Forum - View topicThe Worst Ghibli Movie
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Jadress
 Posts: 809 Location: Seattle. It purdy and nerdy! |
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I read the news about "Tales of Earthsea" getting bad early reviews in Japan and some of the posts in that news thread, and got to thinking, what is the worst Ghibli movie in anyone's opinion? Or at least, your least favorite Ghibli film? Ghibli is has always been this bastion of quality, but have they ever slipped a little?
The only Ghibli film I really remember hating is "Ocean Waves/I Can Hear the Sea." It was a very long time ago when I saw it, so if I gave it another chance, maybe I'd see it differently, but at the time I felt it was a slow and utterly pointless film. I also was not a big fan of "The Cat Returns," which I found to be much more childish (in a Saturday morning cartoon kind of way) than other Ghibli films. It was entertaining, but I disliked how they tried to cram a moral ("just be yourself! Derrp!") at the end of the movie. It was ill-fitting, when the rest of the movie just played out as a light, silly adventure. So, what are your least favorites? |
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linlinchan
Posts: 286 |
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I think that "I Can Hear the Sea" seems to be generally reviled. Slightest mention of it sends my husband into fits about how he was dragged along to see it with his friends long ago.
I also don't really like Princess Mononoke. It's long and very heavy handed. Starts to feel like beating a dead horse pretty quickly. |
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Keonyn
 Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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For me that's an easy one, it's simply Howl's Moving Castle, the other one mentioned I haven't seen. While Howl's was another example of Ghibli visual quality, I felt it completely failed in every other respect. It had pacing problems, weak characters, a horrible ending that didn't even seem to fit, and an uninteresting premise that didn't really effectively convey the message that it seemed it was intended to.
I didn't feel it was a really bad movie, it was visually nice and some portions of the rest was interesting. But honestly, I've watched it a few times after I got it with various people but I haven't watched it since. |
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saikori
 Posts: 85 Location: Hot Ole' Texas |
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That's a toughie, as I am a pretty big fan of his films. I guess the one that I like least was probably Porco Rosso. The only two I haven't seen are "My Neightbor the Yamadas" and Ocean Waves. Although Irionically enough a friend had a subbed version they are lending me to watch. So I'll still have to check that out. I might be in the minority here but I loved The Cat Returns. (maybe because of it's childlike simplicity). Princess Mononoke & Spirited Away were such masterpieces (in my opinion so please don't flame!
 )
I have to agree Howl's Moving Castle didn't quite live up to those. It did have a lot of eye candy but I wasn't like "Wow!" I'm looking forward to the next one Tales of Earthsea. Maybe I'm just easy to please when it comes to anime? |
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sandy_taty
 Posts: 132 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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Howl's Moving Castle is the BEST!!!!!!
I was like I love that movie......specially the magic/witchcraft/curse.....I even cried..... 
I love that movie..or any magic/withcratf/supernatural anime |
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Dargonxtc
 Posts: 4463 Location: Nc5xd7+ スターダストの海洋 |
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My least favorite would have to be Princess Mononoke. I mean it just keep on and on with its 'message'. Don't get me wrong I think some of the best moments in animation history occur in that movie, but to me in the end I was just well...
Let me just say it was my least favorite, bacause a lot of people really like this movie, and I don't want to seem like I am bashing it, just wasn't for me. Then again my favorite Ghibli movie was Whisper of the Heart so what do I know. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15692 |
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I used to like it when I was younger, but I can't get into Porco Rosso as much nowadays. Too many subplots and flashbacks, I guess. As for Howl's Moving Castle, I wouldn't consider it the worst, just the one with the most failed potential. It sometimes pisses me off when an anime show ends on a cliff-hanger, requiring you to "read the manga", so I didn't appreciate Miyazaki doing that with the movie.
saikori: I like Cat Returns more than Whisper of the Heart, mostly because the teen girl in the former film comes off more believable than the one in the latter film. But that might have to do with the manga writer. |
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Iritscen
 Subscriber Posts: 844 |
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Are you all forgetting Pom Poko? My face went from a smile to a look of horror as the film went on. From a "Oh boy, another wonderful Ghibli movie" expression to a "This has gone horribly wrong, how could you Ghibli?!" expresssion.
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Kelly
Posts: 868 Location: New York City |
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Porco Rosso is the one Ghibli movie I've seen so far that I feel no need to see again. I had rented it (ironically right before we found out it was going to air on Turner Classic), tried to watch it twice to see if I had missed anything, but just couldn't get into the atmosphere. Don't know if it was just me.
