The following 12 movies are on this 6 DVD set:
- Laputa
- Grave of the fireflies
- Mononoke
- Totoro
- Kiki’s Delivery Service
- Porreo Posso
- Spirited Away
- The Cat Returns
- My Neighbors the Yamadas
- Howl’s Moving Castle
- Nausicaa
- Pom Poko
Family oriented production studios rarely get the recognition they deserve
but Studio Ghibli definitely should. They have been putting out amazing works
like Nausicaa, Laputa and Totoro that have not found their equal a decade after
their release. They have literally blown away the animation world with their
sensational winds. Included in this team are Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata,
Yoshifumi Kondo and a few others.
Laputa "Castle In The Sky" Laputa, a floating castle in the sky, was
created by a mysterious race of people who long ago disappeared from the planet.
A group of ruthless pirates suspect is has treasures and riches beyond
imagination. The government wants to find out if it holds the power to rule the
world. both are chasing a girl named Sheeta in their quest to this hidden city
because only the secret spells pass down to Sheeta by her grandmother can unlock
the puzzle.
Grave of Fireflies
In the aftermath of a World War II bombing, two orphaned children struggle to
survive in the Japanese countryside. To Seita and his four year old sister the
helplessness and indifference of their countrymen is even more painful than the
enemy raids. Through desperation, hunger and grief, these children's lives are
as heartbreakingly fragile as their spirit and love is inspiring. Grave the
Fireflies is a tale of the true tragedy of war and innocence lost, not only of
the abandoned young but of an entire nation.
My Neighbor Totoro
To live nearer their mothe, who is recuperating from an illness in a hospital,
little Mei and her elder sister Satsuki are moving with their father to a house
in the country. Playing in the yard on day, Mei spots a tiny creature and
fullows it into the hollow of a huge tree. There she discovers Totoro, a giant
furry creature the size of a small house, fast asleep. Totoro and his firend
can't be seen by adults, but only by children who love them. Mei and Satsuki fly
with Totoro on a warm summer night, plant a giant tree that grows in minutes and
sit high in its branches. The girls also call on Totoro for help when they are
in trouble.
KiKi's Delivery
Service
Kiki, a witch-in-training, is now 13 years old and according to tradition, she
must leave home and find a town in which to practice her magic. Putting her
special powers of flying to good use, she sets up a Special Delivery Service.
However her biggest challenge comes when she has lost the power to fly on her
broom. She must do some soul-searching and rediscover her flying "Spirit" to
save the life of a firend in a dramatic rescue before the entire town.
Porco-Rosso
In the Adriatic Sea in the days after World War I, many flying aces have become
"sky pirates", raiding the sea lanes. Marco "Porco" Rosso, is a bounty hunter
whose scarlet biplane is available to oppose the pirates for a fee. Upset by the
interruption to their business, the pirates decide to bring the unscrupulous,
suave, and handsome American ace Donald Curtis to eliminate Porco Rosso. Curtis
meets his stange nemessis and is struct by the beautiful chanteuse, Gina, who
loves Marco. The two men begin a breathtaking life-and-death struggle for not
only glory and hono, but also the hearts of the charming ladies, Gina and Fio
...
Princess Mononoke
A period when samural warriors raided each other's territories whenever they
sensed weakness or advantage. Men and women drien from areas of conflict eked
out their living in remote forests fules by ancient gods. Ashitaka, a young
warrior from the Emishi clan, is forced to kill a boar-god who has gone mad and
threatened his village. Subsequently, he is wounded by the god, and the wound
carries a curse of slow death. In his journey to lift the curse, Ashitaka
encounters the girl SAN raised by wolves and call Princess Mononoke, Princess of
Demons and Spirits, by her human enemies. He also encounters samurai who
massacre helpless villages, a wily itinerant Buddhist priest , and proud village
of ironsmiths whose leader, the Lady Eboshi, who fight against samurai of forest
gods to turn her walled fortress of a town in to a safe and prosperous place to
live.
