Slashdot Mirror
Spirited Away Still Has a Chance
Dean Siren writes "Disney chairman Richard W. Cook says that they've budgeted to market Spirited Away in up to 1,000 North American theaters, and if the Oscars endorse it as much as Metacritic has, Disney will launch it. They'll spend the same time and money promoting Spirited Away for Academy Awards as they will Lilo & Stitch and Treasure Planet. Cook hopes that it will win not only Best Animated Film, but get nominated for Best Picture, as Beauty and the Beast got in 1991. Thanks to Jack Mathews at New York Daily News for getting Cook to explain."
Also, "were it not so boring" is also acceptable.
...market the actual thing.
this is sure to be better then the "Atlantis" stratedgy.... no wait, how about "The Lion King"....
i really hope to see in a theatre; i enjoyed watching it at home. the almost-naturalistic take on a love story and spirit world kept me interested enough to keep watching after i took a break halfway through.
oh wait, there's pizza to eat. i'll take a break half way through this post....
SIGERR: laziness exceeds quota
"First you win the Super Bowl, then we'll draft a quarterback."
This is what happens to an industry that is choked by middlemen. Spirited Away is a magnificent accomplishment in filmmaking. To a**holes like this, it's nothing more than a meal ticket: a racehorse with a number.
It's going to succeed anyway. Even Di$ney can't stop it.
Go back to suing day care centers, cynical a**.
It is still not available in cinema in Ottawa capital of Canada. :(
This is a great victory for geeks everywhere. Disney has always done a good job of supporting "long shot" geek movies (Toy Story, anyone?). They have the market clout to make people see the beauty in things usually only appreciated by us geeks. If you think about it, The Sorcerer's Apprentice was sort of a prototypical hacker programming geek. The promotion of this film in competition for an Oscar is only going to help geeks of all walks of life. Hopefully, geeks on Slashdot will continue to support Disney so that we can get more of this!
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
Does anybody know if it's available at newsstands, etc. or just in comic shops? Also, how about distribution in Canada?
First off, AC's usually don't deserve a response, but this one is just off in left field.
Spirited Away is a _children's story_. You could let your 6-year-old watch this. So quit throwing around the 'japanese porno' catch-all description of anime. Yes, they do exist, but it's a relatively small segment of the market (in the US AND in Japan).
... and don't we hate them, or something?
On top of that the movie's site is Flash only, which is retarded and lame by definition.
step 1: advertise
step 2: ???
step 3: profit!
So far they have failed at step 1, its exactly what happened to Mononoke all over again. This movie makes Country Bears laughable at best, why not advertise quality animations and get rid of these terrible terrible films. Oh well, so long as it comes out in DVD with both languages and subs I'll be happy in more than one way.
Is this the "Disney is good" week? I guess last week must have been the "evil" week, but I didn't get the memo.
Except for both movies being presented as animation, comparing SA to BATB is like comparing gold to crap.
Its a comparison between true visual art and typical, run-of-the-mill disney fare. Want to see BATB again? go rent The Little Mermaid.
And let's not even begin to compare the story lines. SA is far, far more creative, deep and moving.
I will never live for sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.
I do.
I once bothered to take a look at the manga they are broadcasting over here. After torturing myself painfully for fifteen minutes while feeling something which can only be explained by a spectral force forcing two scolding-hot spiked maces into my skull through my ears and then twisting them. After some research (and recuperation) it turned out that I saw something called "Sailor Moon", dubbed in dutch, which was quite possibly the most horrible thing I ever heard. You cannot copy a line of text from japanese, to english, to dutch. It's just morally and ethically wrong.
If anything, that event made me decide never EVER to watch manga/anime on dutch TV stations again. And never to wake up before 12:00 out of free will, either.
Hate me!
This movie was made by Studio Ghibli, and US distribution rights were bought by Disney, who so far has been doing only so-so at actually getting this stuff out. (Where is my Kiki's Delivery Service DVD? How about Nausicaa or Castle in the Sky, or any of the other good Ghibli titles they've gotten?)
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
Look, I'm sure the movie is cool. Has a lot of great symbolism, however I find the following (possible) bedfellows ironic:
1. Disney. Nuff said.
2. The oscars. like any other industry-circle-jerk awards show, gee..
who f**king cares if it wins the oscars!!!?!??? that seems more like a curse for any artistic endeavor. i dunno, i was bummed disney released it. like i need more of my money going to a shithole company bent on f**king up copyright laws and stealing from generations before, but not acknowledging it.
sorry but this article sux! i wish spirited away the best of luck, but i won't be seeing it...
While I'm not a big fan of the Academy Awards and disagree with much of the way it works, I think a nomination and especially a win at the Oscars for an anime film will rocket anime into even more mainstream outlets. More anime on TV, more films, more professional dubs and subs, etc. I can't think of a better way for anime to become more accepted in the west than for Spirited Away to win an Oscar.
excellent. this is one of the more impressive .. studio ghibli
stories i've seen for awhile
keeps producing wonderful work, and they defintiely
deserve the effort on their behalf.
