The Walt Disney Animation Studio, pound for pound the most reliable entertainment bet in Hollywood, has struck gold again with Raya and the Last Dragon. This beautifully presented fantasy adventure should be a good bet to revive the fortunes of movie … Continue reading REVIEW: Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)
Since the mid-1980s Studio Ghibli has been the world’s premier production house for animated films. Led by directors Hayao Miyazaki and the late Isao Takahata, Ghibli has produced more than 20 features in an unparalleled run of creative successes. They … Continue reading REVIEW: Earwig and the Witch (2020)
Or, to give its full translated title: Kazuo Oga: Ghibli’s Image Artisan: The Art Who Made Totoro’s Forest. This is a 75-minute documentary focused on Kazuo Oga, who has worked since the mid-1980s as an art director and background painter for … Continue reading REVIEW: Kazuo Oga: Ghibli’s Image Artisan (2007)
Political cartoonist Aurel (Aurélien Froment) makes his feature directing debut with this heartfelt and political animation set in a 1939 concentration camp. Not a German one, however: when half a million Spanish refugees fled across the French border to escape … Continue reading REVIEW: Josep (2020)
Penguin Highway, a 2018 animated feature based on the Tomihiko Morimi novel, represents the best and worst of anime. On the one hand it boasts a richly developed and wonderfully imaginative story that boasts both clever ideas and a warm, … Continue reading REVIEW: Penguin Highway (2018)
A particular kind of anime fan will likely have a ball with Blame!, a 2017 feature film based on a Tsutomi Nihei manga. Produced with fluid and impressively detailed computer-generated animation, it offers a serious science fiction story backed up with … Continue reading REVIEW: Blame! (2017)
Ben (David Ralwe) lives on a lighthouse with his father Colin (Brendan Gleeson) and little sister Saoirse. His mother vanished the night she gave birth to Saoirse, who is non-verbal. Ben blames his sister for his mother’s disappearance, while Colin … Continue reading REVIEW: Song of the Sea (2014)
In the town of Cheesebridge, rich and powerful “white hats” lounge and eat expensive cheeses from their rich mansions above the general “red hat” population. The locals live in fear of the baby-snatching boxtrolls, who maraud the city streets at … Continue reading REVIEW: The Boxtrolls (2014)
Kai lives a sullen life in the coastal Hinashi Town with his umbrella-making grandfather and recently divorced father. Kai plays in a teen band with his friends Kunio and Yuho, though he is thinking of quitting. When a trip to … Continue reading REVIEW: Lu Over the Wall (2017)
A group of four animals – a puppy, a pheasant, a monkey, and a bear – leave their families to help with the Japanese war effort. After basic training, they are dispatched as paratoopers to invade Suwawesi and wrest control … Continue reading REVIEW: Momotaro, Sacred Sailors (1945)
