In an age where animated movies are either spawned from a computer or clay, it’s refreshing to see decent, traditionally drawn entertainment that isn’t from Cartoon Network. Hayao Miyazaki, director of 2003’s Oscar-winning Spirited Away, is one artist who never fails to exhilarate audiences with stunning artwork and equally engaging storylines. His versatility allows him to cover numerous themes that are both societal and personal, with varying degrees of darkness or lightheartedness, as shown in a pair of his classics — 1988’s My Neighbor Totoro and 2004’s Howl’s Moving Castle — now in newly released DVDs. Totoro, like many of Miyazaki’s other films, is a charming family movie that mixes magical creatures and intricate human characters with accurately depicted emotions. Two sisters and their father move into the countryside to be near their ailing mother, where the girls encounter the mystical, cuddly Totoro.
Based on a book by Diana Wynne Jones, like Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle was nominated for a Best Animated Feature Oscar. The film’s protagonist, a young heroine from a war-stricken town, becomes involved with the handsome magician Howl while in pursuit of a cure to an aging curse put on her by an evil witch.
Both DVDs have as many extra features one could expect to find for an animation feature: trailers, storyboards and “Behind the Scenes” with the English-version voice actors, including the Fanning sisters for Totoro and Christian Bale, Lauren Bacall and Billy Crystal for Castle. One notable feature is a subtitled Japanese video of Miyazaki’s surprise visit to Pixar Studios, whose Pete Doctor directed the English version of Castle.
Though anime-receptive tastes may be required, both Howl’s Moving Castle and My Neighbor Totoro will prove highly enjoyable DVDs for anyone interested in watching something wonderfully wholesome yet not juvenile.