Assistants! Get this man his dork badge right away!
Congratulations, friend, you've just nominated yourself as dork of the day!
DotD Committee
I hope this is a financial loss for them and Mickey has to go back to the bread line where the stolen rat started. Has disney EVER actually created somthing from scratch or is EVERY Disney 'creation' in fact derived from someone elses work then copyrighted and 0wned forever.
I am not old enought to speak for when Walt was around but Disney has been nothing exciting as long as I can remember.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
..Spirited away is written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, which is the same person who made Nausacaa Valley of the wind, and more recently (1997) Princess Mononoke.
It seems to be even more captivating than Princess Mononoke, yet somewhat disney oriented as it focuses on the adventures of a ten year old named chihiro who gets "spirited away" to a magical land; separated from her parents, she struggles to find a way home.(trailer)
Whoah, that was a mouthful. But it seems to be a really good movie, if your looking for something more than Treasure Planet.
| - | - |
C'mon, Ghibli ass-kisser. Even the Kureyon Shin-Chan movie was better than Sen to.
That movie was really great. And plus, with disney bringing it in that'll just make it easier to access. So if it's playing at a theater near you, see it. It's a great movie. I however do wonder if the original script was changed to 'americanize' it. I hope not. But it's good to see that a big company has finally acknowledged that Anime movies could really do well in the US.
I would love to see how they plan to put a Radish Spirt toy in a happy meal. They don't care about ticket sales, they care about byproducts and aftermarket trinkets.
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
A fresh topic simply isn't newsworthy unless it has a baker's dozen of links. Bummer tim, you're one short.
A while ago I saw a pretty insightful documentary in Australia about the making of Disney animated films, and the bussiness strategies that go along with them.
....that's all..... back to warezcrawler.....
It appears that since the Lion King, every Disney film has been either kids only, or failed to get very popular and gone to video/DVD quickly. This doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the quality of the entertainment either.
The doco' explained that Disney don't actually make money on these any more, or at least weren't doing so in late 2000. This could put these real "long shot" and geek projects in jeopardy.
Without sounding like a drone, I would recommend that the geek community don't just leech these movies in divx and keep them. If we like these films, we should support them by going to the cinema (just a *little* nicer than divx huh?) and/or purchasing the DVD. If we have to get the divx it should be more of a preview thing and serve a decision making process.
What makes a man want to be a mouse? (Python's Flying Circus)
Even if you hate Animation this is something everyone should see. There are just too many good things to say about this movie, as this is something that can be considered a truly artful piece of work among the repetitive norm.
Don't make the mistake of filing this film under the typical "Anime-blahblahblah" category.
Disney has been trying to bury quality anime movies for a long time because they know how good they are. Mirimax was only able to release Princess Mononoke to a limited number of theaters due to pressure from Disney.
If word got out to the mainstream that animated movies from overseas could be both entertaining to children and thought provoking to adults, then it would force Disney to rework their entire development structure to change over and reinvent their formulated storylines and stereotyped characters.
The problem for Disney here is that "Spirited Away" has people talking all over the world and even they can't keep this one quiet. So in the spirit of a multi-national corporation crushing its competition; if you can't beat them, buy them.
That way they can show "Spirited Away" in a limited release, satisfy a few fans and wait for the buzz to die down. But it didn't work this time, so they will put more money into the release and hope this will still go away quietly.
But I think Disney is in for a real shock here.
I saw Spirited away at a local independent theater and I thought it was very well good. It is written for a younger audience than Princess Mononoke, but I thought it was just as enjoyable. They did a very good job with the english dub, at least as well as with Mononoke.
"Disney chairman Richard W. Cook says that they've budgeted to market Spirited Away in up to 1,000" irrelevant Slashdot stories.
http://jesus.everdense.com/
--
Sex for you
Sex - Find It
Because Disney doesn't hold the merchandising rights to the Ghibli catalog, they will never promote these movies as they should be promoted. Remember: Disney gains nothing from the success of these movies, and loses nothing if they fail.
There is also quite a bit of Not-Invented-Here attitude that is quite apparent in what little promotion there has been.
I was lucky enough to see Spirited Away on the big screen. My girlfriend and I went to the 7:45 PM showing on a Saturday. We were the only ones in the audience. The print looked almost new, as if the theatre hadn't been bothering to run it to an empty house. Local promotion? There was only the simple one-line listing in the newspaper. There were NO posters, one-sheets, lobby cards, stand-ups, or anything in or around the theatre. No wonder I got a private showing. Even if the general public had heard of the movie, no one would know it was playing at that theatre.
To sum up: Disney is burying this movie, just as they did with Mononoke. It may not be entirely intentional, but it is still occuring.
NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
Disney's main strength has never been the quality of its movies. Marketing the hell out of those movies using media blitz, "collectible videos", and all manner of plush dolls has been their main strength.
