Two Great Animated Films from Japan

We’ve talked about Hayao Miyazaki, and Studio Ghibli a few times. It’s no secret that I think Spirited Away is one of the greatest fantasy films of all time. But that was released in 2001 – just what have Miyazaki and the Ghibli crew been up to in the past decade?

Today we’ll look at the first two films they released following Spirited Away.

Cat Returns
(Neko no Ogaeshi)



Miyazaki came up with the concept (allegedly on request from a theme park) and produced this Studio Ghibli production, but turned the directing reigns over to Hiroyuki Morita. The Cat Returns is definitely skewed toward a younger audience than Spirited Away, more like the films Studio Ghibli produced in the pre- Princess Mononoke days, which is not surprising since it’s essentially a sequel of sorts to Miyazaki’s earlier film Whisper of the Heart.

The story involves a young girl who rescues a cat from being run over in traffic. It turns out that he is the Prince of Cats, and she soon finds herself the object of all sorts of unwanted attention from felines, including becoming engaged to be married to a cat.

While it’s far from the best Studio Ghibli has done so far, the story is fun and charming in a Wizard of Oz kind of way, and this is one anime that was so carefully handled in the English dubbing that I can definitely recommend the English language version.


Howl's Moving Castle




Miyazaki’s feature length directorial follow up to Spirited Away, is Howl’s Moving Castle, based on the book of the same name. This is another fantasy film with complex plots along the lines of Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away, and while not as good as Spirited Away, it’s still among Miyazaki’s best.

The story concerns a young girl afflicted by a curse, whose sole salvation lies in the hands of a self-absorbed wizard named Howl, but just finding howl is a challenge as his castle doesn’t stay in one place for long.

In addition to a pretty strong storyline, Howl’s Moving Castle features some of the best cell animation ever filmed – the artwork and landscapes are breathtaking. With this one I recommend the subtitled version (although you will miss out on Billy Crystal as the fire elemental ‘Calcifer’ – one of the few really good comic relief characters in English dubbed anime) which is a much better translation.