Disney

At this point in his creative career, Hayao Miyazaki has directed nine different animated feature films under his Studio Ghibli label, and every single one of them is available in the US, thanks to Disney and their talented team of translators, voice actors and dialogue-reconstructors. Take advantage of this.

While I have said before that I’m not a fan of what US television has done to anime, the films of Studio Ghibli feel like a beacon of intelligence among the horrible battling-trading-card-and-monster-shows-that-sell-merchandise which we’re now drowning in, or those cartoons that show just a few too many shots of schoolgirl underwear. While many of Miyazaki’s films focus around innocence, children, and the mystical circumstances they stumble into, rest assured that there are no underpants to contend with.

Disney has recently re-released some Miyazaki classics which you may have seen on the shelves a few years back : My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky, and Kiki’s Delivery Service. So, let’s dissect the differences of the US releases. It goes without saying that these are all excellent films – you can find detailed criticism elsewhere.

My Neighbor Totoro was released in 2002 by Fox, though this edition of the DVD was missing the original Japanese language track, and was presented in awkward fullscreen. It was again released in 2004 by Disney with an entirely new English voice cast, and again in 2010 – both of which are 2-disc sets which differ in special features.

The 2004 release, which features a colorful fishing scene over a river on the cover, includes a featurette with US voice actors Elle and Dakota Fanning, as well as the original trailer in Japanese and the complete film in storyboard form. The 2010 release, which uses a dark blue, rainy scene on the cover and a gold slipcase spine, features an extensive exploration of Studio Ghibli as they were making Totoro, previews for a few other films, and the same storyboard version of the film as the 2004 edition – as well as a beautiful little lithograph of the cover scene.

As a completist, do you want both? My favorite part of any animated DVD is the voice acting stuff, but the choice is yours. This film is so iconic that Ghibli uses Totoro as their logo. The earlier editions are currently out of print.

Castle in the Sky, which is also sometimes called Laputa, or a combination of the two, (and not to be confused with Howl’s Moving Castle, also by Studio Ghibli), was first released by Disney on DVD within the US in 2003. This version has a light blue cover with a tress in the center, and includes an introduction by Disney’s John Lasseter, the option to view the film as the original storyboards, the original Japanese trailers, and a behind-the-scenes feature with the voice talent.

The 2010 release, which has a floating girl and a gold slipcase spine, also includes the introduction from Lasseter, the original storyboards, and a new featurette about the awesome steampunk worlds of the film – but leaves out the voice actor features again, while including a small print of the cover. Both versions are still available at the time of this writing.

Kiki’s Delivery Service was also released in 2003, featuring a cover which uses a large portrait of the protagonist. This includes the same four types of features as ‘Castle’, while the 2010 release (depicting a girl on a broomstick flying over a cityscape), mimics the three features of the 2010 edition of ‘Castle’ also. All three of these films are being re-released now to accompany the release of Ponyo, which is the newest Miyazaki release.

One thing worth noting is that all of these are, and have been, available from other publishers which are not US-based. I’ve had a few experiences with attempting to purchase anime DVDs from discount distributors before, and the results have been completely disastrous. Unless it’s a producer that you trust and has a solid reputation for releasing films in the US, buying cheap anime DVDs is a colossal waste of money – unless you speak Japanese. Most often, the subtitles are completely unreadable, having undergone translation into Korean or Chinese, and then to English. Try doing this with any sentence in Babelfish and you’ll see what I mean. So, the only sure way to get your hands on these Ghibli releases and to enjoy them is to buy the real, Disney versions of them.

I have an intense appreciation for animation, so I’ve collected just about everything that Studio Ghibli has released here in the states. To call Ghibli ‘the Japanese Disney’ would be a disservice to both studios, but both create things of such epic atmosphere and depth that it’s no surprise they’ve joined forces to make the best possible stateside releases of all of Ghibli’s classic films.

The translation of Japanese animation to a US audience is usually a very dicey procedure when it’s cheaply done. You get subtitles that read like drunken haikus, enormous spans of plot inconveniently cut for brevity and clarity, and subtlety drained from the very core of what makes some Japanese animation stand apart from what US kids are usually given. So, even when Disney loads the American voice cast with celebrity names, and a few names pulled directly from their own teenybopper talent farms, they do a great job, such as with Ponyo, which was just recently released on DVD & Blu-Ray for the first time.

