Dear Studio Ghibli films,
I've been watching your movies over the past two months. And though I haven't watched all your movies (I have not scene 'Ocean Waves', 'My Neighbors the Yamadas', and 'The Cat Returns'), I feel like I have seen enough to write you this note.
Your animation is excellent. Let me get this out of the way now. The scenery you put your characters in are masterpieces. 'Princess Mononoke' comes to mind; there are so many instances where I wanted to pause the image to simply appreciate the art. As for your characters, no matter how fantastic, they have weight. It's really impressive. The portrayal of their emotions is also amazing. It's almost as good as Pixar who I think with 'Wall-e' has barely out done you. Still, your art style is what I enjoyed the most.
The settings in which the story takes place is also wonderful. One movie will be a simple farm, while the other will be in a make believe world with magic, dragons, and cursed beings. While very different, most of your movies had a familiar thread of concept no matter how whimsical or tempered. And I appreciated that.
Now to talk about the story of your movies. You start them off so wonderfully. Every movie I saw grabbed my attention within the first minute and made me say 'Wow' several times in the next 30. During the second act, you either focused on the story or the character relations, but had trouble doing both. Still, it was good and I was more than willing to see them through. Then came your third act where you almost always drop the ball. The story never convincingly ends in an appropriate way. It's either love this or love that, or a dues ex machina, or it just simply ends (as 'Porco Russo' did). Out of the 14 movies I've watched, the only movies I feel that actually ended well are 'Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind', 'Pom Poko', 'Grave of the Fireflies', 'Princess Mononoke', 'Castle in the Sky', and 'Only Yesterday'. (I would like to give special attention to the ending of 'Grave of the Fireflies' because it ended the most convincingly. There were no special tricks or mythology needed. It was perfect.)
So less than half of your movies left me walking away satisfied. It is a shame because as I said before, your characters, art and settings are so well crafted. If only the story could be to.
Still, I can't wait to see what you come up with next.
Your friend,
Stogi