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Wolverine Princess
 Posts: 1100 |
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I feel insulted! Pom Poko is my all-time favorite Ghilbi film! Where else can you see a tanuki flatten his giant, bulbous nuts on an automobile so that it covers the entire windshield?[/sarcasm] I kid. My favorite Ghilbi movie is My Neighbor Totoro. I don't really have a least favorite, maybe because I just haven't seen enough. |
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Aaron White
Old Regular
Posts: 1365 Location: Birmingham, Alabama |
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I haven't watched this yet, but now I gotta see it. I've seen about half the Ghibli that's domestically available, and the worst of it was better than most anime. Porco Rosso seems to be taking a lot of flak; it's my second fave after Spirited Away. I think it's aimed at older folks... if you don't like it now, try it again in a decade or so. |
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Cloe
Moderator
 Posts: 2728 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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Yikes, what a toughie. Well.. not really. I guess I'll have to join the I Can Hear the Sea camp, since it's the Ghibli film I've gotten the least enjoyment from. I don't hate it by any means, though; I actually quite like it.
Oh, and I was never much into Castle in the Sky, either. I felt the pacing was a little off and there were too many sequences that dragged. Plus Pazu and Sheeta were too much like archetypes and not enough like really rounded characters. Again, I still like the film, though. I have it on DVD. It is just viewed less frequently than my other Ghibli DVDs. (How long do I have to wait for a U.S. release for Ghiblies? )
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Dranxis
 Posts: 591 Location: Ohtori Academy |
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Yeah, strangely enough the most disliked Ghibli films are among my favorites.... Especially Porco Rosso and Howl's Moving Castle. Pom Poko was ridiculously fun, but I could see how it might um, turn off some viewers.
I've seen all of the Ghibli movies released stateside except for Castle of Cagliostro and Yamadas, but I don't really have a least favorite. If I had to pick one it'd be Castle in the Sky: don't get me wrong, it's a great movie, it just left me a little underwhelmed compared to the other Ghibli films. Comparisons aside though I still really like it. |
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Swissman
Posts: 800 Location: Switzerland |
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That's one of the reasons I really like about Laputa. The characters are more inspired by older tv series Miyazaki has worked on (Conan, Lupin III and Sherlock Holmes). Difficult to explain ..... it has this archetypical adventure story flavor with simple and enjoyable characters, but something about it is majestic, has "grandeur"; it's almost mythical. The score of Laputa helps too. It's one of my all-time favorites. My least favorite Ghibli movie is Howl's moving castle. The general animation and amount of detail is fantastic, but the story was somewhat messed up. It felt like a patchwork of older Miyazaki movies and themes. Plus, I don't like the ending. It came way too abruptly and had some ironic remarks that was out of place for Miyazaki. But still, it's a good movie compared to a lot of other theatre anime. I tend to like the older Ghibli films more than the newer ones. One reason is that I saw the older ones first when I was a 'freshman' in anime around the mid-nineties – it's the nostalgic factor. The other reason is that the older (Miyazaki) movies have a simpler, more straightly told plot, whereas newer ones like Chihiro or Howl's have several plot lines which are not always coherrently connected or just seem random (for instance, the first half of Chihiro is more or less simple and easy to follow but from the second half on, you have the plot-line with Yubaba's baby, one with Haku, one with Kaonashi, one with Yubaba's twin sister....). You can almost feel Miyazaki scratching his head while he's writing the storyboard – 'How should I continue this story?' :) Being a sucker for 'slice of life' anime, I actually quite like I can hear the ocean. The art and animation was very good, considering it was produced for television airing. It had a nostalgic feeling for youth and had Tomomi Mochizuki written all over it. I tend to like anime he was involved with (Orange Road - I want to return to that day, Maison Ikkoku, Here is Greenwood... ). |
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Randall Miyashiro
 Posts: 2451 Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park |
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The only time I've seen I Can Hear the Sea was when it came out on video in Japan over ten years ago. I remember it being slower than most of their fillms, but still enjoyable in a Junkers or Whisper of the Heart sort of way.
My least favorite is by far My Neighbor the Yamadas. The animation style just didn't do it for me. I didn't like the segmented narrative. While the story style works for something the length of Azumanga Daioh for me, Yamada's was too long for the style. I'm also not too fond of Nausicaa, since it seems really simplified compared to the manga. I hate how the film portrays Kushana, and the lack of Doroks make it a two dimensional war. I love Pocco Rosso and Mononoke the best, since they feel aimed towards an older audience. I can appreciate films like Kiki's and Totoro, but don't enjoy them as much. I also love Miyazaki's above mentioned Cagliostro's which I believe pre-dated studio Ghibli hence is not released by Disney. Does anyone know if Disney will eventually obtain Grave of the Fireflys like they did for Totoro? |
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