Subtlety is the key. Instead of fairytale princes in this retelling of ‘The Little Mermaid’, we have a regular kid. We have quiet magic interwoven so intimately with everyday life that all of the regular folks approach it calmly and with a sense of wonder, instead of suspicion and distrust. Instead of computer-heavy graphics, we have a film that was drawn by hand in the most tedious, organic way possible – but revealing none of the tedium in the final product. It’s the kind of quiet, real beauty that we don’t get enough of, so I’m thrilled that we’re getting this treat over here – and on Blu-Ray no less.

There are two versions of Ponyo out there – a simple DVD version, and a DVD / Blu-Ray combo pack that’s only very slightly more expensive. Let me just note that, as a collector who is new to Blu-Ray, the only things I have in this format so far are Disney and Pixar films. Both preserve the original soundtrack in Japanese and present the option of subtitles, if you’re a purist – but the English voice acting is really very good and completely undistracting.

The DVD includes a 5 minute featurette about the making of Ponyo, though it doesn’t really explore it in any depth. All of the real details are on the Blu-Ray disc, which explores these things from multiple angles, and adds even more neatness to the behind-the-scenes stuff that’s been accumulating on all of Disney’s Ghibli releases. No Ghibli or Miyazaki collection is remotely complete without this exceptional, inspiring animation.

[DVD graciously provided by BVHE]

I’ve never been a fan of Mickey Mouse. I’ve actually never felt too much of an affinity for any Disney character, aside from a deep sympathy for Donald Duck’s impossible bad luck. Disney, like Star Wars, has always been very protective over their properties and usually unwilling to allow any kind of non-canonical interpretations of their characters. However, also like Star Wars, Disney has recently relented in the unstoppable face of the DIY movement and allowed a variety of interesting interpretations of their most famous property.

I first started noticing these interpretations with this ‘Runaway Brain’ Mickey Mouse, which was probably the first time that I’d seen Mickey portrayed in a manner that wasn’t pristine and heroic, and ultimately, saccharine. I liked it, even if it is canonical and fits into an actual cartoon.

Of course there are the obligatory Mickey Mouse statues that dress him up as alternate Disney characters, like TRON, Jack Sparrow or Jack Skellington – a whole bunch of Disney things that ultimately feed right back into the juggernaut of the Disney machine – but Disney has started to stretch their horizons beyond obvious interpretations.

Most notable for me is this ‘Bloc 28 Mickey’ from Suiko and MINDStyle Toys, which is a fairly radical and incredible re-imagining of the Mickey character. Because he’s so culturally iconic, he only requires minimal key visual elements in any image to reflect the fact that you’re looking at Mickey Mouse. In this case, the artist has completely done away with the bulbous pair of ears and the distinctive pants and buttons – but the color recognizability is still there. That’s a testament to the power of an icon. This particular piece is limited to 500 pieces and costs $125, standing at a full foot tall.

Even more bizarre is this piece by MINDStyle and Tenga, which only retains the signature spherical pants and the recognizable buttons, but includes some completely non-Mickey wings, blue gloves, and general surrealist weirdness. Disney is still comfortable calling it ‘Mickey’, so kudos to Disney for embracing the piece. They did, after all, work with Salvador Dali once.

Also released is this Span Of Sunset and Bloc 28 piece, which realizes Mickey as some kind of vector-y, angular creature that fell out of a Max Headroom nightmare.

There’s also this unlikely Mickey Mouse / Transformers crossover from Tomy, for what it’s worth.

A little over a year ago, designers BAPE released this $223 designer Minnie doll, which is apparently very special due to the fact that it is made in a grey camo pattern. While some designer stuff just seems like cheap regurgitation of a simplistic, artificial theme to me, I still love that distorted, twisted up Mickey from Suiko.

While this is by no means a comprehensive list of the strange Mickeys that are now, and will be, available, it’s a fairly awesome bridge between ‘art’ and the world of Disney, which is working hard to shed its pristine, kid-centric image – enough to get me interested.

There aren’t a lot of films that really need to be in a Blu-Ray format. Classics, things with amazing cinematography, things that can be considered art, things with a considerable attention to detail. These are the things that benefit from an intense amount of clarity – and for the love of god, nothing with Vince Vaughn or Sarah Jessica Parker ever needs to be seen with any modicum of clarity. I intentionally poke myself in the eye if I accidentally see them on TV. It’s for my own survival.

I’m still being sold on the merits of Blu-Ray over my handsome DVD collection, and while the DVD medium will likely be hanging around for at least another decade, I’m slowly collecting things that really deserve to be seen in excruciating clarity. The list is small, and the films of Pixar figure heavily into this list. In fact, the only three Blu-Rays that I own are Disney films.

