A Rankin-Bass Christmas: The Little Drummer Boy

 1968 brought Rankin-Bass' third Christmas special, their second one in "Animagic." This one was inspired by the classic Christmas song of the same name, The Little Drummer Boy. Romeo Mueller returned as writer, as he'd also served as writer for the last two specials. Unlike those, however, this clocks in at a brisker paced 25 minutes.

We are quickly introduced to the titular drummer boy, named Aaron. He plays his drum in the desert with his three dancing animals: Samson the donkey, Baba the lamb, and Joshua the camel. He's caught by Ben Haramed, who runs a caravan of performers.

The special gives us a flashback to Aaron's past. He was given the drum by his father, but when thieves raided their farm, burning it to the ground and killing his parents, Aaron began to hate humanity, keeping to himself in the desert with his remaining three animals.

Back to the present, Ben Haramed takes Aaron and his animals to Jerusalem, where they prove to be the only successful act, but Aaron lashes out at everyone nearby. However, when the three kings, the Magi, come through Jerusalem, Ben Haramed is anxious to make some money from them, trying to get Aaron to perform. However, the Magi are on the move, following the Star of Bethlehem, and when they need another camel, Ben Haramed sells them Joshua.

Angered, Aaron leaves the caravan with Samson and Baba and follows them to Bethlehem, where he sees shepherds also following the star. Unfortunately, a chariot hits Baba, seriously injuring him. Aaron carries his lamb to the Magi, who are unable to help, but they suggest he ask another, the baby they've come to see. Aaron plays his drum for the Baby Jesus and as he plays, he feels sorry for hating people and repents. Baba is miraculously healed and reunited with Aaron.

Romeo Mueller said that this was his favorite work for Rankin-Bass and I guess I can see why. Honestly, I can't find much to criticize with this one. It may be a bit too Christian to a secular liking, but it keeps the story short and sweet, a good move away from how the previous specials filled extra time with unnecessary songs and extra B plots.

The only criticism I will bring up is that sometimes the animation seems to freeze and the cuts to commercials are placed oddly.

A Rankin-Bass Christmas: Cricket on the Hearth

The second Rankin-Bass Christmas special arrived in 1967, Cricket on the Hearth, loosely adapted from Charles Dickens' novella of the same name.

This isn't one of their more popular offerings, probably having to do with it being traditionally animated instead of "animagic," plus it's a little rough in the storytelling. It's one of five Rankin-Bass Christmas specials that are distributed by Universal, and when they released a collection of their specials on Blu-Ray, they initially only released three of them, only reissuing a new set recently with all five. Cricket was one of the newcomers, the other was the next one we'll cover.

I have only read a synopsis of the original Dickens tale, and the special says it's "suggested" by the Dickens story. Going from the synopsis, there's a simplifying of the story that Rankin-Bass employs. The original story features a married couple who are not present in the adaptation, who are friends with Caleb Plummer (voiced by Danny Thomas, who appears in live action introducing the special), who's promoted to a protagonist in this animated version, along with his daughter, Bertha (Marlo Thomas).

Getting an adaptation family displacement is Caleb's son Edward, who is now Bertha's beau (Ed Ames) instead of her brother. In Dickens, he was dating a girl named May. He is pronounced lost at sea while serving for the Queen's navy, while in the original, he was lost on a trip to South America. Bertha, in the special, goes blind from grief at this news. In Dickens, she was already blind. (But she was his sister there.) Caleb goes bankrupt trying to find doctors who can restore her sight. As a last ditch alternative to living on the street, Caleb takes a job at a toy factory for Mr. Tackleton (Hans Conreid), who also allows him and Bertha to live in a living quarters there. Tackleton, however, is a stingy man who demands that Caleb only use a small line to paint mouths on dolls, but Caleb sneaks full smiles on later.

