The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)

This is a film from the studio Ghibli, but unlike the other more famous films from that studio (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Ponyo, etc) this one wasn’t a Hayao Myazaki production. It does however moderately borrow his style, so it has that appeal. The story is based on the book titled, The Borrowers by Mary Norton, and indeed, the characters share the same names as their novel counterparts.

The story is about a young girl named Arrietty who lives with her mom and dad in a huge house in the countryside. This house is much more large for Arrietty and her parents, because they are all tiny people, about the height of a mouse. Arrietty is a borrower, a small person who lives in a regular bein’ (human being) sized house, and borrow things from around the house to survive. If anyone finds out they’re there however, they must leave for their own safety.

The story begins when a young human boy comes to the house Arrietty lives in. Sho (or Shawn in the English version), is a terminally sick boy whose mother was raised in that house. He was moved out to the country for the sake of his health, but he’s a very lonely boy. Arrietty on the other hand, is ready to go out on her first borrowing mission, but she has some bad luck and Sho sees her! This is a big problem for Arrietty and her family because it means they must now leave the house. Sho of course is delighted that there might be little magical people living in the house and tried to find Arrietty and get close to her. We get to see a little bit of Arrietty’s world, Sho’s attempts to interact with Arrietty, throw in a suspicious housekeeper who seems to have a burning desire to destroy what she suspects to be little thieves in her house, and that’s pretty much the movie.

I’m familiar with this story. I’ve read the novel and seen the 1997 version of The Borrowers (which I slightly prefer to this representation by the way), so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect and had my own expectations going in. But the film wasn’t a disappointment. It was a little slow-moving at times, but the pace was consistent and never did I feel that the story was stagnating. It was more of a charming film than a comedy or drama, more exploratory. I do have to say however, that it was not a top-notch film. Though it used the same style of animation and storytelling as in the Myazaki films, the mood of the film was somewhat stagnant in comparison and lacked that air of magical possibility. In comparison with the 1197 English version, it was a very slow-moving interpretation of the story. The parents are also kind of flat personalities that rely on stereotype rather than demonstration to let you know who they are, and that could be said about almost every character except for Arrietty herself. However, that said, the movie was a nice little film overall and worth a sit through.

movie poster

The Secret of Kells (2009)

This is the story of a young boy named Brendan who lives with him uncle who is the head of the monastery, Kells. They are living in a time where invaders are pillaging and killing small villages and Brendan’s uncle is obsessed with building a wall he thinks will keep them out. He has forbidden Brendan from ever travelling outside of the walls. Then another monk, brother Aiden, comes to Kells and he is the holder of a book that has the most amazing illuminations in it. The book is supposed to change with life of anyone who reads it, but it isn’t finished yet. Brendan’s uncle has also forbade Brendan and the other monks from doing any illumination because he wanted everyone to be as consumed with the building of the wall as he was. When brother Aiden came however, he inspired Brendan to want to see his illuminations. Aiden sent Brendan into the forest to find berries he needed to make ink, and he went. This was Brendan’s first rebellions against his uncle and he was very nervous and got lost in the forest. There he meets a wolf who turns into a girl, named Ashley. She’s a fairy and befriends and helps Brendan. On the way back to the monastery they come across an evil presence which we deal with later. So Brendan studies illumination under the tutelage of Aiden and things are progressing quite well until Aiden realized he lost a glass that helps him do the most intricate work, and the name of the glass shares the name of  the evil presence Brendan and Ashley passed in the forest. So Brendan takes it upon himself to fight this beast for the sake of the book that will change the world.

This film is a visual masterpiece. Everything is geometrical. At first glance the animation looks juvenile and simple, but the scenes are so well laid out and intricate. The characters are very geometrical in nature, and when they run in a group they form a single shape. The cracks or shapes in between objects or objects themselves are all patterned.

One flaw I found in the film was that the monks were all of different nationalities and the portrayal of their different nationalities was really racist, almost offensively so. They weren’t a large part of the film though, so it didn’t bother me as much as they would have if they’d played a larger role.

Jack and the Beanstalk (1974)

This is a Japanese cartoon adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk. I don’t know what it is about it, but I think I will always remember watching this film. It’s not traumatizing or overly weird, I felt more hypnotized than anything while watching it. It’s just like any other film, but I just re-watched it recently after about a 15 year gap of having no seen it and I was hit with huge wave of nostalgia, every line and song and movement was familiar. I thought it was just me of course as I am sometimes told that I have a very esoteric taste in… everything, but after browsing through some forums I discovered that almost everyone who watched this film when they were younger loved it intensely and it has affected them in someway or another. And as I re-watched it I’d have to say that I agree with the sentiment.

