My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

Movie: 4/5
Video: 5/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

"Totoro ... is a Troll!"

My Neighbor Totoro debuted in Japan as a double feature with the ever-so-dismal Grave of the Fireflies. My Neighbor Totoro is the story of two girls who move out to the Japanese countryside with their father while the girls' mother is sick in the hospital. This move away from the city is to somehow make life easier for their mother. While the girls love the country, the youngest girl name Mei, discovers Totoro. A mythical being who watches over the forest. Soon the girls embark on a journey as Totoro makes the forest come to life.

One of the problems that I have with the film, is the end. To give spoilers on a twenty-five year old film, it feels as if Hayao Miyazaki and the other heads over at Studio Ghibli couldn't give the film a real solid ending. There was no real solution to the problem regarding their mother and the two girls exit this fantasy where they get off the Cat Bus and everyone in the village is relieved that Mei is safe and sound. Did the mother finally get out or did she suffer and die like the mother in Grave of the Fireflies, because there is that sort of paralell?

But, other than that, I enjoyed it. I think that if I ever do have kids, this will probably be one of the first movies that I sit down and show them. I feel that the films made by Studio Ghibli are quality products that are for the whole family. And Disney has recognized that, mostly. I feel as if this bond between Disney and Ghibli in the United States has come to an end as they passed on From Up on Poppy Hill. Will this mean that Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke are doomed from getting a U.S. Blu-ray release? Time will tell; I give this film a 4/5.

Video: 5/5

Disney has given Studio Ghibli's a solid 1.85:1 video presentation in MPEG4. Considering that a lot of the older Ghibli films are sourced from master film prints as opposed from a digital source, this remastering process by Ghibli and Disney in Japan which we're getting now is breathtaking. There's a nice strong level of grain which preserves the original film look, which is something you don't get from a majority of anime these days. And the colors are nice and strong and preserved. It is truely a sight to behold. I give the presentation a 5/5.

Audio: 5/5

We have three different audio presentations of the film; Japanese, English, and French DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo. The stereo tracks have been preserved to the highest quality as possible. Playing through all three tracks, it all sounds even. One problem I do kind of have, but cannot fully blame Studio Ghibli, is the loss of the original FOX/Troma dub of My Neighbor Totoro which was done at the end of the 1980's. I had managed to get my hands on the old FOX DVD of the film that only has that English dub only. Other than that, I give the film's audio presentation a 5/5.

Extras: 5/5

Disney has given a wide variety of bonus material; a storyboard version of the film as we see how it went from storyboards to the final product which we got. Several different making of segments of the film. We learn that the film had been in Miyazaki's mind since the early 1970's and took time to develope over the years until after he did his first handful of movies. One of the segments is a small, yet, indepth look at how Joe Hisashi does his composings for the Ghibli films. Finally, the Japanese trailers for the film.

While the bonus material on this Blu-ray is great, Disney gave us an extra which makes me see red... a DVD copy of the film. I love that material provided, but for the love of God, get rid of these damn DVD copies of the film. I do not want them and I phased out DVDs from my library in 2008! Here we are five years later and I now still have to look at DVD copies in my Blu-ray releases. 5/5, despite my hate towards DVD.

Overall: 5/5

Disney bent over fans on this release as we had to hand over $30 for this. Disney knows that we'll pay and they guess what, they've gotten my money on all of their Ghibli Blu-ray releases so far. It's a shame that Grave of the Fireflies is by a different studio here in the States as it would be nice to have it as a double bill like how they've released it in Japan on Blu-ray. I can recommend it, and grab it if the price ever drops. Knowing Disney, that'll never happen. 5/5.

Lilo & Stitch (2002) / Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (2005)

Movies: 3.5/5
Video: 5/5
Audio: 5/5
Extra: 2.5/5
Overall: 4/5

"An Example of Disney Dropping the Ball!"

Last month, I paid sixty dollars for both Disney releases of My Neighbor Totoro and Howl's Moving Castle. Two quality releases by Disney and now over a month later, I purchased the Lilo and Stitch double feature release. Upon popping the disc into my PS3, I was quite horrified with how Disney properly handled this release. It's a shame.

In Lilo & Stitch, an alien escapes and crashlands on Hawaii and is soon adopted by a little girl named Lilo (voiced by Daveigh Chase, The Ring and Donnie Darko). Lilo is a troubled little girl who is on the verge of being taken away from her sister, Nani (Tia Carrere, Wayne's World and Showdown in Little Tokyo). The more Lilo tries to teach Stitch about manners, it all backfires and draws social worker Cobra Bubbles (voiced by Ving Rhames, Pulp Fiction and 2012: Zombie Apocalypse) from taking Lilo away from Nani.