So what do you do when your company can't afford to develop its product in-house? You contract out to the specialists. Sometimes you get beautiful results (Fantasia 2000). Sometimes you get mediocre results (Spirited Away).
It's always a crapshoot when you contract your work out, but it's almost always cheaper. It allows you to focus on your core competencies and let's someone else focus on theirs.
I have been pwned because my
Seriously, a chance for what? You make it sound like it's a colossal failure or something. If Disney(MPAA) spent an assload to promote it and it (still) did poorly, it'd go right up there with the FINAL FANTASY movie. I think Disney are pretty smart. Little promotion, good sales on DVD, lots of geeks making them look like the underdog. Psst, please buy an aibo.
would someone explain to me why slashdot is cheering on a disney movie? (The largely fash driven website didn't explain)
Know what I like about atheists? I've yet to meet one that believes God is on their side.
Exactly. Anime is now much more than just porno. In order to make more money, the artists are now trying to reach a larger market. It's like all of the "couples" vacations that were advertised in the 70's that are now "family" vacations. The motels and travel agents figured-out they can make more money selling to two adults and kids than just the adults. So, give anime a second chance.
ahhh, finally this bastard is getting modded down. It was funny the first few times, but maybe now he'll give it up.
just like disney to make a category just to win at something
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
As for Beauty and the Beast being nominated, I thought The Little Mermaid and Lion King had better storylines.
Not since Marie-Antoinette played milkmaid has looking simple and honest been so fake and complicated.
This story really speaks to the maturity level of the slashdot crowd.
FoundNews.com - get paid to blog.,
I tried to see where it'd be playing around here (NYC)... entered my ZIP... the only one it came up with was some little dinky place on 12th St in Manhattan. Either it hasn't really opened yet, or the 1000 theaters mentioned in the write-up are stretched really thin. /., if I don't like Disney, I don't like Disney. As in, won't spend my money on their profit instead of ranting and raving about how bad they are (at least while I can avoid it, being a child at heart but childless in life for the moment :)
Not like i care much - unlike lots of people on
-DVK
"The right to figure things out for yourself is the only true freedom everyone shares. Go use it"-R.A.Heinlein
That, my man, was an exellent Astroturfing job. Kudos!
"They'll spend the same time and money promoting Spirited Away for Academy Awards"
Lets see, would this be called the Old Boys' club? Take only notice of movies developed (or promoted) by members of the Old Boys' club. Throw maybe one or two other movies in just for show. Congradulate the rest of the Old Boys for their work well done, hope to see you after another glorius profit making year.
What we see depends on mainly what we look for. -- John Lubbock Now search for that bug slave!
I am fortunate enough to see the movie. Great animation and great story. But up to 1000 theatres sounds like spin. I would have gone 40 miles to have seen the movie. And Disney only seemed to put it in a handful of theatres.
WhatMeWorry!
Spirited Away was entertaining as an exercise in wierdness for the sake of wierdness. It is not by any stretch my favorite or even a film I'd recommend to non hardcore anime enthusiasts. Typical ultra-smooth, beautiful animation. But some of the characters were just bizarre... the huge-nosed woman who runs the bath house, the eating monster... The soundtrack should be 'Twilight Zone' by Rush.
DO NOT take small children to see Spirited Away! They WILL cry, like all the small kids in the theatre when I saw it. I figure 10 - 12 would be OK, but definitely keep the 6 year olds home.
Be sure to purchase your Spirited Away DVD courtesy of Disney Corporation. After all supporting the mega corps is ok if...well...
You know damn well there's no excuse for that shit.
People like are why we have the DMCA.
Thanks a lot you dicks.
But it was so boring. Anyone who hates animation will continue to hate it after seeing this.
Grave of the Fireflies. Still the best recommendation for anime haters.
You must visit http://www.nausicaa.net
They cover the whole movie and the places where you can watch it. You must see this movie, it's that good.
If he can't find a way around the fucking blocklist, he doesn't deserve to be on fucking slashdot!
Ok, now since this is the fourth Tuesday this month we like and support Disney?
I buy from the MPAA, but I also give to EFF because I take the Lessig Challenge. But even so, I don't buy from The Walt Disney Company because the company had a hand in not only the DMCA but also the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act.
Will I retire or break 10K?
After stumbling upon this cartoon fan site which I had never heard of, which goes by the name of "Slashdot", I clicked on the link "Bugs" on the left-hand side of the page, hoping to perhaps find some recent news about one of my all-time favourite cartoon characters, Bugs Bunny. I didn't get what I expected, instead I was re-directed to some strange site called SourceForge.net. I assumed it must have been an old link, perhaps left there by the previous nerdy webmasters who were engaged in some sort of open source project... Then when I returned to the cartoon fan site Slashdot, I began to wonder, what was this site really all about anyways? Either way, it will always have a permanent spot in my Bookmark file's "kiddy-stuff" sub-folder.
