Pom Poko (1994)

FilmFour are doing a Studio Ghibli season with the animations of Miyazaki and his lesser-known colleague Takahata.  They started with The Castle of Cagliostro and Princess Mononoke, neither of which I watched since I have them both on DVD.  They then showed The Little Norse Prince from 1968 which is considered the earliest Japanese anime; this was fairly simple animation, but interesting, and at least was shown with subtitles.  I was therefore horrified to discover that Miyazaki's early anime, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds from 1984 was shown dubbed as was the above movie from Takahata.  I wouldn't have thought that it was beyond the wit of FilmFour to locate subtitled copies, especially since on neither film was the English voice cast credited.  And I have a horrible feeling that the remainder of the season which runs into February will produce more dubbed versions.

That quibble apart, although it is a big one, I do welcome the opportunity to see these films, especially since I have previously gone on record as labelling Miyazaki a genius.  Nausicaa's animation was not as rich and detailed as his later films, but it still showed a fertile imagination in telling the tale of a princess eco-warrior trying to preserve the people of her valley from the giant insects that had taken over their world. However the film above was really something of a treat.  The animation was not overly rich but the story was so weird and out of the ordinary that I was enchanted.  It tells of some creatures of the forest (called racoons in the dubbing, although these are not native to Japan) that have the ability to shape-shift and transform themselves into inanimate objects, other animals, ghostly spirits and even human beings.  The tanuki of Japanese folklore is apparently the animal in question.  Anyhow the film focuses on the ways they seek to preserve their forest home from development by the growing human population -- from seeking to destory all humans through moving amongst them.  Their biggest problem in maintaining their occasional victories is that they love to party and therefore can not maintain their concerted efforts.  The imagination at play in bringing all of this to the screen was truly amazing.

I'll get back to other films in this season in due course.