I love Studio Ghibli. I may not have had a childhood with the movies (sort of), but I really enjoy their movies. I can only think of one,
maybe two movies I didn't really like (
Tales from Earthsea outside of great animation, and it's a tie between
Grave of the Fireflies and
Ponyo for me--
Ponyo was cute, but I was kinda bored with it). Otherwise, I really like and enjoy them. I do have of yet to watch
Only Yesterday,
Pom Poko, and
From Up on Poppy Hill, though, so I can't say I've seen all of them.
Last Ghibli film I've watched recently was
Castle in the Sky. This is odd because I actually did watch this years ago when we rented it, but it was the dub that everyone complained about--except I didn't know this at the time. I also did not watch it all of the way because I would get bored and walk away for a while, so I only ever remembered the last half-hour. It's the twins' favorite Ghibli film, though, so they were both happy to know I got the movie for Christmas. I watched it over Christmas break, and I really enjoyed it. The ending song, "Carrying You", is really beautiful. I love it. (Too bad the song's not available to listen whenever I want because of copyright >_>. Also just found out the singer also contributed to
My Neighbor Totoro, awesome.)
But my favorite Ghibli film is undoubtedly
Spirited Away. Far as I know, it's not the first Ghibli film I've watched, but it's the one I remember falling in love with deeply. Like a lot of movies back in the day, we had rented it first (it was a VHS copy, if I remember correctly), and though Mom was weirded out by it, I thought it was amazing. Not too long afterwards, we rented and watched
Princess Mononoke. (You know, for kids!) I believe the reason Mom and Dad rented it was because someone at church had seen it and recommended it, and it was just a joy to watch. Creepy, but awesome.
And I know some people rag on
Kiki's Delivery Service dub, but I think it's a fine dub, Phil Hartman as Jiji was great and is my favorite part of the dub. I guess they were going for a Salem-esque performance since
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch was popular, but they handled Jiji's dialogue and performance fine. I also don't mind the songs they've put into the dub, they're gentle songs. (I actually can't listen to the original song in the Japanese for some reason, and I've tried.)
Also, Mr. Miyazaki, I appreciate your work, I really do, but please make up your mind as to
whether you're retiring or not. I think you deserve the retirement, you've made all of these wonderful movies, so now it's time to just go on. What, do you not have faith in your son to carry on the legacy? Still can't get over the failures of
Tales from Earthsea or something? There are other people working there like Isao Takahata, and Hiroyuki Morita (since I do like
The Cat Returns), and probably others who would be honored to direct a film.