The only thing more amazing than the fact that these tentacle rape movies get so much attention on Slashdot is that this time, *Disney* is distributing one.
Then Nausicaa.net should get you up to speed.
Summary Poem:
Through the tunnel,
There was a town of wonder.
It was an inconceivable place,
Where inconceivable things happened.
A world existed right next to the humans' world,
A world humans could never see.
Local gods and various lesser deities,
Goblins and monsters.
It was a hot springs town,
Where old gods came to heal their illness and wounds.
10 year-old Chihiro wanders into this world,
Where humans shouldn't enter.
Chihiro can only survive in this world if she accepts two conditions:
To work for Yu-baaba, an avaricious witch
Who rules the huge bath house at the center of the town.
And to be deprived of her name and become a non-human.
Chihiro lost her name, and began working under her new name, Sen.
In the town of surprise and wonder, Chihiro comes to know
A huge sense of helplessness... and a small amount of hope.
However, in this difficult world, she discovers many things,
And Chihiro becomes more lively than she ever was.
Kamajii, the boiler keeper with his rich life experience.
Rin, who teaches Chihiro the work at the bath house.
Susuwatari, who carry coal.
Bou, the son of Yu-baaba.
The god of the river, a refugee from the human's world, who is covered with trash and sludge.
Kaonashi, the masked man.
Zeniiba, the twin sister of Yu-baaba.
Unimaginable things keep happening.
Chihiro's sleeping "power to live"
Has gradually begun to awaken.
And Chihiro meets Haku, a handsome but mysterious boy.
The encounter of a boy and a girl, tied together by a promise.
With awakening memories,
They understand and help each other.
Can Chihiro take her name back,
And return to the humans' world....?
Stupid slashbots as usually all the hardline rhetoric about freedoms and essential liberties goes right out the fucking window the second a nifty cartoon comes out.
Pathetic.
You know i think you deserve to get pissed on with shitty laws.
Those willing to trade essential liberty for a japanese cartoon deserve neither.
On another note, could we perhaps link to Studio Ghibli when discussing their films in the future? It might reduce the number of "We Hate Disney" posts. It is unfortunate that Disney got the release rights to the Miyazaki/Ghibli films, but I'd rather rant about them somewhere else (for those of you who don't know who Miyazaki is check this out).
I don't need to be made to look evil. I can do that on my own. - Christopher Walken
afaik so far my closest options have been Boston and NYC. As I live ~2 hours (NW Connecticut) from either, I haven't gotten the chance. I'd support a broader release.
ALL of his cartoons star them.
I'm worried about him, personally....
It's Christmas everyday with BitTorrent.
Spirited Away is a gorgeous movie. Don't judge it by the distributor (Disney)...it can stand on its own. Disney made a very smart decision to back a film that, in terms of the quality, artfulness and sophistication of its animation, simply blows away most modern animated films.
I was a bit dubious when a friend of mine told me I had to go see it, but he wouldn't stop praising it. I'm glad I went. It is visually stunning and charmingly quirky in a way I would describe as "Alice in Wonderland, Japanese-style." Miyazaki has produced a superb piece of work.
Oh, whatever. The first anime, in the 1940s, was a kids show called Testuwan Atom-jin known in America as Atom Boy. Then again, you wouldn't care because you're trolling.
After this pathetic display of support for Disney Corporation i now support the DMCA and the CBTPA and Copyright Extenstions.
Anyone this spineless deserves to be crushed under the heel of capitalism.
I don't know why Stallman and Lessig even waste time with silly consumer drones like you. It's fucking all pointless.
You are soft fat larva in your consumption cacoons posting your whiney little rants in between buckets of McFood and showings of Cowboy Bebop that you watch mesmerized by the images steamed onto the little pacifier screen via your Time Warner umbilical cord.
You deserve to be crushed. You are not even worthy of contempt. Sure you post a lot of swell rants to your little websites but when it really comes down time to put your money where you mouth is you are just some more mindless consumers.
You must have missed the slashdot story from a few weeks ago claiming anime was a few hundred years old. Those drawings were definitely not for children.
...and all these years I thought the animators who did Speed Racer had died of old age.
"It is essential that justice be done
They need to be bought out and disolved, so art can continue. Look at all the crappy studios disney runs and ends up producing total crap. The only exception is pixar, but we all know they only distribute for pixar. All of the other studio's disney owns produce crap. Someone please disolve disney and throw away all of their stolen copyright. Yeah, it's flame bait. Fuck disney.
I was lucky enough to NOT see this in theatre or get the DVD.
Yes you see i still have my dignity.
No... seriously. Watch it first, then comment.
I did and I must say wonderful story and it's much better than Mononoke Hime.
--
Karma is overrated, whoring is ok.
Spirited Away has nothing to do with Disney, other than the advertising. It's an anime film, and is therefore a lot closer to Princess Monononke (you've seen it or at least heard about it, right?) or even Ghost in the Shell (you've heard about THAT one).
