Animation and rarities (was 'other hobbies')

[Huscheli]

[cmoon]

[Huscheli]

[Path]

[strobe_z]

Has anyone else seen Studio Ghibli's "Pom Poko"? I wouldn't call it a "sad" movie, but it is quite sombre in places. If cmoon hasn't seen it, I highly recommend it because I think you could draw some interesting parallels between it and Tezuka's take on environmentalism/conservationism.

Basically the traditional "shape-shifting" magical racoons of Japanese lore decide to declare war on humanity in order to try and preserve their mountain home in the face of urban expansion. One of my favourite parts of the movie is when the "undercover" Racoons in Human-form realize that they're negotiating with "undercover" shape-shifting Foxes in Human-form (another mythical Japanese animal). I found it quite interesting that the foxes have adopted a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" attitude.

Pom Poko is a bit off the Ghibli beaten path.. and I didn't really pay it much heed because it looked rather goofy, but it's become one of my favourites.

[Ash]

Meh, I didn't like Pom Poko that much. It tried to hard to convey it's message IMHO, something other Ghibli movies do a lot less.

My favorite Ghibli is Laputa by the way, known it since I was a wee li'll lad and still loving it ^_^ An adventuremovie by Miyazaki pur sang.

[cmoon]

[mippa]

Oh my GOSH I remember The Little Fox! I have been trying to find clips/anything of it ANYWHERE...

...I kinda remember Watership Down, though for me The Last Unicorn is one of those animated movies that has always stuck with me. *.* Though that one isn't nearly as underground as some of the ones you all have mentioned...

[Huscheli]

[cmoon]

[cmoon]

Let me also add the animation by Yori Norstein. They all seem excellent to me, but none better than Hedgehog in the fog:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRsXU4Q6a0Q

[Jiminy]

I'm really into the Norstein films at the moment. Although I favour the much darker Tale of Tales, it's only because I think his animation fits that frightened, paranoid mood which is unsettling in the Hedgehod in the Fog but downright disturbing in Tale of Tales. I only wish I knew what half of it meant - I could use the excuse that I don't speak Russian, but it was dialogue-free anyway.

I'm only familiar with the book version of Nimh, and now I think I'm glad of it. A magic amulet?

[cmoon]

[Jiminy]

Wow, that's a lot of unexplained changes. Now I really understand your misgivings about NIMH. I do love rich artwork and animation though, so maybe I'll rent a copy and disable the logic parts of my brain while I admire the pretty pictures. Thanks for the heads up!

[Kevin]