Tackleton decides to marry Bertha, who accepts as her father told her that he was kind and handsome, having given them a home. Caleb meets an old man who says he has nowhere to go and lets them stay with him. The man seems disappointed when he hears of Bertha's engagement and leaves.

The main protagonist (and narrator) of the story is Cricket Crocket (Roddy McDowall), who lived on the Plummer's hearth for good luck. He moved with them and has been trying to help. The special invents many misadventures for him, during which he is kidnapped to be sold to China. During the carrying him to a ship, there's a scene in which he's carried through a bar, populated with anthropomorphic dogs and a similarly styled cat (Abbe Lane) sings a song called "Fish and Chips," serving as a "Big Lipped Alligator Moment" of the special. When Cricket is turned over, instead of paying the kidnappers, the human captain of the ship shoots them. Cricket plays dead, then gets tossed overboard, then is carried back home by a perfectly timed series of animals.

Helped by some toys who have come to life while the humans are asleep, Cricket finds the old man sleeping outside and discovers he's a disguised Edward, who returned and isn't dead. He convinces Edward to tell Bertha he's alive and he still loves her. The two marry on Christmas Day. Tackleton is upset, but when Bertha expresses that she still appreciates all he's done for her family and believes him to be handsome, he abruptly does a Scrooge-like change of personality.

The special ends with Caleb thanking Cricket for all the luck he's brought them.

Despite having an easy to follow story (loosely adapted from Dickens, who obviously didn't have all the animal misadventures), this is a really rough special. The runtime is loaded with songs, seven in a forty-nine minute runtime, including a couple reprises. That's close to two songs every ten minutes. The storytelling is obviously bolstered by gags with talking animals and such, and the much-remembered sexist line "You nincompoop! Paying any attention to the words of a gushing female!"

If they'd maybe gone for a half hour timeslot instead of an hour, maybe this would be better. Instead, it's a thin story stretched way too far.

A Rankin-Bass Christmas: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

I've written about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer before, but I won't bother asking you to read that. Rudolph, Santa Claus' new reindeer with a bright, shiny red nose, debuted in 1939 as the lead character of a giveaway storybook from Montgomery Ward, written by Robert May and illustrated by Denver Gillen.

The original story told of a young reindeer named Rudolph, who has a large, bright, luminescent red nose. This difference makes him a target for mockery by the other young reindeer. He goes to bed on Christmas Eve, awaiting his gifts from Santa, who's being held up by dense foggy weather and has to fly low to see his way. When he arrives at Rudolph's home, he notices a bright light. When he realizes it's coming from the nose of a reindeer, he wakes Rudolph and asks him to join his team to lead the way. Rudolph agrees and with his help, Santa makes his deliveries on time. Upon returning home, Rudolph's contribution is honored, putting his former detractors to shame.

The book was finally mass-marketed in 1947, followed by a faithfully adapted animated short by Max Fleischer in 1948. In 1949, the story was adapted into the famous Christmas song by Johnny Marks, recorded by Gene Autry. (The animated short would be reissued with the song added.) With these new versions, Rudolph danced into the public's consciousness and took his place in Christmas lore. Rudolph would spin into more merchandise and books.

Then, in 1964, Rankin-Bass released their new version. Well, Rankin-Bass is what the company was eventually called. At the time, it was called Videocraft. Its famous name was from producers Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, who were making new content for television. They would eventually move into theatrical films as well, but the bulk of their output was on television. In 1960, they launched their first "animagic" TV series: The New Adventures of Pinocchio. It was the only series they did in stop-motion, their next series, Tales of the Wizard of Oz, switching to traditional animation.

Rudolph was the first of their many Christmas specials, which would make their "animagic" style of stop-motion animation famous, created by an outsourced company in Japan, usually Topcraft. Some Christmas specials would be traditionally animated as well.

This new version doesn't stick too closely to the original storybook, largely building off of the song adaptation, which had basically summarized the story.