Disney and Pixar recently released Monsters Inc. and Up on Blu-Ray for the first time. Both films also have DVD editions which were published, so every type of physical modern media is covered. But this is what I absolutely love about Disney’s DVD releases, and how friendly they are to collectors who are as uncertain of new media forms as I am : the Blu-Ray editions of both films also include DVD copies in the same case, as well as a digital disc for use on an iPod or other small-screen device. You’re covered in every possible aspect. I only need one, but it’s good to be covered on all fronts.

Which is really unprecedented. What’s even more incredible about collecting these is that these 4-disc sets are set to retail around  $40 each, but can often be purchased brand new for $20 or under, which is effectively the same price as buying one new DVD anyhow. The choice is made for you. This is the ultimate in collector friendliness.

While the Blu-Ray discs include a huge array of extra bonus features, the packaging fails to describe precisely what’s included on the single DVD disc as extras. Rest assured that everything that’s described as being on the first Blu-Ray disc is included on the DVD also. In the case of Monsters Inc., all of the original bonuses are listed as included.

So, this blog isn’t to deliver film critiques, but rather comment on the collectability of various items throughout history and make you aware of their existence, and these things may just happen to be films. Allow me to digress for one moment into a small film critique : Up is probably one of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen. It’s heartbreaking, uplifting, moving, hilarious, and such a visceral experience that I fully expect it to win multiple awards whenever they give out those things. As someone who has had a hard time coping with a lot of loss at once, this film was exactly what I needed to get back on my feet. It’s a PG film, but the depth is amazing. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

In terms of collecting movies, Pixar fulfills every criteria I described in the first paragraph. They’re worth having in the best possible format. There’s a real stigma against cartoons that should be lifted here, because while animated, they’re not ‘cartoons’. They’re films. They explore the fantastic in an innovative way, but they’re definitely films – in the best possible way.

Maybe I was born in the wrong era. Maybe I’d better serve a world where data didn’t zip through wires at the speed of light, but instead could only travel as fast as your best horse. People would think twice before traveling 500 miles to deliver a slip of paper that said ‘LOL U SUCK’, I presume. And forget about getting a burger around the corner – you’d be eating the same buffalo that you shot last month and you’d like it. My days would be spent outside instead of trapped behind a computer typing in data. You can probably hear my sighing from there.

Zorro predates Batman by 20 years, with Zorro appearing first in 1919 in pulp stories by Johnston McCulley, but the similarities between the two are numerous. Bat-fans are already well aware of Zorro’s influence on the young Bob Kane, and as an avid Bat-fan myself, I was compelled to explore exactly where all of this came from. Disney was gracious enough to provide the materials for my study, which happens to coincide with November 3rd’s release of both the first and second seasons of Zorro on DVD in Disney’s ‘Treasures’ line of DVDs.

There’s really nothing classier than Disney’s Treasures collections. Lovingly packaged in awesome tins, packed with bonus trinkets and materials, and relatively limited in edition. In this case, Zorro : The Complete First (and Second) Seasons both come with really great little Zorro pins, postcards of Guy Williams both as Zorro and his alter ego, and detailed booklets. They are comprehensive. If you’re a completist and you’re wondering where the 4-episode ‘third’ season went (which was presented in a different format as ‘Walt Disney Presents’ after the main series ended), they’re here too, appended two episodes per set – so you’re genuinely missing nothing. You have to juggle a bit to watch it all in airdate order, but it’s a small price to pay to have everything in one place.

Each set includes 39 half-hour episodes (each!) presented in stunning clarity. I’m not sure if these were remastered or just amazingly well cared for, but the prints are really clean and undistracting. I’m always impressed by Disney taking the extra few steps to present something that never, ever appears lazy. No, this is not the first time that a lot of this has been on DVD, but it’s never been presented this comprehensively.

Okay, so the packaging of the DVDs are really neat, and the DVDs are nice looking – but the show is actually really good too. I’m not one to criticize a show that aired well before I was born and have no context to measure it against, but it’s a good show. It’s such an innocent mix of adventure, humor, and everything that makes Batman a great hero. Of course, Zorro was there first, but the comparisons between two giants of pop culture history are inevitable. Men who are noble heroes who put on a bumbling facade to disguise their identity, a faithful manservant, coming and going through a hidden cave, dressing in black. It’s still a truly enjoyable thing to watch.

Bonus materials include archival footage that only Disney could provide, and a few behind-the-scenes mini documentary-style explorations into the world of Zorro.

They each will set you back about $40 bucks, which is even less than the now-rare earlier Zorro releases would. And this time, you get two really neat little pins and some ultimately classy tins. I look forward to curling up with these before bed all winter.