This is our favorite of the Studio Ghibli movies (so far). Two young girls move to the countryside with their father so they can be closer to their mother who, suffering from tuberculosis, is confined to a hospital bed. While exploring their surroundings they discover and befriend Totoro, a giant forest spirit. As the girls struggle to come to terms with the absence of their mother, Totoro watches over them, coming to the rescue when needed.

A charming movie that perfectly captures the bittersweet innocence of childhood and resilience of the human spirit.

Posted by ksmoker at 10:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Another Miyazaki creation, this one tells the story of a young witch who strikes out on her own to develop her craft--apparently, every witch does a year of solitary training when they turn thirteen. Kiki, settles in a city that doesn't seem to particularly require any of her admittedly limited magical talents, so she sets up a delivery service.

This, like many other Miyazaki creations, focuses on a young woman's struggle to grow up while being true to herself. it also features the voice of Phil Hartman as Jiji the cat.

Posted by ksmoker at 9:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We caught pieces of this Hayao Miyazaki masterpiece recently on the Cartoon Network and then promptly moved it to the top of the Netflix queue. Miyazaki has been described as a cross between Spielberg and Dr. Seuss. That doesn't really adequately describe the boundlessness and playfulness of his imagination, but it gives you a clue.

Here's my clumsy attempt to describe the film: After mistakenly entering a mysterious spirit world, our hero, a ten-year old girl named Chihiro, sees her parents turned into pigs and then gets a job in a bathhouse that caters to ghosts and other spirits where she befriends a magical young boy, helps a free a sludge monster, matches wits with the witch Yubaba, and learns to believe in herself in the process. As you can see, it's hard to explain, but it's enchanting and uplifting just the same.

We've since started plowing through the rest of Miyazaki's oeuvre, which Disney has been kind enough to dub into English for US release along with other releases from the animé Studio Ghibli. (See more above.)

Posted by ksmoker at 8:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tonight, while sitting on the couch watching the Bear in the Big Blue House, Ben was working on his second drumstick when, without warning, he lifted his face to the ceiling and shouted exultantly through a half-mouthful of flesh and gristle:

Chicken!!

Posted by ksmoker at 12:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)