This version is narrated by Sam the Snowman (Burl Ives), who teases the story a year where the North Pole almost had to cancel Christmas. We move into the birth of Rudolph, born with his red, shining nose to Mr. and Mrs. Donner. Santa, who visits, is doubtful that such a reindeer will make his team. Donner coats Rudolph's nose with mud. "There are more important things than comfort: self-respect!"

When Rudolph joins Comet's team for reindeer games, a girl reindeer named Clarice flirts with him and calls him cute. In his excitement, the cover for Rudolph's nose comes off, revealing his glowing red nose. The other reindeer make fun of him, and Comet tells him not to join the games, but Clarice still likes him.

Rudolph meets an elf named Hermey, who'd prefer being a dentist to making toys. As both consider themselves "Misfits," they go off to find a new purpose in life, meeting a miner named Yukon Cornelius. After escaping The Abominable Snow Monster, they find the Island of Misfit Toys, a kingdom of imperfect toys who are deemed undesirable.

Rudolph heads off on his own, and as he grows older, he discovers that the Abominable Snow Monster kidnapped Clarice and goes to rescue her, but is captured himself. Hermey and Cornelius find Rudolph and lure the Abominable away from the reindeer, pulling out its teeth and making it fall over a cliff, taking Cornelius with it.

They head back to the North Pole, where apologies are made for shunning Rudolph. Santa promises to pick up the Misfit Toys before Cornelius arrives with the Snow Monster, now tame and called "the Bumble." Santa discovers that the stormy weather threatens to stop his delivery that Christmas Eve, but then realizes that Rudolph's nose will help them find their way. Happily, Rudolph joins Santa's team and heads out to make the annual rounds.

There's scenes that have been added and changed out and even cut over the years. The version available on home video is generally the original broadcast, which includes an epilogue of Cornelius finding a peppermint mine at the North Pole, saying this is what he's always been looking for. (It explains why he was always licking his pickaxe.) The 1965 rebroadcast dropped this epilogue for a new scene in which Santa arrives to pick up the Misfit Toys and the end credits showed them being delivered to new homes. The home video edits it so both epilogues are present. Airings over the years have had to trim moments to make more times for commercials. The home video version is about 52 minutes, today, programs meant for a network hour timeslot are about 40 minutes.

Rudolph's story is one about discrimination. Rudolph has a perceived difference and is ostracized for it. The thing is, Rudolph finds redemption in discovering that his difference can be useful. (If you want a non-Christmas version of this story, try Disney's original Dumbo.) This is okay, but when we take the same logic and apply it to real world cases of discrimination, it just doesn't work. People are from different ethnic groups and this can manifest in people looking different. People can have disabilities that affect how they look. LGBT people sometimes are perceived to be different. All of these can result in discrimination. These people shouldn't need to prove themselves to be specially useful to be accepted. They can be functioning members of society, they're okay people.

When you take this view and put it back on Rudolph, there's a nastier side to the story. To be fair, it does stem from the original, but the Rankin-Bass version exacerbates it. Rudolph's father, a coach and even Santa Claus engage in shaming him because of his nose. Young reindeer peers are one thing, parents and authority figures are another. No wonder he runs away.

Santa Claus here is depicted as being grouchy, not very jolly at all. Early on, Mrs. Claus notices he's lost a lot of weight and encourages him to eat. During a song called "We Are Santa's Elves," Santa sits around, grouchy, and the lead elf glances back fearfully at Santa. Even when Santa is figuring out what to do about the storm, he figures out that Rudolph can help after yelling at him about his nose being too bright.

Apparently, this nastiness from Santa trickles down as a lead elf yells at Hermey for preferring dentistry to toymaking.

The problem critics have isn't that this happens, but at no point do Santa, Comet or anyone else say, "I'm sorry for what I said to you, Rudolph, it was wrong." Instead, it gets brushed away just because Rudolph has proved useful.

Luckily for families, this is background dressing and our chief focus is on the sweet and innocent Rudolph, Hermey and Yukon Cornelius. Our heroes are rather just one-note good guys, but it's a simple family Christmas story, what else did you want?

