probably due to the fact that Pixar always manages to win awards with less star power and more art than anything else. However, after watching the trailer 6 or so times, this movie does look like it will be pretty hilarious, at least it better be.

Next is Pixar’s Up a story about a 78 year old man tying balloons to his house so he can travel the world. It has vocal talents from Christopher Plummer, Delroy Lindo, John Ratzenberger, Edward Asner, Paul Eiding, and Jordan Nagai. This movie has more elder statesmen than the previous and will rely on artsy design to reel in moviegoers. This film is directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson, both of whom have worked on several Pixar pictures, and probably will feel like a mix of Wall-E and Finding Nemo.

You have to hand it to Pixar: they really know how to pull the punches and make a great piece of art for the masses. Dreamworks is always reliable for a funny piece to be lighthearted and filled with solid messages. Both of these groups rightfully have taken over the summer tradition of the Disney Summer Animated Movie. the question remains: which one will be your favorite? By the time we all thaw out, monsters beat aliens might be appealing after all.

Back in 2005, my friends and I enjoyed the original Madagascar. Recently, we went to a movie theater looking for some laughs and saw that Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa was playing. We purchased our tickets and entered the room with high hopes but also some worries. The obvious question: Would the sequel live up to its predecessor?

Consider the main characters: Alex the Lion, Melman the Giraffe, Gloria the Hippo, and Marty the Zebra. Strand them in Madagascar, throw in some penguins, add a pinch of psychotic lemurs and some interesting monkeys, stir well with great animation and a ton of humor, and you’ve got a mix that can’t go wrong…for kids, that is.

Between the two movies, I’d say that the original had more scenes that actually made me laugh out loud, but the sequel did well to keep me chuckling minute by minute. A positive point about this is that in the theater I could hear a distinction between when it was the parents laughing vs. kids laughing. There was plenty of humor aimed at adults, and it did well to fly past the children making it a very safe PG movie. As far as the actual plot goes, the sequel (surprise, surprise) might be better. It picks up where the last movie ended, giving some flashbacks for those that missed out on the first movie. The characters have their own subplots and are more developed in this movie, and there’s a pleasant twist involving some tourists and that crazy old lady from the original.

I agree with most of the consensus stated on rottentomatoes.com:  ”Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is an improvement on the original, with more fleshed-out characters, crisper animation and more consistent humor.”