Spirited Away
On the other side of the tunnel there was a strangle town. In a place that
doesn't exist, something impossible happened. A 10 year-old girl named chihiro
stumbled upon a world humans were forbidden to enter. IN a town of mysteries and
oddities, Chihiro comes to know much indifference .. and a little bit of hope.
"Can I work here?" The strength to live, long dormant within here began to
awaken.
All of the above have previously been available on a 4
DVD set but now the following additional movies are available on this great 6
DVD Set:
The Cat Returns: A young girl rescues a mysterious cat from traffic
and soon finds herself the unwelcome recipient of gifts and favors from the King
of the Cats, who also wants her to marry his son, Prince Lune. With the
assistance of a fat, grouchy real cat and a an elegant cat statuette come to
life (both characters featured in Studio Ghibli's earlier anime "Whisper of the
Heart"), the girl visits the Cat Kingdom and narrowly escapes again.
My
Neighbors the Yamadas Although it's technically a feature film, Isao
Takahata's My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999) plays like a series of
comedy sketches or sitcom episodes. The Tokyo household of Takashi and Matsuko
Yamada includes their son and daughter, Noboru and Nonoko, Matsuko's cranky
mother Shige, and their lumpish dog. Stolidly middle-income and middle-class,
the Yamadas have a family life that falls somewhere between Married... with
Children and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Affectionate but
undemonstrative, they rarely face crises more challenging than a lost umbrella
or what to have for dinner. But they manage to find (or create) drama within
their humdrum existence: the struggle for the TV remote becomes a stylized
battle that spoofs karate matches; when a girl calls Noboru, his mother and
grandmother cling to him like remoras. Many of the Yamadas' adventures end with
an elegant haiku. Does Basho's "How cruel, a grasshopper trapped under a
warrior's helmet" really apply to Takashi Yamada? He thinks it does. Much of the
film's charm comes from the loose, cartoony style that suggests pencil lines and
watercolor washes.
Walt Disney Home Entertainment Presents A Studio Ghibli Film. Join in the
adventures of the quirky Yamada family -- from the hilarious to the touching --
brilliantly presented in a unique, visually striking comic strip style. Takashi
Yamada and his wacky wife Matsuko, who has no talent for housework, navigate
their way through the ups and downs of work, marriage, and family life with a
sharp-tongued grandmother who lives with them, a teenage son who wishes he had
cooler parents, and a pesty daughter whose loud voice is unusual for someone so
small. Even the family dog has issues! Experience the little victories in life
with MY NEIGHBORS THE YAMADAS -- featuring the voice talents of comedic stars
Jim Belushi and Molly Shannon.
Howl’s
Moving Castle Like a dream, Howl's Moving Castle carries
audiences to vistas beyond their imaginations where they experience excitement,
adventure, terror, humor, and romance. With domestic box office receipts of over
$210 million, Howl passed Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke to
become the #3 film in Japanese history, behind his Spirited Away and
James Cameron's Titanic. Based on a juvenile novel by Diana Wynne
Jones, Howl's Moving Castle marks the first time Miyazaki has adapted
another writer's work since Kiki's Delivery Service (1989). Sophie, a
19-year-old girl who believes she is plain, has resigned herself to a drab life
in her family's hat shop--until the Witch of the Waste transforms her into a
90-year-old woman. In her aged guise, Sophie searches for a way to break the
Witch's spell and finds unexpected adventures. Like Chihiro, the heroine of
Spirited Away, Sophie discovers her hidden potential in a magical
environment--the castle of the title. Using CG, Miyazaki creates a ramshackle
structure that looks like it might disintegrate at any moment. Sophie's honesty
and determination win her some valuable new friends: Markl, Howl's young
apprentice; a jaunty scarecrow; Calcifer, a temperamental fire demon; and Heen,
a hilarious, wheezing dog. She wins the heart of the dashing, irresponsible
wizard Howl, and brings an end an unnecessary and destructive war. The film
overflows with eclipsing visuals that range from frightening aerial battles to
serene landscapes, and few recent features--animated or live action--offer as
much magic as Howl's Moving Castle.