The Incredible Jake Parker

This review is about a work by a friend of mine, Angelo Thomas. He and I have had a bit of history, despite not meeting in person (yet). We're at a point where it's safe to say we respect each other.

The Incredible Jake Parker is a film Angelo has produced on a shoestring budget, the story initially being written as a book, then making a pretty painless transition to a screenplay.

Jake Parker (Liam Wall) shoots from a kid on YouTube to a viral star to a pop sensation, the whirlwind of change in Jake's life often leaving him struggling to take control of his life again. Jake becomes anorexic, and his agent Cat (Sasha Jackson) sends him to a clinic.

If this was a big Hollywood production, it'd be played up for high drama, probably some secondary character would either die or be in a critical condition in a hospital, while we'd get a ton of phoned in celebrity cameos. In this way, I think it's to Jake Parker's benefit that it was produced on a small budget. Rather than try to go for high drama, it keeps its eyes on the very real issues that people who deal with eating disorders face. Characters talk about their struggles and work through them. It keeps the movie grounded and real.

The film is short at about 74 minutes. While there's quite a story, it's not dragged out. Performances are capable, with a few small cameos by news and internet personalities. There's no A-listers here, but that doesn't mean anyone's phoning it in. The songs are well-performed by Liam Wall in character as Jake.

This is a film that deserves to be seen and appreciated, tackling an issue not often touched on: eating disorders and how they affect men as well as women. It's available on Vimeo to stream worldwide, while Angelo is also selling a run of DVDs.

1776 and Hamilton

When the Fourth of July rolls around, there's one film my father and I (and my brother) turn to: 1776. It's a 1972 film adaptation of a Broadway musical that had debuted three years earlier.

1776 depicts Massachusetts congressman John Adams (William Daniels) spearheading the effort to declare the United States' independence of Great Britain. In Adams' corner is Benjamin Franklin (Howard Da Silva), Richard Henry Lee (Ron Holgate), and Caesar Rodney (William Hansen). Leading the opposition is John Dickinson (Donald Madden) along with Edward Rutledge (John Cullum).

I've seen a production of 1776 live years ago, but am mostly familiar with the film. I initially watched it on VHS, but it eventually made its way to DVD and Blu-Ray. However, the version I knew on VHS is essentially no more on the later formats: the theatrical version of the film had been edited down to about two hours and twenty minutes. When it was released to DVD, it arrived in a director's cut a full twenty seven minutes longer. The Blu-Ray even added an extended version that added in further deleted scenes for an additional two minutes. The additions make it nearly a complete translation of the musical to a film version, using a full set and costumes versus the limitations of what can be done onstage. A large number of the original Broadway cast members reprise their roles in the film.

The musical and film serve as a reminder that no progress that the United States has ever made has come without debate and hard work and compromise.

In 2015, a new musical debuted on Broadway titled Hamilton. It soon became a cultural phenomenon. It follows the life of Alexander Hamilton, the first Treasury Secretary of the United States from his humble origins in the Caribbean to joining George Washington's army and serving as his personal right hand man to how he proposed the groundbreaking financial system the United States still uses to this day to his political issues with the other founding fathers to his famous duel with Aaron Burr.

While dropping an abbreviated version of a period of American history, Hamilton is ultimately about the power of words, how they affect other people and how our legacies are ultimately broken down into words and the stories told about us.

Hamilton was filmed in 2016 with the original cast, and these sessions were edited into a complete presentation of the show (minus a couple "f-bombs" muted) which was planned for theatrical release next year, but is now available to stream on Disney+.

While the two musicals feature the American Revolution, they're quite different. 1776 takes a more traditional route to being a musical, basically being a drama with some moments punctuated by songs. Some are fun, such as the opening "Sit Down, John," "Piddle, Twiddle, and Resolve," "The Lees of Old Virginia," "But, Mr. Adams," and "The Egg." Then there's the show stoppers: "Momma, Look Sharp," "Molasses to Rum" and "Is Anybody There?" Unlike many musicals, there is no finale number.

