I had basically two reasons to hate this movie – 1) the animation – I mean need I say more, this is probably the worst “at a glance” looking movie of the century … when Red Riding Hood says at the start, “Your face looks a little weird, gramma,” I almost couldn’t resist the urge to say, “Uh … you’re not looking too hot yourself, Red …” and 2) y’know what? I don’t want to see Little Red Riding Hood all pimped out and updated etc. I like that Little Red Riding Hood is one of the few perfect embodiments of innocence in the world of fiction. The Christina Ricci “caca” version (which I really wish I could find again, any suggestions?) was about as far as I can take it and that was only by virtue of that version’s sheer oddness.

But, anyway, it’s the same old story – I’ve lost count of how many animated movies have looked horrendous to me over the past couple of years before I saw them, and only Barnyard has so far really delivered on the rottenness stakes. This movie is surprisingly watchable, the animation ultimately sits together surprisingly well, and in fact, sometimes some of the textures are pretty damn impressive considering the obvious limitations these guys had. The lighting is pretty nice, too. And that old innocence is definitely there enough for me – Red’s song at the beginning is one beautifully cheesy moment.

Suddenly I feel like I’m excusing the movie, like, “actually it was awful but I just feel so bad kicking it …” but really, that’s not what I mean. This is probably one of the best non Pixar/Disney/Dreamworks animations I’ve seen and at 80 minutes, it’s really not worth complaining about for the way it fills the time.

Speaking of jarringly bizarre endings ... the ending to this one actually somehow didn’t spoil the movie for me as much as it has for many. Moulin Rouge, March of the Penguins, An Inconvenient Truth and A.i. might sound like a weird combo – but that’s what Happy Feet is, and it’s even weirder than that. I think it might also be the best movie I’ve seen from 2006. It contains some of the best animation I’ve seen since Finding Nemo, some hilarious lines courtesy of Robin Williams, and made me want to do something about the “whole environment thing” about a million times more than Al Gore’s little lecture did. And I don’t know how it did this – it just reached in and touched my heart and left me wondering how the hell it got in there in the first place. I’ll really have to see it again to make sense of my own response to this wonderful movie. I thought nothing could beat Monster House in the animation genre last year – but this one beats everything back into the water.

I’ll have to grab this on DVD some time since the cut I saw today (on Disney’s own UK channel Cinemagic, for shame) was one of the ridiculously shortened cuts with over half an hour missing. If this includes the song “Candle on the Water” then it’s downright criminal – was this song sung in the movie, anyone? It certainly wasn’t in this cut anyway, brings new meaning to the word “butchered” if it’s supposed to be there, lol.

Anyway.

I’ve almost certainly seen this movie before, but probably before my longterm memory kicked in. That this movie’s story is so beautiful, and young Sean Marshall’s performance so brilliant, that it overcomes the deficiencies in the live-action/animation combo effects is really saying something. The songs are fantastic, instantly bring a smile and a tear to my face. And what a supporting cast with Shelley Winters and Mickey Rooney on the sidelines.

Make this one of the first movies your kids see before they become too jaded to forgive the visuals. Or just curl up with a cuddly toy and hot chocolate and be a kid yourself again for a couple of hours. Double bill it with The Iron Giant.

Addendum: Should’ve looked here first, but anyway, the movie’s page on Wikipedia contains info on the different cuts, and “Candle on the Water” was indeed cut for the shorter versions. I’ve really never gone with the idea of Disney as an Evil Empire … but this is seriously seriously wrong Make sure you get the right cut when you watch it … I’m gonna be getting the DVD ASAP and probably giving it 5 stars ‘cos even in this wrecked form it perked my mood immeasurably.

You can’t go wrong with Disney, and this is one of my favourites. I love how this one requires such suspension of disbelief – really an astonishing amount when you step back from it and take a look. Like, normally, you’re asked to believe in a magic flying carpet or a fairy godmother – simple, magical stuff. Here it’s mostly based in reality, and you’re being asked almost (for most people) to subscribe to a whole new set of beliefs. It’s said outright at one point by Grandmother Willow, “there are spirits, all around,” and that Pocahontas’ mother lives in the wind, etc. I’m 99% certain there are probably comments and messages on the IMDb with dummies saying how dumb it is that a bunch of Lucky Charms fly through the air and suddenly a Native American and an Englishman can have a civilised conversation, lol. But that’s not how this movie works. In order to fully enjoy it, it’s almost like you’re forced to look past what’s actually happening on the screen and instead figure out what it means. Or you can just laugh at Flit and Meeko, I guess, your choice.

Even the smallest thing says so much – for example, the way Meeko bites John Smith’s gold coin when he’s trying to demonstrate to Pocahontas what the explorers are looking for and tossing it aside, it’s just a whole sudden simple perspective on the situation, like an innocent child suddenly saying the most random thing and making so much sense. Meeko wants a biscuit, that’s what’s important to him, he doesn’t want some stupid shiny thing.

What I found pretty weird on this viewing is how much the film still resonates with real world events – and probably moreso than it did in 1995. We could really kinda use a movie like this these days, where did ya go, Disney? I couldn’t help watching this time and seeing a lot of Dubya in the character of Radcliffe, always looking for a fight, always looking for what is simply not there, and the reprise of “Savages” is such a perfect representation of the blur that exists between hatred and pure insanity.

