There’s so much eye candy displayed you almost forget about the labored exposition and hackneyed plot.
All in Anime
Eric Khoo's TATSUMI
Tatsumi is an adult animated film about the life and short stories of Yoshihiro Tatsumi who is often credited with starting a movement in Japan to publish adult-themed manga comics.
Hayao Miyazaki's LUPIN THE 3RD: THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO
This is Miyazaki’s first feature films. It portends a lot of what’s to come in his career: dizzying action, vibrant color, clever stories, strong females, and humor.
Akiyuki Shinbo's LE PORTRAIT DE PETITE COSSETTE
A young man becomes obsessed with the spirit of a murdered girl he finds entrapped in a glass in the antique shop where he works.
Hayao Miyazaki's PONYO
This is some of Miyazaki’s best work. It’s enchanting, touching, sentimental, funny, and occasionally, simply astonishing. Miyazaki has a gift for capturing the honesty and wonder of childhood yet he does so without sugarcoating or pandering.
Fumihiko Sori's VEXILLE
This movie has plot holes galore, the graphic concepts and technologies are derivative, and the characters are oddly un-engaging. Still, it moves along at a very fast clip, the story itself is unusual, and some of the action sequences are spectacular.
Mamoru Hosoda's “THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME”
At first I thought, “Uh-oh, this is another one of those interminable animes about Japanese high school kids dealing with adolescent angst.” Boy, was I wrong.
Keiichi Sugiyama's ORIGIN: SPIRITS OF THE PAST
The visuals and artwork are impressive but the characters and story are a letdown.
Makoto Shinkai's “THE PLACE PROMISED IN OUR EARLY DAYS”
The creator of Voices of a Distant Star returns to adolescence but with a serious twist.
Makoto Shinkai's “VOICES OF A DISTANT STAR”
It is a fantastic achievement. The art work is better than most of what you see on ADULT SWIM (by a very wide margin), the design of the spaceships and alien vessels is beautiful, the combination of simulation and electronic display inside the power suits looks quite original, and the story, while short at 28 minutes, packs an astonishing amount of information and story elements in while not swerving from the relentless focus on these two emotional lovers, communicating (one way) over a gulf of light years.
Satoshi Kon’s “PAPRIKA”
As we walked out of the theater after seeing Satoshi Kon’s Paprika, I told Number One Son, “Now I know it’s possible to really film a Philip K. Dick novel!”
Satoshi Kon's “PERFECT BLUE”
Why is this psychological terror/murder mystery/serial killer story a cartoon?
Satoshi Kon’s MILLENNIUM ACTRESS
One of the most mature, evocative, creative, and melodramatic movies I’ve seen all year is an animated film, directed by the same director (Satoshi Kon) as the realistic yet disappointing (to me) potboiler Perfect Blue and of the excellent Tokyo Godfathers.
Satoshi Kon’s "TOKYO GODFATHERS"
Satoshi Kon’s TOKYO GODFATHERS, like his MILLENIUM ACTRESS, proves again animation’s spectacular dramatic and artistic potential. From an unlikely story Satoshi weaves a dramatic and humorous tale that soars above cliché and treacly melodrama.
Hayao Miyazaki's SPIRITED AWAY
Back when I first heard the story of Spirited Away I thought that this would never go over big in the U.S. (young girl gets lost in an abandoned amusement park populated by vacationing spirits and seeks a way to turn her parents back into humans from pigs?) I thought it would make an excellent candidate as a simultaneous theatrical/DVD release, given its probable small target audience.
Hayao Miyazaki's PRINCESS MONONOKE
This is an epic adventure interspersed with elements of Japanese folklore, magic, feral teenagers, giant wolves, strong and aggressive women, warfare, politics, terrific music, and enough related plot lines to kill a horse.
Hayao Miyazaki's “PORCO ROSSO”
This is an astonishing, moving, and intelligent animated film about a post WWI Mediterranean air pirate who is half man and half pig.
Lain
I originally published this review in 2002. I thought about it again aftre seeing The Last Exile, a more recent Japanese animated science fiction TV series.
Katsuhiro Ôtomo's “STEAMBOY”
At the end of Steamboy the credits roll over a series of detailed pictures that project the main characters of the movie into the future. We see Ray Steam’s inventions unfold even further, and they include flight and airplanes. And we see Scarlett defiantly staring into the camera as well as she shares Ray’s future.
Hayao Miyazaki's “HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE”
What did I like least about this film? The answer: the ending. It is too pat, too rushed, too abrupt. What do I like most? Just about everything else. In fact, I found myself smiling at what I was seeing on the screen more often than in any movie I’ve seen since The Incredibles — and that is saying a lot.