Hamilton takes a nearly operatic approach of having nearly every moment sung by the cast (one somber moment near the end of Act I is dialogue only and is not represented on the cast album). While there are slower songs that lend themselves to the traditional musical format, many of them are rapid paced numbers for people capable of singing hip hop. Writer Lin Manuel Miranda (who also originated the role of Hamilton) noted Hamilton's writing and compared him to rap artists and this led to the unusual style for telling the story. This is why much of the cast are people of color who have learned and performed this style throughout their lives. The operatic style makes it harder to point out standout songs as they all go from one to another without a break. Many songs in Act I set up themes that get reprised when story points come back up.

While history mainly notes the men who played out the stories, these musicals try to bring up the women our protagonists knew. A recurring point in 1776 is John Adams' correspondence with his wife Abigail (Virginia Vestoff), which is depicted by the two singing to each other. In the first song "Till Then," John mentions he's asked Abigail to get women to help make saltpeter for the armed forces to use for gunpowder. In "Yours, Yours, Yours," Abigail reminds John of some of the things he's said about her. Finally, in "Compliments," John reminds Abigail of some of the things she's said about him. The song ends with John discovering a shipment of saltpeter that has just been delivered.

In addition, while Thomas Jefferson (Ken Howard) is writing the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, Adams sends for his wife Martha (Blythe Danner), who explains about her husband's wooing of her in "He Plays The Violin." (In actuality, this moment was wholly invented for the play as the very ill Martha had just suffered a miscarriage and would die in a couple years. Coincidentally, Blythe Danner was actually pregnant during filming with a baby that would become Gwenyth Paltrow.)

In Hamilton, there are three principal female performers (there are many dancers and chorus members who are female as well) who play four roles: Elizabeth "Eliza" Schuyler (originated by Philippa Soo), Angelica Schuyler (originated by Renee Elise Goldsberry), and the dual roles of Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds (originated by Jasmine Cephas Jones). The three play sisters in the high energy "The Schuyler Sisters," which introduces them. In "Hopeless," Eliza sings about meeting Hamilton at a party and how they courted and eventually married. This is followed up with "Satisfied," sung by Angelica where she reveals her own feelings for Hamilton and how she denied herself becoming his wife out of love for her sister. (In reality, she was already married.) It is in Act II that we meet Maria Reynolds, who seduces Hamilton into an affair, which her husband uses to blackmail him, forcing him to pay.

Dual roles are used in Hamilton to some great effect. In the original cast, actors Daveed Diggs, Anthony Ramos and Okieriete Onaodowan in Act I play Marquis de Lafayette, John Laurens and Hercules Mulligan, respectively. These men befriend Hamilton early in Act I and also join the army in the effort to defeat Great Britain. In Act II, the three play Thomas Jefferson, Hamilton's son Philip and James Madison. (In the opening number, Diggs and Onaodowan sing "We fought with him," which can be interpreted in different ways for their different characters. Ramos sings "I died for him," which also fits both of his characters.)

The fight of the armed forces is referred to often in 1776 with some of the congressmen taking a trip to see them in action. More regular is dispatches from George Washington detailing what's going on with the forces. A nameless courier delivers them and in a moving song "Momma, Look Sharp" sings about his friends dying in battle. However, the fight is entirely offscreen.

In Hamilton, the fight against Great Britain makes up most the action of the latter half of Act I. In the original cast Christopher Jackson played George Washington, who makes Hamilton his aide-de-camp. Posing as opposition to Washington is King George III (originated by Jonathan Groff) of Great Britain who sings a song that is reprised with lyrical changes twice during the show. While King George is initially the big antagonist of Act I, after his defeat, he also becomes a symbol of England's relationship with the United States.

