TheRetroCritic

As the doors of legendary animation empire Studio Ghibli slowly close (though hopefully only for a short time), much to everyone's chagrin, here is yet another example of just how good and important these guys are to the medium. The Tale Of Princess Kaguya may sound like just another surreal folktale on paper but one look at the stunning watercolour/charcoal-style animation used here by visual maestro Isao Takahata ( Pom Poko , My Neighbors The Yamadas ) and you'll find yourself instantly mesmerised by this tale of a baby born out of a bamboo tree. While Hayao Miyazaki was and is a genius at bringing to the screen all-around great-looking, often epic stories, Takahata's forte seems to be to bring an off-beat artistry to the animation and tell predominantly emotional, melodramatic, affecting stories. Case and point: Grave Of The Fireflies . And, to a certain extent, this movie which shows us a young woman's entire life flash by her put-upon parents' eyes as the

Here's one Studio Ghibli film which was basically completely different than what I expected. And, seeing as it's one of the only films from the studio which didn't do all that well at the Japanese box-office, I'm guessing I wasn't the only one to expect something different from it. From looking at it vaguely, I thought My Neighbors The Yamadas would follow one goofy family as they embark on some crazy adventures. In fact, this is a much more artistic and reflective creation more akin to a deadpan comic strip. The humour isn't cartoonish at all, it's actually pretty subtle and restrained. Here we have an ensemble character study about everyday Japanese family life in which everyone looks really weird, like caricatures, and which promotes an overall cosy, poetic vibe. Our focus is entirely on this one family as we pop in and out of their lives depending on what mini-theme the movie wants to tackle. It can be about something really small, like the mother