I watched "Whispers from the Heart" last night, one of the few Ghibli movies I had yet to see (along with "Porco Rosso", "Pom Poko", and "My Neighbours the Yamadas").
First of all, this movie tied so closely with my 2nd favourite Ghibli movie, "The Cat Returns", that I enjoyed it just for that. I adore The Baron (even more when he has Cary Elwes' voice!) and it was cute seeing Moota prowling around Tokyo.
One thing that really *really* bothered me was the song. The main character Shizuku (spelling may vary) wants to be a writer (which struck a major chord with me) so she's writing lyrics to a song she and her friends will sing at graduation from junior high. I'm not sure what the original Japanese song was, but Disney in all it's patriotic glory, had them singing "Country Roads". It's a horrible song to begin with, but it also felt completely wrong. It just didn't fit with the scenes of Tokyo. That bugged me the entire movie.
I loved seeing Shizuku's apartment and the wonderful views of Tokyo, although I realize it's just an animation and Tokyo probably doesn't look exactly like that. Still, it's as close to Japan as I can get on my budget and I can pretend that everyone there speaks English :)
The movie was adorable and, upon proper consideration, might be bumped up to my 3rd favourite Ghibli movie... or maybe 4th. I do love "Spirited Away"!
In case you're curious, here's my ranking:
1. Howl's Moving Castle
2. The Cat Returns
3. Spirited Away /Whispers of the Heart (tied for now)
4. Princess Mononoke
5. My Neighbor Totoro
6. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds
7. Castle in the Sky
8. Grave of the Fireflies
... did I miss any?
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Is Kiki's Delivery Service Ghibli? I don't remember.
[sigh] So many of Miyazaki-sensei's works to still see. The first one I saw was the horrible early 80s dub of Nausicaa, "Warriors of the Wind", the dub that was so bad, Miyazaki refused to sell any more North American distribution rights for over a decade. I caught a fansub of Nausicaa when I was part of McMaster's anime club, and now finally own my own copy (of which the dub is quite good). I think that's still my favourite Ghibli film.
I also liked Laputa the Castle in the Sky. Mononoke, I felt came across as derivative of Nausicaa, but maybe I have to watch it again.
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