There are multiple antagonists throughout the show. Aaron Burr (originated by Leslie Odom Jr.) is actually the first voice heard in the show, being depicted as someone Hamilton knew throughout his life. (This is played up a bit for dramatic effect.) In Act II, Thomas Jefferson is introduced as an antagonist to Hamilton who opposes his financial plan, creating the conflict for the opening of Act II. Later, Jefferson becomes an antagonist to Burr himself when they run for president in "The Election of 1800." And of course, Burr turns against Hamilton after he endorses Jefferson, costing Burr the election.

In 1776, the antagonist comes from the conservative members of Congress, chiefly represented by Dickinson and Rutledge. The opposition is largely played up and made more extreme. The vote for Independence is almost rendered dead in the water in the musical when all of the southern delegates walk out in defiance of a clause that would end slavery. In reality, most of the delegates supported removing it. But the debate sets up one of the musical's most chilling songs: "Molasses to Rum," where Rutledge points out that the northern states should not have a clean conscience as they also benefit from the slave trade. In the movie, most of the chamber goes dark, spotlighting Rutledge as he sings of men kidnapping Africans, taking them to the United States and auctioning them off. It's a disturbing song for good reason.

There is also a controversial song that was dropped from the movie version's initial cut but restored for the DVD and Blu-Ray versions: "Cool, Cool, Considerate Men." This song takes place while Adams is away from Congress and Dickinson's opposition party celebrates. The controversy is that they call themselves "conservative," and sing "to the right, ever to the right, never to the left, forever to the right." Richard Nixon believed it reflected poorly on the conservatives at the time and asked producer Jack L. Warner to remove it from the film. Warner actually asked for the negative to be destroyed, but luckily it was saved and is now available in the film's widely available cuts.

Hamilton has also had brushes with presidents. When the show was just an idea for a concept album, Miranda first sang the opening song at the White House Evening of Poetry, Music and the Spoken Word in 2009. Later, president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle would record a video introduction for a performance of a number from the musical for the 2016 Tony Awards. However, later in 2016, vice president elect Mike Pence went to see the musical and after the show, the cast read a respectful address to him, expressing concern that "diverse America" had for the incoming administration of Donald Trump. While Pence said he was not offended, Trump raged against the show on Twitter.

I find it interesting how the two musicals depict some of the same characters. Washington is offscreen in 1776, but John Adams and Benjamin Franklin are only referred to in passing in Hamilton. However, Thomas Jefferson is featured in both shows. In 1776, Jefferson is a quiet member of Congress who longs to return to his wife, initially refusing to write the Declaration on those grounds. In Hamilton, Jefferson is the first person good enough with words to stand up to Hamilton and is very cocky. In 1776, Jefferson claims he's resolved to free his slaves, but this is wholly inaccurate. In Hamilton, Hamilton calls out Jefferson owning slaves and a lyric has him addressing Sally Hemings, a slave that DNA evidence reveals he likely fathered children with.

I've already talked about how slavery played an increased role in the story of 1776. As it's received increased and continued scrutiny, Hamilton has drawn more criticism about how it deals with slavery. Hamilton's friend John Laurens is very much an abolitionist, and Hamilton is depicted as sharing his views in one moment when he sings along with him "We'll never be free until we end slavery." However, historians have pointed out that while it's not known if Hamilton actually owned slaves himself, he certainly worked in the slave trade and helped buy slaves for his friends and family, particularly his father in law Philip Schuyler. His payments to continue his affair with Maria Reynolds has been viewed as treating her as a slave.

So both musicals are guilty of showing some of our founding fathers to be more progressive on slavery than they actually were. While Adams did abhor slavery, he found abolishing it too divisive to present as boldly as he is depicted doing in 1776. Likely in both cases, the writers found this an item to help make audiences support our heroes on, when the reality is different. Unfortunately, this colors audiences' views of history as too progressive when it is important to understand how pervasive this issue was in American history, and the after effects of slavery and the notions that permitted it are still felt in America to this day.

