When Marnie Was There

So guys, after six months of doing these Studio Ghibli movie reviews, I'm finishing with the last of them, When Marnie Was There. I know there was some other movie in 2020, but, from what I've been told, it's terrible and I really don't want to check it out. Anyway, this is another film I had heard a bit about before and had heard it was one of the best Ghibli movies ever. I remember even thinking I didn't think it would be anything that special when I first heard about it many, many years ago and didn't know what to really think of it going in. But, having finally seen it last year and, again recently, I can confirm that this is honestly absolutely incredible. I've seen this movie three times already and I absolutely love it. This is honestly tied with Kiki's Delivery Service with being my favourite Studio Ghibli movie. This film is honestly just that phenomenal. I was curious to know how similar or not similar my feelings towards this would be compared to some other YouTubers and I 100% absolutely agree that this movie is amazing. I've loved it so much every time I've seen it. So, let's get to the story and, as always, this will have all the spoilers. So, if you don't want anything spoiled, you should absolutely go see it then come back and read the rest of this. So, the story follows a small girl named Anna who has asthma and is also a person who finds it hard to get along with people and make friends. She's also a foster child and is living with some people who took her in when she was really young. They decide to help her by sending her to stay with their relatives for the summer. She then goes to a town by the sea and she still finds it hard to connect with people while she's there. However, while there, she sees an old marsh house and becomes interested in it and finds a girl there named Marnie and they begin to develop a friendship while also learning more about each other but something weird keeps happening every time she sees her. So, that's really as far as I'll go in terms of the plot, but, if you've seen the film, then you know a lot more happens, and we'll get to that in a minute. For now, I wanna go over everything. First off, I really appreciated that this is a Ghibli movie that focuses more on the story than anything else. In a lot of these other ones, a lot of them do have a story going on, but a lot of them also focus more on the events happening around the story and focusing on very small thing that maybe don't seem all that significant. Like in Kiki's Delivery Service, I love that movie, but a lot of it was showing Kiki living her life and not that much was happening outside of that. Here though, this one spends almost the whole film giving us information about what's going on because there's a lot going on with this being a more mystery centred story. Even in some instances where you might think it is the typical Ghibli thing where not a whole lot is happening, they find really clever ways to make it relevant later on. But I also think they use it in other great ways for the drama because there's a lot of times when they have Anna and Marnie talk and it reveals a lot about their childhoods and it shows how hard their lives have been and I really appreciate how they make it appropriately dramatic and in ways that I think even kids would appreciate. And, in general, I just love the pacing of the film. It's done perfectly and how they do everything is so incredibly well thought out. It also helps that the characters really help carry the movie so well because of just how likeable they are. I love Anna and Marnie as characters. They're both so likeable and they're so well written too. Anna may have some moments where maybe she does some unlikeable things, but it's done in a way where you don't hate her for it and it's explained really well why it happened. It's also done well because of how tragic they make her. You understand exactly why she is the way she is and you understand why she's had a hard life until now. But she's also developed amazingly throughout the movie. The way she starts the movie being really depressed and how she ends it with being so much happier is done perfectly and is so believable. Marnie is also great as almost like the opposite of Anna because she's more open and carefree and their interactions are so well done. So, like I said, for most of the film, you're constantly trying to figure out what all the weird stuff that's going on is and how it all connects. But, by the end, it all came together amazingly and perfectly when it's finally revealed. So, by the end, it's actually revealed that Marnie is actually Anna's grandmother and all the things Anna was experiencing was Marnie's memories from a different perspective. I swear, I really did not see it coming and how they do is amazing and honestly heartbreaking as well when we hear about Marnie's backstory. I also love how Anna learns all this with Sayaka as well and I really like how their relationship builds through the movie too. And then the actual ending when we see the vision of Marnie saying goodbye to Anna as she leaves, it was just the most perfect ending they could have given after all the questions were answered. Really, I just can't praise this movie enough. I absolutely love it. It has amazing writing, amazing characters and amazing animation. This is honestly Studio Ghibli's best looking movie ever in my opinion. A lot of that is helped by the fact that this is a more recent film, but the movie is honestly one of the most beautiful looking hand-drawn animated movies I've ever seen. The dubbing in this also couldn't have been done any more perfectly, Hailee Steinfeld is absolutely amazing as Anna and Kiernan Shipka does a fantastic job as Marnie. And the others like Grey DeLisle, John C Reilly, Vanessa Williams and Ava Acres are really terrific as well. Like I said, this is honestly tied with Kiki's Delivery Service as far as which one is my all time favourite Studio Ghibli movie. This is also another one of those Ghibli movies that I personally would love as a relaxation film like a lot of the others. So, yeah, everyone, I would absolutely recommend you check this out. I loved it, and I'm so glad I checked it out myself. So, that's my review of When Marnie Was There. So, everyone, after six months of doing these Studio Ghibli reviews, we're finally at the very end. I'm so glad I decided to check these out and review them because they've honestly really helped change my perception of animated movies and I'm so grateful to them for that. I've really loved the experience of going through these with all of you and I hope you've all enjoyed reading these too. Also, Studio Ghibli's next movie is coming out maybe next month, so, if I'm able to see it, I would love to make a review for it so look forward to that whenever it happens. So, yeah, guys, thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