I saw it a couple of weeks ago in theatres, and I was definitely glad I did. Something like half the people here would probably not "get" it and walk from the theatre disappointed, but it was an incredible display of imagination, beautiful animation, and the most refreshing break from Hollywood crap since... well... since a long time. I enjoyed it a lot more than Princess Mononoke, as well.
About the closest analogy I can find, without discussing the plot and characters, is "Alice in Wonderland". If you think Alice in Wonderland's stupid, or if you just don't get it, you won't like this. (and this movie, like Alice in Wonderland, can be enjoyed by kids - but it can be enjoyed by adults even more).
I don't know if your petition is serious, and you actually want to get a job on that show... But if you are, starting a cheesy online petition in which you state that the show sucks probably isn't your best bet.
--
These aren't the droids you're looking for.
Suffice to say I'm not expecting Oscars to be heading the way of anime directors any time soon.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
In New Mexico...
It played at the Century Theatres.
I saw the first show and took my 3 year old...
She liked it but thought some of it was a little weird... I think the little pieces of coal were the scariest thing for her...
It was wonderful to see it on the big screen... I went out and bought it at my local Japanese animation import shop right after the movie...
Definitely an enjoyable movie but it was out here more than a month and a half ago, so this doesn't seem the most current news...
Where are the hot anime chicks with the flaming hair-dos and swords? Huh? What about the some bad ass spaceships and mechs? What about VAMPIRES, HUH? NOT ONE FUCKING VAMPIRE!
And to top it off, there is no obligitory $OBJECT blowing up in a slow motion 6 frame sequence...
Anime, my ass...
This space for rent
I really admired SA. It possesses some of the most beautiful images I've seen in a long time on the big screen, plus a simple story that contained enough emotional layers that almost anyone could get into it. If you're not familiar with Miyazaki's work, this is probably the most accessible (and hence the reason Disney picked it up). I would certainly see it again, and though I personally don't feel it should be up for Best Picture or anything like that, it certainly deserves at least a nod from the self-congratulatory Academy. My two cents, anyway :)
"Joan of Arc, up top!" - Ghandi, Clone High
...young girl raping tentacle beasts? or the quickly flashing seizure inducing lights? quite frankly i don't like it if it doesn't end in a cheasy japanese pop song sung. and if it doesn't have a title like 'super happy fun dojo panic trouble', well, you can keep it.
Large print giveth, and the small print taketh away
Um, maybe because he has a young daughter?
I like all those *****s! ** *** * ****!!!! LOLOLOL!!!!
FAGGOT
Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
"Disney chairman Richard W. Cook says that they've budgeted to market Spirited Away in up to 1,000 North American theaters, and if the Oscars endorse it as much as Metacritic has, Disney will launch it"
A thousand theaters. In that case, I'll never see it in a theater, considering every one of them in my area is Pro-big budget Hollywood movies.
That being the case, I will try for the first time the same thing most Anime fans have been doing for some time -- ordering the DVD that has already been released in Japan and having it shipped over here so I can watch it on my region free player.(I looked at it already and it does have English captions)
It's $100 for a DVD or a 6 1/2 hour drive to Calgary ($140 for gas and trip expenses, minus the cost of the ticket)
And it does sound very good...
You should be more worried about Disney when several of Disney's cartoon characters... DON'T EVEN WEAR PANTS!
Donald Duck and Pooh Bear spring to mind.
Pooh? A charecter for kids named after fecces?? What's up with that?
PS. Refresh my memory. Where was the "Little Girl" in Princess Mononoke?
The mistakes of a clever man are equal to the mistakes of a thousand fools.
It's not a Disney movie. It's from Studio Ghibli in Japan
Monsters, Inc. is not a Disney movie. It's from Pixar. So is that Nemo movie.
Cents from every dollar you spend on tickets to see this movie are still going to the defense of bad copyright laws such as the DMCA and the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act and to lobbying for their sequels: the CBDTPA, the Broadcast Flag, the two Berman bills, and the Chastity Bono Act of 2018 that adds yet another 20 years to Mickey Mouse's copyright term.
Will I retire or break 10K?
So books are incapable of being entertaining, then?
Motiion, colours, and sounds obviously can be entertaining, but to say that entertainment requires them is just rubbish.
I am a graphics artist,
There's a shock.:)
my web site took a long time to conceptualize, design, and implement (for the graphics). I don't want to deal with the inconsistencies between the rendering of web pages done on all browsers.
Then don't design web pages. Seriously. There are all kinds of neat opportunities to do graphic design on paper or even film, and the finished product will look the same to every one who looks at it. But one of the great things about the web is that the way web pages are presented is ultimately under the control of the viewer, not the author. And if one of the great strengths of the medium bugs you, then honestly, maybe it's not the medium for you.
Not that I'm rabidly anti-Flash; I play and enjoy Flash games. If your specific purpose is to create a graphical toy, then Flash works great. But if you have any info at all you're trying to convey (like, say, letting people know about an upcoming movie) then Flash is a bad way to go.
