and the vote for the animated film of the year goes to...

Speaking of votes so much is happening around the world these days with the U.S. under a major political situation. One of those things evident is the apparent rift between the FBI and the CIA, and beyond that there is so much more.  Heavy stuff going around, but at least, we always have the lighter stuff.  With Studio Ghibli's uncertain future, the first implication is that it might take a while before we have another animation gem from Japan on the same level as one of Ghibli's best films.  That film, however, has arrived sooner than I thought, and we now say hi to Makoto Shinkai.  With his latest film, "Your Name", he doesn't have to be the next Miyazaki -- see for yourself and you will probably know what I mean.  More appropriately, he can be the next Miyazaki in terms of box office business because this film is currently overtaking certain top earners from Studio Ghibli in Japan, with "Spirited Away" as the remaining challenge.  Placing Shinkai's latest outing alongside with "Zootopia", "Kubo and the Two Strings" and other solid outings such as "Moana" and "Finding Dory", makes the current U.S. film year as the most competitive in the animation category so far.

"Your Name" is certainly a fantasy film, and playing by the "rules" of the story, I think it succeeded in many ways (although I didn't like the ending that much).  It can be unpleasantly confusing though especially if you don't like to appreciate its supernatural background.  The same thing applies to "Spirited Away" because it is also such a strange film with all those cultural and supernatural stuff going on.  When it comes to the awards season, I think this is poised to have the same plight as that of "The Tale of Princess Kaguya", another topnotch Ghibli outing, since "Zootopia" and "Kubo and the Two Strings" are more popular and technically advanced films; but I hope that this year turns out to be different.  If not, at least it seems that the animation category is aptly shaking things up given that a lot of people are bored these days especially when it comes to their established government.

what's up S.G.?

With Studio Ghibli taking a pause because of Hayao Miyazaki's retirement, the future is uncertain on whether we will be seeing alternative animated features that rival that of Disney (with Pixar) in terms of favorable reception from animation connoiseurs.  We just hope that this pause is brief given that they have signalled their hiatus with a high note, giving us two films: "The Wind Rises" and "The Tale of the Princess Kaguya", that are considered to be among their best outings.  However, this year we just get to see a product of their collaboration in "The Red Turtle" with a Dutch director at the helm.

It's actually tough for Studio Ghibli to replace Hayao Miyazaki, at least speaking from the revenue point of view.  He has the strongest box office reception, unmatched even by Isao Takahata who can arguably match him artistically, albeit not productively.  There have been some worthy successors, artistically speaking. The closest that I know is Yoshifumi Kondo, who unfortunately died due to aneurysm (it is widely considered that he had overworked himself to death).  If you have watched his directorial work in "Whisper of the Heart", you will see why he was expected to be one of the top directors on the same level as Miyazaki and Takahata.

Another worthy successor would be Hiromasa Yonebayashi.  His notable works include his directorial debut, "The Secret World of Arrietty", and the latest one, which attracted the attention of both the Academy and the people behind the Annie Awards, "When Marnie Was There".  So far, he is the most promising, and I think he is that close, just missing some charisma that we saw in Studio Ghibli's greatest offerings.  When the company finally decides to end its pause and picks the rightful successor(s), it would be a good news to hear.  In the mean time, we are actually fortunate to have a promising studio that is in the same league as Studio Ghibli in terms of offering traditional animation works.  Has anyone heard of Laika Entertainment?  If you haven't heard of this studio yet, this is definitely a studio to watch.

If Studio Ghibli resorts mainly to hand-drawn animation, Laika mainly resorts to stop-motion animation.  What I find remarkable among their outings so far are "Coraline" and "Kubo and the Two Strings".  If Studio Ghibli has that knack for capturing both the mundane and magical, Laika is also doing well in that department; and what makes them different is their masterful infusion of dark tones to come up with something eerie and scary.  It is also interesting to know that they have worked on Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride", speaking of a knack for something dark and weird.  We hope to see more of their quality offerings, while we watch out for Studio Ghibli's fate.

Notable animated films this year: Kubo and the Two Strings (Laika Entertainment), Zootopia (Walt Disney Animation Studios), Finding Dory (Disney's Pixar Animation Studios)