not your average toOns

on a random day, a random kid after Little Mermaid/SnowWhite asked me
"hey, jie, what's the moral behind the cartoon?"
i was dumbfounded.
ermmm "Little Mermaid teaches us not to save random drowning victim cause in the end he will break ur heart, SnowWhite-u should sleep on while waiting for ur Prince Charming to kiss u"
wait...that sounds wrong.

and no, i dont really watch Disney due to the "happily ever after" which of course unluckily seldom applies to the reality.
in fact, i am sick of Disney. it's overrated.
in fact, i am more to Asian favors of toons especially those by the Ghibli Studio.
It's so good that it should be made MANDATORY for kids.

i was first introduced to Ghibli because a friend used to name himself as Totoro. he is pathetic fan of Totoro. checking out Totoro leads me to a series of Ghibli works

となりのトトロ (My Neighbour Totoro)

Totoro is a classic. and once u take a classic for a starter, u will be starving for more
this fat cat has become the mascot representing Studio Ghibli..
an asteroid is named as 10160 Totoro..

千と千尋の神隠し (Spirited Away)

this movie, my friend, has all the attention in the world when it wins a number of award (including the 1st anime film to win Academy Award).

火垂るの墓 (Grave of the Fireflies)

if u dont cry after this, u are one ruthless cold-blooded mortal. i cry buckets over this.
so simple, yet reflecting.
just so u dont think i shiok sendiri here-according to Roger Joseph Ebert (an expert at reviews), this is one of the BEST anti-war movie ever made.
there is a life-action movie based on this. yet to watch.

魔女の宅急便 (Kiki's Delivery Service)

i dont really like this myself. esp the storyline. nothing to shout about
despite that, it brought home a few awards too.

もののけ姫 (Princess Mononoke)

i have to sit 3hours for this.
it was good nonetheless but not much for me to exaggerate on

ハウルの動く城 (Howl's Moving Castle)

with Kimura Takuya (yeah, i still think he is hot despite his ojeesan age) as the voice casting.
the last Ghibli i watched.

and left me there thirst for more cause afterward, Ghibli went silent...
until

崖の上のポニョ(Ponyo on a Cliff) a July 2008 production

i watched through the first 15 min (stop cause i need to attend church activity) so yet to comment. but graphically settings are much simplified, me heart


the best part is, all these animation from Ghibli studio, u can watch it over and over again-discovering new things without getting sick of it.
it's not ur average "once upon a time.." and "she is the most beautiful in the land" and "oh here comes the Prince who saves the day"...and the sickening ending of all "...and they lived happily ever after" (did i mention that before?hmm)
then u watch the second time, u are staring blankly then the next thing u know, u are damn heck burning the DVD and smashing the screen.
the only thing that stopped me from throwing that chair at the new flat-screen, is my dad's cold stare

p/s: i do have a happy childhood,fyi. i just want my future kids to realise that world is not so pretty afterall. expose them first to Ghibli then followed by Disney.
p/p/s: the above listed movies are just PART of the studio products, they have few others which i yet to watch. i watched blockbuster first ma...