The story is a familiar one. A poor boy and his mother live in a little shack of a house trying to make ends meet when one day their cow stops giving milk. The mother sends the boy, Jack, to the market to get a decent price for it. On the way to the market however, the boy is intercepted by a man playing weird piano (the note from which I can always remember so clearly as they were so queer), who convinces him to take a handful of magic beans in exchange for the cow. His mother is furious and throws the beans out the window, and after disciplining Jack, goes to bed. In the night the beanstalk grows and a little mouse comes running down it. The mouse motions to Jack’s dog of trouble up the beanstalk and Jack comes out of the house marvelling at what had grown in his backyard. Jack, his dog, and the mouse all climb up the beanstalk. When they get to the top they come out of an old well in the courtyard of a castle and see this girl standing there watching them with an oddly vacant expression. She is the princess of castle and she tells Jack of the joy she will have when she marries her beloved prince Tulip. Jack soon discovers that Tulip is a giant and that his mother is an evil witch who is trying become queen by enchanting the princess to want to marry her son. Jack then faces the dilemma of whether or not to help the princess or leave with his gold.

I enjoyed the characters a lot, but what I like about it is there are two stories going on at the same time, one involving people and one with animals. Jack can’t understand what any of the animals say and he doesn’t even pay much attention to them most of the time because he’s busy with his own plot line and agenda, but there are animals throughout the movie and the all have very vibrant personalities. Even the audience can’t understand what they’re saying, but through movements and expressions you can tell what they’re trying to say. A lot of story lines with both people and animals bridge the gap between them and let them talk to each other  or let the audience understand them if the people in the film don’t. The animals in this film actually have their own sub-plot.

The music in this movie is captivating. It’s not an award-winning score by any means, but there is just something odd about it that catches at one’s interest. It’s not quite unsettling, but it doesn’t fade into the background either. The music is definitely one of the aspect that will draw you into the film to make you love it. The characters are good and the plot is very interesting, but the music is what will get you. The artwork too. There’s just something about the movements of the characters and the setting, especially in the castle.

As I said, this isn’t the best movie I’ve ever seen, nor is it even the best Jack and the Beanstalk story I’ve heard. Despite that, this is the kind of film that you’ll remember after you’ve grown up. I don’t know what exactly it is about it, but I do know that I enjoy watching it and will probably try to obtain it at some point on dvd.

Christmas Playlist

These films aren’t in any particular order, but they are all films I watch around Christmas time to help me get into the Christmas mood.

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)- A reindeer born with a red nose is bullied as he grows up. He and an elf who wants to be a dentist decide to leave and find other misfits like them and they find the island of misfit toys. When Rudolf finds out that his girlfriend and his family are in trouble, they go back to save them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6IAY9bSP7s

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1948)- A Fleischer cartoon. Rudolph is made fun of by the other reindeer until one Christmas night when the fog is too thick and Santa can’t fly out to deliver presents and only Rudolph’s nose can provide enough light for Santa to see. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22ZYhvOK0bI

Santa Claus is Coming to Town (1970)- This is the story of how Santa Claus came to be. He was actually an orphan who was dropped off on the doorstep of some toy making little people called the Kringles who name him Kris. As he grew up he learned various things from the animals, like how to laugh from the seals. And when he grew up he  took on the family uniform consisting of a red suit trimmed with white. He goes down to a small village and discovers that the evil town mayor burgermeister miesterburger is outlawing toys because he tripped on one. Kris of course finds this to be abominable and finds various ways to deliver toys to the children, which explain the Santa we know such as stockings and the chimney bit. He also befriends the evil wizard in the woods, who loses his powers after he becomes good, and this wizard gives some reindeer magic corn to help them get out of a tight spot. Eventually toys become accepted and Santa is no longer an outlaw and can deliver toys in peace. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mknYnLo8Tb4

The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974)- One year santa decides that no one in the world cares about Christmas anymore, that there’s no real Christmas spirit alive in the world anymore. So he decided that no one would miss him come Christmas eve and planned to take a holiday instead of deliver presents to people who didn’t care anymore. So Mrs. Claus sends two elves down to find some Christmas spirit. The elves also run into the heat miser and the snow miser, two beings that control the elements of fire and ice, and they get into some trouble with them. Eventually they do find some Christmas spirit and show it to Santa just in time for him to suit up and go about his duties. Classic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPrbccEdI5o

