Images of the day, 4/11/11

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Hayao Miyazaki, 1984

Tangled, Nathan Greno and Byron Howard, 2010

Comments

[James Keepnews]

What, you couldn't get reproduction rights to any stills from THE FOUNTAIN? (Maybe I mean LEGEND OF THE OVERFIEND? No, most likely not...)

[Oliver_C]

The Hayao Miyazaki-directed, Isao Takahata-produced 'Nausicaä' is considered pivotal to anime history, a film whose artistic quality was “widely regarded as more than sufficient to hold the interest of adults” [Kenji Sato]. It became the first ever animation to make the 'Kinema Junpô' critics' top ten -- seventh place, first prize that year going to Juzo Itami’s 'The Funeral' -- while the magazine’s readers voted it film of the year. Its popularity led to the establishment of Miyazaki and Takahata’s animation studio, Ghibli, in 1985.

[The Siren]

I absolutely loved Tangled.

I liked it better than Toy Story 3. **ducks**

[Glenn Kenny]

I think "Tangled" and "Toy Story 3" are almost completely different kettles of fish, so I have no problem with one such as you expressing a strong preference for one over the other. Some cynic, before even seeing "Tangled," made a crack about how great a Broadway musical it was gonna make in five years, but I thought that quality was one of its signal strengths: it was incredibly deft in putting the musical-as-a-genre elements together ala "Beauty and the Beast," a picture that really makes you say to yourself, among other things, "Wow, what happened to Jeff Katzenberg?" And it does have great songs. And great images.

[Eric]

How To Train Your Dragon was easily the best animated film I saw last year.

[lazarus]

Tangled, Dragon, Toy Story...none of these are fit to hold The Illusionist's top hat.

[The Siren]

Glenn, the handling of the false mother psychology and guilt-tripping in Tangled was a big part of what I loved. The hero was very much in the Fairbanks Sr/Flynn/Power mode, and that was cool too, and the animation was gorgeous, but that mother--man, Tangled went into some amazingly bold places about jealousy and aging and toxic parents. I haven't seen that in very many contemporary adult movies, let alone Disney. Also considering the movie's convoluted production, it's quite an achievement.

[MovieMan0283]

Have you seen Waking Sleeping Beauty? Though somewhat in the apologist mode, it's a fairly candid look at the behind-the-scenes operations of Disney during this period. My take-away was that Eisner, Katzenberg, et al didn't have a whole lot to do with the accomplishments they took credit for (esp. Katzenberg) during this period other than creating the environment in which it could flourish. Which is nice but hardly the stuff of Uncle Walt - and that's from a doc which tried to make the execs look likable...

I'd give Howard Shore & Alan Menken the biggest credit for the film; the animation is excellent, but in the end it's the music that makes it great.

[MovieMan0283]

The last comment refers to Beauty & the Beast if anyone is confused.

[Oliver_C]

I think you mean Howard *Ashman* and Alan Menken. (Howard Shore doing the music for a Disney feature, now that I would like to hear!)