I was glad I could find the old theatrical version on the new DVD for this viewing: it’s awkwardly hidden in the “set-up” menu where you’d normally find commentaries etc – this actually makes a lot of sense, but in the past Disney have usually let you choose the alternate versions after you select the “Play” option from the main menu. I really don’t like how they’ve added “If I Never Knew You” to the movie. I don’t mind the first instance, since, like “Human Again” in Beauty and the Beast, it stands alone, and it’s certainly interesting to hear Mel Gibson sing. But it’s the reprise that bugs me. It interrupts one of my all-time favourite movie music cues, “Farewell,” which begins when you first see John Smith by the water waiting to be shipped home and runs right up till the end credits. It doesn’t need that reprise halfway through and for me, the reprise ruins the whole sequence. The theatrical cut is certainly the best.

I still have a really strong memory of the last time I saw this in a cinema and it was one of those instances of the whole ‘cinema experience’ making the world of difference to a movie. There were kids everywhere, getting so into the whole thing, and everybody was just responding to it completely.

Sometimes Mulan goes too far over the silly humour line for me – and its ending (a chirpy happy pop song played in the ancestors’ temple) is really kind of lame. But I never tire of the key songs (“Honor to Us All”, “Reflection”, “Be a Man”, and “A Girl Worth Fighting For”), Jerry Goldsmith’s score, and the killer flashes of great animation (the haircut scene is certainly among my alltime favourite scenes).

I think I remember when I first watched this I said something about how overjoyed I was when I realised it would be seen by children… usually children’s movies are so simple, or striving so much to be entertaining and funny instead of enlightening. This movie is entertaining and funny, it has all the hallmarks of a children’s movie, but at the same time it serves as the most complete life lesson ever seen in animated, or possibly all, cinema. Basically it is the story of a girl who is thrown into a world where she doesn’t want to be (ain’t that all of us?), she is forced to obey the rules of the world as soon as she arrives in order to survive – if she doesn’t eat food from the world, she will literally disappear (ain’t that all of us?) and then she is forced to get a job she’s not going to like in order to prevent herself being turned into a pig like her parents (and ain’t that all of us?). Miyazaki is amazing at making the mundane fantastic.

I’ve seen the Japanese original version and something has to be said for this movie being seen in the original language – the whole philosophy just seems to fit the language, and I’ve heard that the subtitles are more accurate translations than the dub. But the English dub is definitely as good as I’d heard it was – especially Susan Egan, who is really so good it seems the role was originally written for her, it even practically looks like her. This is either talent or a freakish coincidence, I’ll take the former

Joe Hisaishi is an amazing composer, and his score here completely lifts everything, especially the Big Moment with Chihiro on the dragon’s back at the end, absolute beauty.

I really want to say this movie rocks, because the show itself has so many scenes that inspire that sentiment, as does the movie. But overall, this movie is not enough. I remembered it as being just as much a letdown, but I was surprised this morning watching the DVD by how many times I literally laughed out loud. The initial scene where the girls destroy Townsville is wonderfully extreme, disaster piling upon disaster like a Pink Panther movie or something. And the idea of doing a prequel to the series as the main story rather than a few episodes strung together to length as so often happens with this kind of thing is interesting. What’s bizarre is that Craig McCracken chooses to cover the actual physical creation of the Powerpuff Girls so quickly, in a short, but effective, title sequence. This could easily have been extended to up to 10 minutes longer.

But, at least it’s as good as the series which is saying a lot. I can’t quite imagine seeing it on the big-screen, though. It still looks like a TV animation – or even, a web-based Flash animation, which I’m sure can’t be far from the truth. Not that I’d like it any other way, because the solid outlines are part of the whole style of The Powerpuff Girls. It just feels like it’s lacking something when presented as a feature length movie.

The DVD is merely okay – one I’m glad I only rented and didn’t buy when I saw it a few months ago. There are cast interviews (literally, newly created animations of Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup, Mojo Jojo, the Mayor… and, if you let the Mayor interview run on, a cut extra, which is slightly funny), and a very short documentary which I appreciated since you get to see Tara Strong and the other voice cast in front of the microphone doing the voices. I love this on any animation DVD, but here, where the voices sound so much like they must be enhanced, pitch-shifted or whatever, it’s particularly interesting (there’s no enhancement, it seems). That’s all you get though. Average DVD for a technically average movie… but if you’re a Powerpuff Fan, it’s all must-have.

Some may find this a little over the top and clichéd, but I revel in extremes and it was a treat for me for a film like Spirit to be released only a few years after my other all-time favourite animation, Tarzan. Everytime I watch Spirit I can’t help but notice how much it resembles Tarzan in places, and, if you believe the stories, it’s easy to explain away these coincidences by imagining Jeffrey Katzenberg slipping hints in about his disdain for his ex-employer. Whatever the truth, I love Spirit all the same, from Hans Zimmer’s super-Hans-Zimmer-ish score, to Bryan Adams’ songs, to the sweeping animation, and finally, even Matt Damon’s narration (though I’d still love the option on the DVD of removing it).