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Forum - View topicREVIEW: Gedo Senki
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Shuna no Toki (The Journey of Shuna), a story which often regarded as an experimental prelude of Nausicaa, would be the most akin to Gedo Senki. Click here and here for details (Animage in Japanese). |
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Case
Posts: 1016 |
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Haven't seen the movie yet, but I will say this:
If people perceive this film to be of lesser quality than previous Studio Ghibli works, part of that reason is bound to be the actual change of director, as the reviewer comments. However, part of it may be due to people taking a more critical look at a Miyazaki film than they have been for the past 10 years or so. (Mononoke was made in '97 right?) I'm a relatively new "Hayao fan". The first films of his I saw were Spirited Away and then Howl's Moving Castle. It wasn't until I just recently saw Mononoke that I started to think me *might* deserve the credit people give him as a director. I thought Spirited and Howl's were unnecessarily confusing and not all that spectacular, and I was perplexed as to how Spirited in particular managed to win an Oscar. Maybe this change of Miyazakis will make people take a second look and be more skeptical about the recent Ghibli films like I am. |
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Dargonxtc
 Posts: 4463 Location: Nc5xd7+ スターダストの海洋 |
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Thanks for the review
So this is a serious movie through and through huh? So it is more like Mononoke in the vien of serious. Not as serious as Grave of Fireflies I take it though. Still sounds pretty good. I am intereseted in the world that you said was created. I will go into this with a open mind. When is Disney going to release this? |
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HitokiriShadow
 Posts: 6251 |
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Watch Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind to see why Hayao Miyazaki gets such critical acclaim. Castle in the Sky (Laputa) and Princess Mononoke are also really good. His more recent films haven't been as good, in my opinion (I haven't seen Howl's Moving Castle yet, but I saw Spirited Away).
Perhaps part of the problem is that they are animating existing works rather than doing something original like the older Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki films. Nausicaa was technically based on the Nausicaa manga, but Hayao Miyazaki was the creator of that anyway. |
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Fullerific
Posts: 7 |
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I think the problem is comparing a new director, to a legendary director. The kid is a rookie and is unfair to say Gedo Senki isn't spirited away or princess mononoke. He shouldn't consider this a failure and stop. That would be horrible.
I'm sure Hayao's first works weren't as spectacular as his latest's works either. I want to see Goro have a chance to grow and succeed. If he is stopped here because he isn't as good as his father yet, it will be horrible. |
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hagakure|returns
Posts: 407 |
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Pando Go Panda was Hayao's first work and it was quite good. |
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Samurai-with-glasses
 Posts: 628 |
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Considering traditional epic fantasy is rare in anime, I'm very interested in the quality of Gedo Senki. That and the awesome scenic views that are everywhere in the ads.
Poor Goro: I wonder what it's like to be put so completely in your dad's Oscar-winning shadow? Oh, and I think Goro made a good choice to choose the third book as his main resource. I'd prefer the first book myself (it is self-contained, easily "translated") but the third is as good a choice as any, what's with Arren as the main character and all. Still, it would've been better if we got to see Ged in his youth as a hero first and then an old man supporting another hero later. P.S. That dragon looks awesome. |
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Jadress
 Posts: 807 Location: Seattle. It purdy and nerdy! |
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I'm glad we've finally gotten a review of this! I am a little disappointed to hear that the story sounds VERY different from the book, but then again when I read the book, I thought "How the hell is this going to be a good movie? The whole thing is talking, walking, and sailing," so I guess I shouldn't be. (I agree with Samurai-with-glasses that the first book would've made a better movie.. and yes, the dragon does look awesome).
That disconnect from the prologue makes me worry that the film might be too much like Howl's, which I felt was the Ghilbi film that made the least sense to me, due to the relatively short plot of the movie being drawn out of a massive story (the book). But anyway, also like Howl's, this looks very shiny, so I am very curious to see it for myself and witness Goro's handiwork. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15573 |
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Samurai-with-glasses:
I'm sure Kenta Fukasaku would let him know. 
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Deltakiral
 Posts: 3338 Location: Glendora, CA (Avatar Hei from Darker than BLACK) |
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Wow that pretty much summarized how I thought the movie would turn out to be.....very scary. Other things I found interesting from the review, how the reviewer found the backgrounds to be so top notch. I've always enjoy the art and background of Ghibli and so I am really looking forward to see how this title turns out. Disney's planning on releasing this title sometime in 07 correct? Till next time, Delta Kiral |
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molloaggie
 Posts: 578 Location: Texas |
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Did it get a P13 rating? If this title is more like Mononoke than the others, do you think they would still release it under the Disney name? Last edited by molloaggie on Sat Aug 12, 2006 2:36 am; edited 1 time in total |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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People were expecting a lot from Goro on account of him living up to the expectations they would have from his father. But all other things look good according to the review. I'll be looking forward to this movie when it crosses the Pacific.