So, anyway, about that movie...
I had a fascinating story of the revamping of entire Barbie product line and it was rejected!!! This is the kind of news that /. readers demand. Keep the flow of cartoon and other pedophile related stories, this is truly news for nerds.
You are so fucking stupid it isn't even funny.
I was simply bown away watching a 4,5 and 6 year old glued to the screen for the entire movie. No potty breaks and no wandering minds. Hell, my oldest probably caught only 10% of the subtitles.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
This movie is a must see for anime enthusiasts, Hayao Miyazaki is known for his amazing work in creating anime that can not be contended with. Spirited Away and all of Miyazaki's creations are not like the usual anime that most people are used to seeing. His works have a amazing story line, amazing visual effects , great animation and little or no fighting. His work is more like a real movie then a animation or Disney flick. I recently saw Spirited away In a dende theater in Australia and it blew me away I haven't seen any other anime of this quality before. Princess Mononoke is another example of one of his works . This movie was the biggest grossing movie of all time before Titanic was released. I personally have his dvd collection of all his works and recommend it. I don't believe I have seen any movie or anime tell a story so well as he pulls off in his creations. check out this fan page. Its got alot more info then the studio ghibli page has. http://www.nausicaa.net/
It's flamebait because he knows it's not /.'s fault that his company filters it. Slashdot never promised to be safe enough for my company's filter or yours or anyone elses. And unless you're paying them for the service (which you probably aren't) then you don't have any right to say what they should or shouldn't put on the sight. Even if you DO pay for slashdot, it doesn't give you the right, just a little voice with which you can ask nicely.
It's not part of LOTR so it's not getting my money.
The problem with judging Spirited Away alongside this year's stock of American films is the lack of knowledge of the symbolism/references in the anime which are foreign and unrecognized in American culture. I hope the judges do their homework, which may enable them to realize the full brilliance of the movie. Also, Spirited Away helps us familiarize ourselves a bit more with the mentality of Japanese society. While it may be as magical as Alice in Wonderland there are plenty of differences between Alice's Wonderland and Chihiro's Wonderland. I, for one, appreciated seeing a "spirit house", let alone the huge, very important bathhouse operation.
Ok, that's a fair claim. ;)
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Wait a minute. Shrek was not positive in it's ending at all! The Ugly guy can only have an ugly girl??
A disproportionate amount of anime pr0n gets brought over and translated here in the USA. Go look in most large direct-sales video stores that carry a dedicated selection of anime. It's really pathetic.
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Lady and the Tramp
The story's focus on Disney is completely idiotic. Focus on the company that made the film, not the one that succeeded in getting it after ripping off or destroying as much Japanese anime as it could up to now.
I don't know how the voiceovers are in English. If possible, see the Japanese version with subtitles as well some time, it is quite impressive. Of course Hayao Miyazaki's work is all fabulous. Check out Laputa!
P.S. There is a book of Spirited Away as well, in English I believe. And in convenience stores they also sell segments of the movie as gorgeous shot-by-shot full color glossy manga books. Lots of Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro) stuff. I believe there is a shop in New York that handles tons of Japanese anime related stuff downtown.
Incidentally the name Sen to Chihiro refers to her name being stolen (I won't say by whom). The only character left can be read as Sen as well as Chi. Sen means a thousand.
I've sen "Spirited Away" on a large screen twice now. The film is so rich that, like all good art, it gets better with more study. Beyond the story, the incidental artwork in so many of the scenes is breath taking. I am looking forward to the DVD so I can actually freeze frames and just look more closely at the landscapes, the interior sets, the tapestries, etc. My feeling is that Disney is completely outclassed by this work. They [Disney] are intellectualy bankrupt. If they can use their influence and ample cash reserves to promote something of this quality, I am all for it. My only hope is they do not lock the artist up in a Disney contract for a string of pictures that reflects their dead end concepts of "product." A clear example of this "opportunity" is the Jackie Chan deal. His Disney funded movies are TERRIBLE! They all have that lame "written by committee running a formula" feel. If they want to promote the work, fine. If they need to CONTROL FUTURE CONTENT, we could be screwed.
I was lucky enough to see one of the screenings Disney did at their El Capitan theater in Hollywood in Japanese with subtitles. I remember there was a HUGE line out the theater and there was a sign when we came out saying due to popular demand, they had added another subtitled show that night. Cool, huh? I don't give Disney any credit in this except they brought good anime to America and to a wider audience.
And I still can't get the music to the movie out of my head...Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away definitely rate on my all time favorites list.
All of Disney's recent outings have been flops. If it wasn't for Pixar, they'd have sunk by now. Unfortunately for Disney, they only have the rights to a couple more movies from Pixar before that contract ends.
Disney must be looking for another cash cow and Japan seems like the best place to start searching.
I am a Karma Library.