Frosty the Snowman (1969)- The story of a snowman that comes to life one Christmas due to the help of some children and a magic hat. The snowman and one of the young girls run away to the north pole to escape the magician who owns the magic hat and wants to take it back now that he knows it’s worth something. There are sequels but in my personal opinion this is the only one worth watching. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmuJDmjq-xQ

Christmas Comes But Once A Year (1936)- This short film features Grampy from Betty Boop. He passes by an orphanage on Christmas and hears very loud crying. This is because all of their toys broke because they we cheap. So typical Grampy sneaks into their house and makes them toys out of random kitchen objects and they are all happy in the end.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4y8wj01MmU

Santa’s Surprise (1947)- This is a Little Audrey episode where Audrey and kids from all around the world decide to give Santa a present one Christmas and clean his house for him. It is extremely racist but cute otherwise.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOSZOhpuhfM

The Snowman (1982)- A beautifully touching short about a boy who makes a snowman that comes to life one night. The boy and the snowman have fun around the boy’s house and after that fly up to the north pole where they join the snowman ball and even meet Santa. The snowman then takes the boy home and the boy goes to bed, and when he wakes up the next morning he finds that the snowman has melted. It’s very sad, when my younger brother was a toddler he actually cried watching this. The entire film is wordless, the soundtrack compliments the action and the song as they fly to the north pole is one of the best parts, it’s Walking in the Air by Blake.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubeVUnGQOIk

Toy Tinkers (1949)- Chip and Dale spot Donald Duck cutting down a christmas tree and follow him home. When they look into his window they see all of the Christmas goodies he has and end up having a war with him for the nuts and sweets http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miEi3F8s8H8

Pluto’s Christmas Tree (1952)- Another episode with Chip and Dale, only this time they see Mickey and Pluto out looking for a good tree to chop down and after taunting Pluto, hide in the tree Mickey chooses. They take a short nap and when they wake up the tree is almost completely decorated and they find themselves in a colourful magical place. Pluto spots them after they have some fun with the ornaments and eventually Mickey finds them and welcomes them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKVuL6xi8Rk&feature=related

Donald’s Snow Fight (1942)- Donald bundles up to go sledding on a cold winter day and harasses the triplets and causes a huge snow fight.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCjokrhNXCE&feature=related

Hector’s Hectic Life (1948)- A dog’s owners go out for a bit leaving his strict instructions not to mess up the house. He finds some puppies they make a mess of the house. The owners come home and are ready to thrown out the dog into the cold but the puppies come out and defend him. The owners are so happy to find puppies that they forgive the old dog.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfIkjQkm79c

A Christmas Carol (1999)- The one with Patrick Stewart.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upAYkFugbco&feature=related

A Christmas Carol (1984)- Another one that’s good.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kcq6y496nrI&feature=related

A Christmas Carol (1951)- And yet another one. Also very good.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpbthuKFuFA&feature=related

Tenth Avenue Angel (1948)- Flavia has been told that her aunt’s fiance has been travelling the world, but in reality he’s been in prison. When she finds this out she loses faith in everything she’s ever believed including her family and god and only a miracle will change her mind. She finds a model cow on its knees in the nativity scene and asks why and her mother tells her that all cows kneel at 12 o’clock on Christmas morning. She of course doesn’t believe this, but goes on a wild quest to find out whether or not it’s true. She does find a cow kneeling when the time comes, but this is an interesting story about telling children things we don’t believe, or even things we do, and why, even though they tell her some whoppers (though it doesn’t go into the why of course. That’s more for you to think about). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5qZRlfJBR0

Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983)- Mickey takes on the Dickens classic and does a pretty good job of staying retelling the story. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCO4D7KTRtE

The Nutcracker Prince (1990)- A great version of the story. One of my favourite.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0tmsTJywAI

Barbie in the Nutcracker (2001)- After her nutcracker’s battle with the rats in her house, Barbie goes on a journey in a sugary wonderland to save the prince and defeat the rat king. Great adaptation.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FslsVu2Z8d0

Barbie’s Christmas Carol (2008)- The story is a little bit altered, but it’s still good and gets the message across. Eden is a successful opera singer who is very selfish. She gets angry at her stage group and says that f they don’t cancel their Christmas plans the practice their next performance they’ll be fired. So her dead aunt visits her and sends her three ghosts, etc.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YSCuKARLi8