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TeaDragon
Posts: 5 |
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I can understand the sentiments of people who have said that Howl's was confusing. There was alot of strange and wonderful new visual imagery to take in while following why each character is doing what they're doing. Repeated viewings reward the viewer, however. Miyazaki has developed his own visual language, and some of it can only be really appreciated if you have seen enough of his films to understand the themes and ideas that are developed over time from film to film. For instance, In Princess Mononoke, we're introduced to the world of nature spirits(that was seen more whimsically in My Neighbor Totoro) and the black goop of the curse from the boar that Ashitaka has in his arm. In Spirited Away, the Spirit World is even more center stage, and in Howl's Moving Castle wizards and witches are added to it all. It was only in my second viewing of Howl's that I thought of the connection between the black goopy henchman of the Witch of the Waste to the goop in Pincess Mononoke. Was it Miyazaki's intention to have that connection, I don't know. And like poetry, sometimes it probably have a number of possible meanings, and the audience has to decide how it all relates. But also in Howl's is the display of human technology shown in Castle in the Sky and Porco Rosse and even by Iron Town in Princess Mononoke, only in Howl's the technology of his castle is run by magic. But like in Castle in the Sky and Nausicaa, Howl must confront a military enemy. What would Nausicaa do if she knew a wizard like Howl?
The ideas and inventiveness of Miyazaki are what make his films so much fun to watch. True, some are adaptations, but a moving castle with a door that opens up to different places?? What a cool idea! Laputa in Castle in the Sky. Totoros and Cat buses. Miyazaki films give our imaginations so much to play with, and ride around in. Like many Ghibli films, I imagine that Gendo is a coming of age story. It's only natural that a young character will be confused and "angsty" if they live in a time of war, and especially if, unlike other Miyazaki characters, there aren't any Totoros or Forest Spirits to save the day. A story with an invincible hero isn't as interesting to me as one that has a hero who's abilities are tested and as an audience we get to root for the hero and struggle with them along the way. After all, I know I wouldn't be all smiles if I had to do as much travelling on foot as it seems there is in the trailers for Gendo. And what of the huge dragon in the poster art? It sure doesn't look like a friendly cousin of Haku fom Spirited Away. But I haven't seen the film, so I don't know what it's role is. Any task as great as trying to bring an entire world back into balance seems the stuff of epic trilogies. Even in a single movie there is only so much time for a character to go out into the world and learn and grow and face challenges and make their way in that world successfully. Howl's was like that with Sophie dealing with a world so different from the one of making hats, and Howl getting his heart back, all against a backdrop of a war. It's only fitting that characters are focused on more as the magical worlds Miyazaki and Ghilbli bring to life become more and more familiar to audiences and fans of those worlds. And at the same time, visually there are always new things to see and beautiful worlds to behold, even as we are introduced to characters who have to face new challenges like old age and Witches who have crushes on them. For an overall rating of a B, I'd say that Gendo proved that Miyazaki's son has lots and lots of great potential. I mean, it didn't get a C or D, and by the box office records it seems to be popular with the Japanese audience. Everyone has to start somewhere. Miyazaki was an animator for many, many years before directing. Directing a feature film as a start, as his Goro Miyazaki did, and getting an above average review and great box office turn out by the public is a very good sign of things to come. I wish Studio Ghilbli continued success in the future, no matter who directs their films!! |
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halochief_90
 Posts: 466 Location: Canada |
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I really wonder what kind of flak Goro is dealing with now (I hope he didn't read those Japanease user reviews, because by the sound (and looks) of things, this almost definitely will be better what those people are saying (I bet half of them didn't even properly watch the movie and just wanted to bash Goro, given the the number of "1 out of 5" I saw). |
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Raz_G
Posts: 72 Location: Israel |
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Actaully, it was directed by Isao Takahata. But if you're looking for Miyazaki's first "representative" work, this will probably be another Takahata film - "Hols, Prince of the Sun", on which Miyazaki served as an animator and contributed many story ideas (not unlike his later work on "Panda"). And this film, while beautiful to watch (the animation, in particular, is incredibly rich for an anime done in the 1960s), doesn't work very well from a story perspective. It very much a "this happened, then that happened, then something else happened" plot. The story doesn't hold together very well. The point is, everyone had to start somewhere. "Hols" shows a lot of promise, offers many hints of what will become of Miyazaki's work in the future, but it's not really a great movie (though it's still worth watching for people who admire Miyazaki and are curious about his early work - there's a Zone 2 DVD with English subs available in the UK under the title "Little Norse Prince"). |
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