Yet it is difficult to totally condemn either work for these failings. While it is tempting to enjoy a nice musical instead of reading up on history for yourself, these musicals should be seen as gateways to looking into history rather than stopping there.

1776 does have a major criticism in how long it is. The director's cut runs for nearly three hours and really does feel it, even if you do enjoy the musical. It even holds a record for how long it goes without a song as there are several character introductions and a depiction of a day of Congress debates between "The Lees of Old Virginia" and "But, Mr. Adams." Hamilton's filmed production runs six minutes shorter than 1776, but thanks to the pacing and format, it's better at making audiences enjoy the time.

With that said, I enjoy both musicals. I enjoy revisiting 1776 with the more I learn and now I try to listen closely to the dialogue. Hamilton is a brilliant piece of storytelling with great music. Perhaps in looking at our Founding Fathers, we need to remember that while we can learn from them, there is much we have learned since. As 1776's incarnation of Ben Franklin says:

...what would posterity think we were? Demi-gods? We're men, no more no less, trying to get a nation started against greater odds than a more generous God would have allowed.

The Ghibli Novice: Porco Rosso

1992 brought us the sixth (or seventh if you count Nausicaa) Ghibli film, Porco Rosso, again from the imagination of Hayao Miyazaki, based on a three-part manga he'd produced earlier (and which may have inspired Disney's TaleSpin).

The film takes place after World War I and follows Italian pilot Marco Rossolini, who has somehow been cursed to have the head of a pig, getting him the nickname "Porco Rosso."

Porco is seen as a hero by many local groups, but the air pirates frankly hate him. As for himself, he wants to just live his life, fly and work. He's accepted that he's a pig and is sure he'll probably be that way the rest of his life. However, his childhood friend Gina is friendly to him and hopes that one day, he can break the curse.

When the Italian Fascist party puts out a warrant for his arrest, Porco goes to get his plane rebuilt by a mechanic who puts his granddaughter Fio to work on it. She winds up joining Porco in his rebuilt plane as he has to leave in a hurry. But soon, Porco winds up in a duel with a hotshot pilot. Who's going to win?

This was a fun adventure story, but Porco's curse brings up an element. We get to see a flashback to during the war when he saw his fellow pilots going to the afterlife, but he was left alone. It's not clear if this is when he was cursed. In fact, it's not clear how he got cursed or if he'll ever have it reversed. The fact that this isn't directly addressed is basically saying that this isn't about what Porco looks like: it's about who he is. There's one bit where he's questioning if women can do as good a job as men, being classically sexist, but the women working on his plane actually make it better than ever.

So, that was a fun ride.

The Ghibli Novice: Only Yesterday

Unfortunately, the next Ghibli movie, Grave of the Fireflies, isn't on HBO Max, so I'll have to skip that one for now. The next one was unusual for what we've seen from Ghibli so far.

Released in 1991, Only Yesterday follows a young woman named Taeko who's taking a vacation from her life in the city for some time in the country, where she works on an organic farm. Throughout the film, Taeko remembers episodes from her childhood, these episodes being depicted in full animation. They reveal a lifetime of someone wanting to find her own way, but is constantly reeled in by her family. Now she's out on her own, so does she return to the stable life she's known, or go for something new she wants to try?

Only Yesterday could justifiably be called "an animated chick flick," but hey, it's a good animated chick flick with some beautiful animation and a good story. It's just a major change from the other Ghibli films I've checked out so far. It's not sci-fi or fantasy. There's no nice little adventure.

It's also the first Ghibli film I watched not directed by Hayao Miyazaki, but by Isao Takahata, who also directed Grave of the Fireflies. It's based on a manga by Hotaru Okamoto and Yuko Tone. A final bit of trivia is that it took twenty-five years for it to get an English dub, most likely due to English distributors being unsure of how to handle such a different Ghibli movie.