Drawings and anime are two different things. Granted, "animation" is made up of a sequence of still drawings, technical crap, blah blah blah, but you're nit-picking. The drawings you're referring to, from Japanese "pillow books," are the first record from which is derived the modern Japanese charicature style, yes. Pillow books were sex how-to books, not entertainment per se (well, that depends on whether or not you got to participate in the lessons, I suppose.) They are the forerunner of many other forms of Japanese art as well. The original designer of Astro Boy was also influenced by America's "Betty Boop" cartoons, which were also fairly risque for a cartoon. He liked the style for its technical merits (BESM, or Big Eyes, Small Mouth), not for its titillation value.
Due to one bad review in a British newspaper of an anime that had nothing dirty about it, anime has been branded as pornographic by the English-speaking portion of western society. The original victim of this criticism was the OAV series, "Oh! My Goddess," AKA "Aa! Megami-sama" in Japan. This is an incredibly sweet, sometimes maudlin, romantic comedy about a Japanese student who dials a wrong number and ends up with a Nordic goddess as his girlfriend (short short version.)
Pornographic material is called "hentai" in Japan, whether it be in comic book, animated, or live-action form. It is prevalent if you're looking for it, just as porn magazines and videos in the US. It represents maybe less than 10% of all anime ever created. It's just like saying all American live-action movies are pornographic, based on the Puritanical criticism of someone living in another country seeing one American movie they didn't like and branding the entire genre thereafter as smut.
You have to wonder what kind of mind a censor has to have in order to be able to gauge what is pornographic and what isn't. "It takes one to know one," as the saying goes. What's more disgusting, the person with an open, healthy attitude about sex, or the closet pervert who cries foul and points and cover his eyes, all the while peeking between his fingers to get a better look? I seriously suspect that the loudest critics of sexual morals throughout the ages have been homely, sanctimonious men who were bitter because they weren't getting any, but were smart enough to cloak their attempts to drag everyone else down with them in the guise of searching for spiritual enlightenment, etc.
I live in Japan. I am super-otaku (someday, I will be ota-king!) I currently enjoy the luxury of living outside of the American corporate media system. How sweet it is.
"Give a man fire, and he'll be warm for a day; set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life
Yahoo keeps track of reviews by major newspapers, mags, and film websites. Out of the 15 reviews the lowest it scored was a B+ and that only happend twice.
& cf =critic&intl=us
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&id=1808405164
This is my favorate movie, I saw it opeaning night in hollywood, and I hope it wins best picture but I doubt it. It probably will not even make 10 million in the US.
...and better yet WINS an Academy Award, the statue should be handed directly to Hayao Miyazaki and noone else. That's his baby. To have Disney step onto the stage and take credit for this astonishing film would be a disgrace. Screw the "must be an active producer" rules. Miyazaki deserves that honor, not the rip-off artists at Disney.
And while I'm on the subject, if an Anime motion picture can win an academy award, then it must be a legitimate art form worth a look from the "mainstream." Hopefully, that sort of wake-up call could get America out of it's "animation is for kids and can't be taken seriously" slump...
Blog Prophyts - Right On, Man
I was lucky enough that my local theater had it. I'd say this is the best disney dub of a ghibli film yet and doesn't have the big problem of trying to turn celebrities into voice actors like mononoke did. A great moving film that I wish I could see again. unfortunately the local bastards decided to give the bond movie a third fucking screen and take SA out. needless to say I'm still angry. hopefully it will be run again or at least come out on DVD soon.
The original title is 'Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi', for those who care :-)
It won a prize at some Berlin (Germany) festival, the Gold Bear
I saw it in France around a year ago, and even if there were some long scenes imo, it's still a pretty darn good movie.
Of course, some things are lost in the translation (for instance, why is Chihiro sometimes called 'Sen' isn't that easy to get if you don't know some japanese basics).
You can also find some ecological references (river god), and things like that.
I was in Japan in july, around the time it was released in DVD, and boy, it was totally crazy: any shop related more or less to video, anime, games, you-name-it had TVs with the DVDs / tape rolling ! (and i don't even mention related merchandise)
All in all, a decent movie imo ^_^
Tsuyoikoto ha taisetsu da ne, dakedo namida mo hitsuyousa (Strength is an important thing, but tears too are necessary)
"Porco Rosso" stars a grown-up male pig.
So we have most of Slashdot whinging about how Disney rips off old stories, and now most of Slashdot raves about a story ripped off from the Wizard of Oz.
hmmm...
I _resonated_ with this movie.
Anyone who's been 10-11 and changed schools
will understand what I'm talking about.
Does anyone know if the house of spirits metaphor
means something special in Japanese culture?
Something that got lost in translation?
Hopefully, geeks on Slashdot will continue to support Disney so that we can get more of this!
If you support Disney, you are also supporting Senator Hollings, the CBDTPA, and other attempts to ban computers to make the world safe for the media corporations' business model.
Don't do it.
I think 2002 will be a much better year for Disney animated features.