Elf (2003)- The story of a human who was raised by elves decides to go to New York to find his father and inspire Christmas cheer in all that he meets  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvtmsqyOkhc

It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)- The story of a man at the end of his rope who is about to commit suicide. An angel intervenes shows him what the world would be like if he wasn’t in it and what he has to be grateful for.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJfZaT8ncYk

The Polar Express (2004)- The story of a boy who is almost at the age where he is about to stop believing in Santa. He’s invited to go on a magical train ride to the north pole and see Santa and Santa gives him a bell that can only be heard by people who believe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVfB6GhlwIM

Mole’s Christmas (1994)- Mole and Rat from Wind in the Willows are on their way back to Rat’s house when Mole smells his old home. The pair find the home and end up spending Christmas there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DxgtFoo_zk

How The Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)- The story of the Grinch, who hates Christmas and tries one year to stop it from happening. In the process he finds that Christmas is more than the stuff. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYRnwWmteac

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) – The live action version.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl12cnQxAaU

Miracle On 34th Street (1947)- An old man claiming to be Santa Claus tries to convince a young girl and her mother that he exists. In the process he assaults someone and ends up going to court. Interesting trailer to say the least.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IZr_SvCcXc

Miracle On 34th Street (1994)- Pretty much the same but they change up the climax of the courtroom scene. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiypbCFV7Ao&feature=related

White Christmas (1954)- Two ex-GIs and two sisters go to an inn and sing and dance. Basically. It’s not the most exciting Christmas movie, but I end up watching it every year. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB1ZD6JKxes

Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean (1992)- The funniest Christmas show ever. Ever.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB1ZD6JKxes

 

 

 

Christmas in Connecticut (1945)- A woman who write the most successful column in a magazine about her life as a mother and cook on a farm in Connecticut, but in reality she’s a single woman living in the city. This becomes a problem when a nurse asks the magazine if a wounded solider can spend christmas with her so that he’ll marry the nurse, and the owner says that that should be fine and he ends up going too. The woman is in some trouble here because she cant cook and only has an apartment, so she promises to marry a wealthy man who has been trying to persuade her to marry him for many years. She also brings along a chef friend who cooks. The whole weekend is a series of close calls and romance.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVTF5XIpqL0

Home Alone (1990)- A boy gets left behind when his family goes on vacation and he has to booby trap his house to get to better of a couple of bandits. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK2Btk6Ybm0

Home Alone 2 (1992)- This time the boy goes on vacation with his family, but get separated at the airport and ends up going to New York instead of Miami. He runs into the bandits again. Home alone movies end here.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_An3W-oO2k&feature=related

Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmas (1999)- A collection of three short stories. In the first Hugie, Dewie and Lewie learn that it’s better to have one Christmas with the people you love than a million Christmases with only your toys. In the second Max and Goofy work out whether or not they believe in Santa Claus and whether or not it matters, and the third is Mickey and Minnie in the story of the gift of the magi. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-mJwHb8kQc

The Little Match Girl (2006)- A poor girl tries to sell matches on the street and sees visions or a happier life before she dies. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUSzQBaWq0Q&feature=related

The Santa Clause (1994)- A man kills Santa and subsequently becomes him.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOsE81woec4

Santa Claus (1985)- There is a prophecy of a master toy make who will come to the North Pole but an elf goes to a consumeristic man for help and he tries to commercialize the north pole.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hbX_fRgzqk

The Nutcracker (1993)- This is basically the ballet on film, but it’s still great to watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgbw_zfPB-Y&feature=related

The Secret of the Nutcracker (2007)- This is a contemporary adaptation of the Nutcracker set in the 40’s. The girl deals more with her father’s absence due to the war than she does some magical quest to help out her wooden doll. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bTrKmSDlPQ

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)- Charlie Brown gets fed up with the commercialism of Christmas and tries to celebrate Christmas how he thinks it should be celebrated, which fails until his friends come to help.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8N6d0oIEzw&feature=related

Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)- The king of Hallowe’en town discovers Christmas and tries to bring it home with him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qrB9I3DM80

The Small One (1978)- A boy has to sell his donkey because he’s getting old but the only one in town who needs a donkey is the tanner. Just when all seems hopeless a man comes up to the boy and asks to buy the donkey to carry his wife to Bethlehem. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGTjbSS8hSc

The Holiday (2006)- Two women switch houses to escape their lives for a while and meet men while they’re away. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0p8Su3bdHc

The Family Man (2000)- A man is given a glimpse of what his life would have been like if he’d chosen having a family over a career.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My7Fb0cI1Gc