The Tale Of Princess Kaguya

So guys, going back to reviewing the Studio Ghibli movies, we're onto the second last one in this series and another one that's pretty interesting for me personally, The Tale Of Princess Kaguya. When I first saw it, I really liked it and even put it in my top 10 favourite Ghibli movies, but recently, again, like the others, I rewatched it and I was surprised to find my opinion stayed the same. I say that because when rewatching some of these other ones, I usually liked the films more or less when I saw them the second time, but, here, I felt it was about the same as when I first saw it and that's that I really liked it, but I do have some problems with it. But, first, let's get to the story. In Japan, a bamboo cutter is cutting down some trees when he finds a tiny, tiny girl inside of the bamboo trees and he's convinced she's a princess and so the man and his wife take her in as their daughter. She begins to get older really quickly and makes friends with the kids around the area. That is until one day when the dad decides to move into a palace far away so she can really be treated like a princess. At first, she's excited and thinks it'll be fun, but, after a while, she begins to hate it and feels like everything is wrong. The mother seems to want to help her, but the dad is completely obsessed with having life be this way and training her to be a real princess. She also gets the name Kaguya and all sorts of things happen where she begins hating her role as a princess more and more. So, yeah, a lot of this does sound somewhat kinda standard, and a bit of it does feel that way, but, I think a lot of what they do in the start and end is really great stuff. I love watching Kaguya make friends in the village she grows up in and they have a likeable connection and they play with it at different points throughout the movie. Though, I will say, when they leave their home and start the stuff in the palace, that's when things slow down considerably and not in the usual really great way like a lot of other Ghibli movies. For one, I find it weird how they even managed to get the palace in the first place considering the parents aren't royalty. I know they kinda explain it when the dad finds the gold in the bamboo, but it's still kinda weird. But, anyway, other things feel like they go on too long too, like when the dad has that party and when Kaguya is being taught all these different lessons and things like that. I think the worst of them is when Kaguya is forced to pick a husband for herself but she doesn't want to so she makes the princes who came look for some tree that's supposed to be impossible to find and that goes on for a long time too, at least almost a half hour. Also, just a quick sidenote, I don't know what they were going for with the dad. Maybe they were trying to make him likeable or unlikeable, but I really hated him. He just seemed like an egocentric idiot who just seemed to care about his own image and not caring about Kaguya's opinion and I really hated him. So, yeah, weird things like that really stuck out to me as nitpicks. But, the rest of  the film does a nice job making it really likeable. Like I said, I really like the opening showing Kaguya having fun with her friends and what they all do together and how we end up seeing them again near the end. Speaking of, the ending is also pretty bittersweet where we see that Kaguya is actually from the moon and so her people from the moon come to take her back and it's pretty sad seeing her leave, especially since they make it clear she's gonna forget everything that happened to her when she does. I also especially liked the connection between Kaguya and the mom because they felt like they had a real and nice relationship. The main thing the film has going for it though is the animation style. I really like how this film looked. It looks like some of those chinese watercolour paintings and how they keep that up for the whole film makes it really gorgeous, especially the scene where Kaguya gets upset at the party and dreams about running away and how they do that is really cool. I don't think this is the best looking Ghibli movie, but it's one of the most unique looking ones. I also liked how this is one of those princess stories where you feel the frustrations of what she's going through and a lot of it does feel very real and relatable. So, I'm kinda torn on this film a little because it has some of the best stuff in any of the Studio Ghibli movies, but it also has some of the worst examples of a slow moving Ghibli movie where I don't think it always works like a lot of the others. However, I will say, I think a lot of what helped it for me personally was the voice acting. I'm sure I would have liked this fine if I saw it in Japanese, but I really, really loved the English voice acting here, especially Chloe Grace Moretz as Kaguya herself. I think she's honestly the best part about the movie because her voice fits Kaguya absolutely perfectly and I don't think anyone could have done her better. Again, I just really do believe her performance elevates the movie so much. And the others like James Caan, Mary Steenburgen, Darren Criss and Lucy Liu are really great too. So, yeah, like I said, I think this is an interesting film for me because, while I think a lot of the good things in this helps make this one of my favourite Ghibli movies, I also don't think this is one of the ones I'd want to watch that many times. I don't know if that makes sense, but that's how I feel. Still though, this is a really good film and I would highly recommend it if you've never seen it just to see all the good stuff I listed. So, guys, that's my review of The Tale Of Princess Kaguya. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.