Lilo & Stitch did good business at the box office and was very well-received by critics; it appears that Treasure Planet may do this also. It appears that Disney has learned from the horrid experiences of The Emperor's New Groove, Dinosaur and Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and the upper management kept pretty much hands-off on this year's feature releases.
I bought that film based on reviews here.
I was very disappointed with that film. It could have been trimmed down by 1/2 an hour (at least) which would have made the film paced better and eliminate the parts that just don't help the story.
Based on the reviews here, I'm worried this film will be another Mononoke. I'm certainly not going to buy it this time.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
About the idea of Spirited Away being nominated for best picture, won't happen. The new category of best animated picture was created by the MPA specifically so that animated movies wouldn't be nominated for the best picture award.
and that's before the DVD has been released. Not exactly a flop.
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Before this, and excluing Pixar, they have been striking out the last few years, though.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=lilosti
...I have seen it twice at the theater. I would gladly go again to see it if it was subtitled with the original Japanese soundtrack - I am curious to see if it would be as good with that magical voice of Daveigh Chase. The girl has been getting work - first "Lilo and Stitch", then this and then the "The Ring".
More than lush fluid animation, the film has that undefinable quality that is missing in so many films....charm. I hope it gets more than the limited release it had. I hope it gets the recognition it deserves.
I'm in Mexico, and while I'm wuite fluent in English, I'd obviously love to be able to share this movie whit my wife/family/friends who are not. Is there any way I can get it on DVD with Spanish subtitles? DVD region is not a problem, and neither is price (within reason).
Thanks for any pointers...
Yeah, I wrote "wiute" instead of "quite" on a sentence regarding my English fluency. Im "wiute" aware of the irony of it all, and embarassed beside myself. Sorry about thar :S /me kicks himself.
Still... the movie? On DVD? Spanish subtitles? Pretty please?
To protest your concerns at this guy's trolling, go get an account at kuro5hin (perhaps add "from Slashdot" to your name to show where you're from), then go and moderate all of tps12's comments to 1. 1 means "I hate you.", and this will make tps12 cry. I also recommend getting account name that's quite like tps12 (eg tpsl2 or "tps12 on", etc.) and crapflooding with it. This will dishonour tps12's good standing in the kuro5hin community.
If "Nobody likes a weirdo" is the moral of Beauty and the Beast, will Spirited Away assume the more Japanese "The nail that sticks out gets hammered in"?
...for a children's movie?
This was a classic movie-for-kids that Disney has been marketing well for decades. They knew fully well it should not have been released in the art houses. When I saw it there wasn't a single child in the audience.
The dub was great. They re-synched the mouths to the English words. Could have been a breakthrough movie for Disney. They screwed it up and promoted the heck out of "Lilo and Stitch," a stinker based on "The Ugly Duckling" with five good jokes.
I just hope "Treasure Planet" is as good as it looks, not as bad as these morons keep trying to make their movies.
My protest: I'm going to see "Solaris" instead of "Treasure Planet" today.
Eternal vigilance only works if you look in every direction.
Spirited away will never be nominated for best picture. No because it is not a good movie but there is now a separate category for animated features. They don't compete with live action films.
Wondering how any given movie will end? Here it is:
1. Hero and bad guy will engage in a fight to the death. Hero is the underdog. Bad guy might "cheat" somehow.
2. Hero wins fight fairly, possibly even saving bad guy from certain death. Hero decides to let bad guy live, because killing bad guy would "make me just as bad as him." Nevermind that this makes no sense.
3. After havin his life spared by hero, bad guy makes one last effort to kill hero, and ends up falling to his own death. This satisfies the viewer's need for justice without getting the hero's hands dirty.
B&tB and the Lion King both end this way. So does Spiderman, more or less. The crappy J Lo movie "Enough" did, as did a recent Tommy Lee Jones & Judd sister movie. I now go into movies expecting them to end this way.
Contrast this with Superman 2, in which Superman, after rendering General Zod and the gang powerless, kills Zod and watches in glee as the others die. Way to go Supes! Of course if he had a nuke-proof phantom zone handy he probably would have put them in that.
If this is my last post ever then it is because I have pissed off the Hollywood writers mafia by revealing their secret and they are coming to get me! Good-bye everyone, I'll miss ya!
[/spoiler alert!]
Lasers Controlled Games!
A programmer from a very large computer company went to a software
conference and then returned to report to his manager, saying: "What sort
of programmers work for other companies? They behaved badly and were
unconcerned with appearances. Their hair was long and unkempt and their
clothes were wrinkled and old. They crashed out hospitality suites and they
made rude noises during my presentation."
The manager said: "I should have never sent you to the conference.
Those programmers live beyond the physical world. They consider life absurd,
an accidental coincidence. They come and go without knowing limitations.
Without a care, they live only for their programs. Why should they bother
with social conventions?"
"They are alive within the Tao."
-- Geoffrey James, "The Tao of Programming"
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