Nausicaa Hayao Miyazaki gained widespread attention in Japan for his
complex ecological manga series, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
(1982), which he adapted for the screen two years later. One thousand years
after a war devastated much of the Earth, humanity clings to existence at the
fringes of a vast, polluted forest inhabited by monstrous insects. Only Nausicaä,
the princess of the tiny realm of the Valley of the Wind, grasps the
environmental significance of the forest. She sees beyond petty wars and
national rivalries to the only viable future for the planet. In Nausicaä,
Miyazaki began to explore elements he would develop more fully in his later
films: daring, compassionate heroines; exciting flying sequences; colorful side
characters; strong interpersonal relationships; and a call for an ecologically
sustainable way of life. Nausicaä prefigures Sheeta in Castle in the Sky
and Chihiro in Spirited Away, just as the rough and ready Asbel
anticipates Pazu in Castle in the Sky and Ashitaka in Princess
Mononoke. For years, Nausicaä was available in the United States
only as the badly re-edited Warriors of the Wind. The new English
dub presented here shows the film in its entirety, with strong vocal
performances by Uma Thurman, Patrick Stewart, Alison Lohman, and Edward James
Olmos.
From one of the most celebrated filmmakers in the history of animation and the
creator of the Academy Award-winning SPIRITED AWAY (Best Animated Feature Film,
2002) comes Hayao Miyazaki's epic masterpiece NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE
WIND. A thousand years after a global war, a seaside kingdom known as the Valley
Of The Wind remains one of only a few areas still populated. Led by the
courageous Princess Nausicaä, the people of the Valley are engaged in a constant
struggle with powerful insects called ohmu, who guard a poisonous jungle that is
spreading across the Earth. Nausicaä and her brave companions, together with the
people of the Valley, strive to restore the bond between humanity and the Earth.
NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND is written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
And this spectacuar set features exotic settings, impactful music, and a
timeless story about courage and compassion in the face of danger.
Pom Poko Isao Takahata's outré ecological fable Pom Poko was the no. 1
domestic film in Japan in 1994, and the first animated feature to be submitted
for the Oscar for Foreign Language Film. In 1967, the raccoons in the Tama Hills
find their homes are threatened with destruction when developers turn the rural
area into suburbs. Under the leadership of their tribal elders the animals fight
back with every resource at their disposal. Raccoons are shape-shifters in
Japanese folk tales, and the members of this tribe can transform into objects,
other creatures and even humans.
Unlike Takahata's deeply moving The Grave of the Fireflies, Pom Poko (the
sound made by thumping the tummy of a comfortably full raccoon) is a broad
comedy. The raccoons' efforts to understand humans, their evocations of
traditional ghost stories to frighten construction crews, and their internecine
quarrels offers plenty of laughs. But the story rambles, and the characters lack
the depth needed to sustain the audience's interest until the film's belated,
downbeat conclusion. The extras include Takahata's storyboards, which are
interesting, but lack the magic of Hayao Miyazaki's drawings on other Studio
Ghibli discs. Note: male raccoons have prominent testicles, which are shown in
Japanese art, including the designs for Pom Poko. When the characters grow
desperate, they swell their scrotums to enormous size and use them as weapons.
POM POKO is a tale of the clash between modern civilization and the natural
world. The Raccoons of the Tama Hills are being forced from their homes by the
rapid development of houses and shopping malls. As it becomes harder to find
food and shelter, they decide to band together and fight back. The Raccoons
practice and perfect the ancient art of transformation until they are even able
to appear as humans. In often hilarious ways, the Raccoons use their powers to
try to scare off the advancement of civilization. But will it be enough? Or will
the Raccoons learn how to live in balance with the modern world? Celebrate the
magic of the forest and the beauty of the creatures who live among us in POM
POKO — on DVD for the first time ever!
DVD FEATURES:
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