DOKAN 6/Dokan 06.iso/Webs/www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/file-archive/puss.review

Internet Message Format | 1998-09-05 | 6KB

Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 20:52:09 -0700
From: "Eric J. Henwood-Greer" <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: Hayao Miyazaki Discussion Group <[e-mail]>
To: Multiple recipients of list NAUSICAA <[e-mail]>
Subject: At long last: PUSS review

Well it's finally here...  I know most of you didn't even know I was
contemplating one, so have no idea what I'm tlaking about but some of you
have been patiently waiting for over a week now...

My review of PUSS IN BOOTS!!  (YEAH:) )

Umm, like my other "reviews" this will most likely be quite disjointed,
and hard to follow, with random thoughts throughout.  Sorry about
that^^;;

A week last Tuesday I finally got a chance to watch the anime of PUSS IN
BOOTS.  This anime fits this lists' criteria as Miyazaki was a lead
animator on it.  It was done at Toei-Doga, in the late 60's I believe.
Incidentally it must of done well as Toei's trademark image now is a
little picture of Puss from this film.:)

I'm not sure how many others on this list have seen this film.  Is it
regarded as a classic in Japan?  It's much more aimed at kids then Horus
Prince of the Sun was, or any Ghibli films IMHO, tho' it's cute enough
with good directing to interest many adults too I think.  It's very
*cute*.

Like Horus the actual animation is almost incredibly smooth, more so then
many Ghibli films it seems, whereas the character designs are quite a bit
more simplistic and less detailed.  Often North American animation is
more like this, with anime usually having more detailed character designs
it seems with less emphasis in general on as smooth and detailed
movement.

The backgrounds too were /lovely/, all basically traditional fairy tale
ones, but suiting the feel of course greatly.  Some of the good Castle
especially were great.

The story is basically a comedy, with lots of slapstick antics too, which
wouldn't seem out of place in many older Disney films amongst some of the
animal sidekicks.  Tho some of it has a darker feel then many North
American films would, for instance mainly the opening part where the cats
who chase Puss are threatened with being hung if they don't catch him.
Many of the film's highlights are the antics of the mice army, who when
Puss's master saves one of them, they are indepted to him.  Best
especially were how they persuaded the workers int he field to tell the
King when he rode past that this was the Duke of Carabas' field, and the
mice supplyign the appropriate music on an old phonograph, which has to
be cranked to play, so as they run along it goes slow, then fast, then
right, etc^^;;;  Very cute:)  And all their antics in the last 20 minutes
or so of the film among the evil ogre and with his magic skull pendant.
I hear Miyazaki was in charge of them, and it shows!  I'm not really much
of a fan of light slapstick humour, but it's hard to resist these mice!

The leads (Puss' master, and the Princess Puss helps him woo), as again
in the DIsney tradition, are the dullest and most 1 dimensional
characters in the film.  They're merely cyphers it seems, albeit they do
their role well enough:)  And in the final scenes you were worried what
would happen to them.

Other comic characters were the evil nasty, greedy brothers of Puss's
masters who spend much of the time, what ever unapropriate place or time
it may be, counting and divinding bettwen only them out their dead
father's inheritance.  WOw early gag has them begin feeling so guilty
about it that the portrait of their father ont he wall begins glaring at
them so they hid under the table to continue...

It had a few nice enough songs, maybe 3 or so.  I can sing aloud from
memory (willt he music anyway) the theme song sung by Puss, complete with
"Meows":)  But it wasn't really a musical like most of Disney's films were.

I keep on making the Disney comparison but it doesn't seem as out of
place as you may think, as Ryoko has said Toei Doga in the 60's (Toei now
is responsible for such popular shows as Sailor Moon, Dragonball, Slam
Dunk, Marmalade Boy, and many other animes), was really a Japanese
equivalent to Disney producing the same style of films, if not in fact
quite imitating them.

Still what really makes you remember this film at least I did were it's
last 20 minutes.  They really seem liek they must of been Miyazaki's
inspiration for the climatic finale of CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO in the clock
tower.

The Princess has been captured by the ogre, who loves her but she refuses
to marry him (she's in love with Puss' master, the "Marquis de Carabas"
of course).  He kidnaps her to his castle.  The Marquis of course goes to
rescue her, with the help of Puss, and the mice army and the not so much
help of the three cats who are still followign Puss trying to get him.
The ogre has a skull on a chain aroudn his neck which he can use to
transform.  Like in the story, Puss tricks him into transforming to
various sizes, finally into a mous but just as their about to capture
him, unliek in the story, the Ogre gets wise and turns back to his giant
self, locking the Princess outside on a balcony.  He tho' drops his
skull, and what follows is a long extended, but NEVER dull:)  chase type
scene.  Alternating between the Ogre chasing all around his labyrinth
castle, including outside among all the towers and odd tricks he's built
into them (liek a drawbridge walkway between too, and a spinning
towerette), and the mice tryign to help the Marquis, the Marquis trying
to save the princess, trying to save his own life, the Ogre trying to
kill him, etc, etc...  Sometimes VERY comic (the skull drops on the
dumbest of the three cats who are chasing Puss, and covers his head like
a mask for a long time), sometimes quite intense action.  Anyway very
hard to descirbe but whoever directed it all did a brilliant job, and the
whole part is what really makes the film memorable, IMHO.  The finale is
well done too, IMHO, and beautiful, tho short.  But it ends with the
three cats chasing Puss again and over the end credits we see them
chasing him around a globe...^^;;

Much of the incidental score was quite nice I remember.  Also, if you
knwo a hint of the not all that closely followed oriignal fairy tale,
then it's quite easy to follow, even tho it is only in Japanese.

I'm sure more will come to me as I remember it, but as some are quite
anxious to see this review I'll finally send it out now:)  Hope it was up
to expectation ^_-
Eric