I find the film to very enjoyable. I think the voice cast is very well done; and to be honest, having Daveigh Chase playing the sweet and innocent child Lilo to playing the evil and sinister child Samara in The Ring in the same year is quite a feat and shows range. Also, with Rhames as Bubbles makes it feel as if Marcellus Wallace was brought into the world of animation as in the first few scenes we have him walking around with the briefcase. And with director Chris Sanders doing the voice of Stitch is another fine tuning to the film. I give Lilo & Stitch a 5/5.

Sadly, Lilo & Stitch fell victim to the curse of the early to mid-2000's straight to video sequel craze over at Disney. This end result has given us three cheaply animated straight to video sequels from 2003 to 2006. And instead of giving us the first straight to video sequel, Stitch: the Movie; we're given the 2005 sequel, Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch.

In Stitch Has a Glitch, it is discovered that Stitch was not completely finished when his creator, Jumba, was arrested by the Grand Council. Stitch now has these sort of panic attacks where his evil side comes out and he must destroy anything in his path. This comes at the time where Lilo is entering a hula festival that her mother once did in the early 1970's.

The problem that I have with the film is that it caters too much to children that the over all message is watered down. In the finale where it's supposed to be this emotional scene, is wasted because this sequel is marketed to a very younger crowd and would probably give them nightmares. The charm of the original film is lost in this sequel as well. Another strike to this film is that they recasted the voice of Lilo with Dakota Fanning which took me out of the film almost the whole time. I know that Daveigh Chase was getting older at this point, but, it was no problem for Disney to have her voice Lilo for every other incarnation of the character except for this film. Because the following year, she did the voice for Lilo in Leroy & Stitch. I give this film a 2/5.

Video: 5/5

Lilo & Stitch is presented in a 1.66:1 transfer in MPEG4 and in 1080p; Lilo & Stitch 2 is presented in 1.78:1 and in 1080p with an MPEG4 transfer. Regarding the first film; I think that this is the best that the film has ever looked. I cannot find any real complaints regarding the transfer of the film. It is amazingly done by Disney. I give Lilo & Stitch a 5/5. The sequel, only thing was that it had an odd dead grain floating at the top of the screen in the opening title sequence. Other than that, I couldn't find many other problems with it. I give it a 4.5/5.

Audio: 5/5

Both films contain quite a few audio tracks for the film. We have both films in English DTS-HD MA 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0. The dub tracks included is French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish dubs in Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. The DTS-HD MA 5.1 track is pretty strong on both films. No real complaints towards it. 5/5.

Extras: 2.5/5

This is where Disney dropped the ball on this Blu-ray release. ALL OF THE BONUS MATERIAL IS ON THE DVD DISCS! Do you know how infuriating this is? Even the director's commentary for the first film is left off the Blu-ray, how do you miss that? I stopped buying DVD in 2008 and for the fact that Disney screwed the films on this release is beyond dumb. 2.5/5

Overall: 4/5

Despite the fact that Disney just threw this out there to the public with no real work put into it is a joke. This looks like something that Mill Creek would do with the Disney/Touchstone and Sony films that they release. The pop up menu is a joke too. It's only options are "Continue" and "Menus". That's it! Nothing else. No buttons to change audio or subs or chapter points.

Lilo & Stitch got an individual release in Japan and I'm considering importing it to see what that looks like. Bashing aside on the U.S. release; Disney did give us solid presentations on both films. I can recommend the release for that reason alone, but, if you're a person who craves bonus material, you're going to be disappointed. I give this release a questionable 4/5.

Ponyo (2008)

Movie: 5/5
Video: 5/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

Ponyo, One of Miyazaki's Best!

I saw the film almost a year ago before it's U.S. theatrical by importing the DVD. Needless to say, it's a great movie. I picked up the Blu-ray for about $17 and it is stunning. The colors are very vibrant. Video gets a solid 5. Now, a lot of people are bashing this release because of the Japanese audio only being Dolby Digital 5.1. I have an old 2 channel sound system and it sounds great to listen too. The extras aren't much, but also adding in the fact there's a DVD copy of the film added with it, good for iPod converting.

I give this a solid 5/5 for everything. It is an amazing Blu-ray. I should note though, that I have an Insignia NS-BRDVD3 player and it needs a firmware upgrade for this Blu-ray. When you press "Play Movie" on the main menu, you get the Disney Blu-ray screen and then it just goes to a black screen. I ejected the disc and decided to play the film through the Scene Selection at Chapter 2 and it works fine.