Movie Reviews for Whisper of the Heart

Whisper of the Heart

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Movie Reviews of Whisper of the Heart

Movie Review: an anime for all ages
Summary: 5 Stars

Whisper of the heart is a wonderful, gentle movie in which Miyazaki's love for children will warm the hearts of old and young alike.
The main character of the story is Shizuku, a girl at the threshold of her teenage years. In the movie she discover her strengths and weaknesses with the help of the Baron,(a statue of a cat), an old man who runs an curiosity store, (when he feels like it) and Seiji, a boy who has been in love with her for a long time and finally succeeds to make her notice him.
Seiji had dreams of becoming a violin maker and Shizuku wants to be a writer. Both of them find out that it takes schooling and hard work to reach their dreams.
Miyazaki has a wonderful way of portraying children, gentle and still very natural and realistic. When watching this movie I felt I got a glimps of life in Japan and wonder if this is a life of the past or if one still lives that way.
This movie will be enjoyed by kids of any school age and by anyone who loves children.

Movie Review: The hearts of Ghibli shines
Summary: 5 Stars

Whisper of the Heart is a wonderful adaptation of Aoi Hiiragi's manga work and who does it better than the guys at Ghibli. Master Hayao Miyazaki with Yoshifumi Kondo direction, you see how real this animation is about the life of a girl name Shizuku. I won't go into too much detail as others here have already provided more than enough information on this outstanding gem like all of Miyazaki's animated production films. I just like to point out that the ending could of been more heartfelt than it was in my opinion. For those who haven't seen this movie yet...stop here and go rent this for the whole family to enjoy.

** spoiler **
The scene where Shizuku's dad tuck the blanket over her in bed than showing the night sky as it fade to the credits would of been a sad but worthy ending. It's more realistic and acceptable then to have Seiji show up at her place early in the cold morning on his bicycle from out of nowhere and ask her to come ride with him to somewhere is a bit odd when he should be in Italy learning to become a master violin builder. Now here is where it got a little wierd...the ending where he basically propose to her to marry him after taking her on top of this hill to see the sun rise. I mean how many guys would ask a girl to marry him when they haven't even gone out yet?!? Then again, maybe that happens more than not in Japan but not really here. Nevertheless, it does not hurt this charming movie one bit as I still highly recommend everyone to watch this animated movie. Great theme song on country road, top notch dubbing, especially the Baron voice over by Cary Elwes, which continues on in the sequal, The Cats Return.

I'm a big fan of Hayao Miyazaki's animated work and have seen Spirited Away, Porco Rosso, Castle in the Sky, Nausica? of the Valley of the Wind, My Neighbor Totoro, The Castle of Cagliostro, Howl's Moving Castle and a few other gems, which i will provide a review on some of them in the future.

Movie Review: Just Another Tween Romance.
Summary: 2 Stars

I hate to give anything by Ghibli a negative review, trust me it has NEVER happened before, but Whisper of the Heart is hardly as good as any of Ghibli's great films, such as Spirited Away, Grave of the Fireflies (2-Disc Collector's Edition), and My Neighbor Totoro. The technical aspects of the film are on par with anything Ghibli has done up to this time, and a lot of the same plot devices are present in this film, but Whispers lacks the magic and wonder which made other Ghibli films, including its sequel The Cat Returns, great.

Although Hayao Miyazaki (Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke) wrote the script and storyboarded for this film, he didn't direct it. It has a lot of the same elements of any Miyazaki film, female lead, a coming of age story, romance, etc. but whereas Miyazaki's films almost always held a universal appeal in that almost anyone could enjoy them Whispers is directed and will appeal to only one group of people, young girls, of which I personally am not. This is a coming of age story about a young middle school girl who, at the start of the film, spends most of her time in a book or fooling around doing absolutely nothing. Her life is turned upside down, however, when she meets a young man named Seiji. She sees that he knows what he wants to do with his life and that he has a purpose for livening, which forces her to examine herself. She realizes that her life, for the most part, is meaningless and sets out on a journey to find herself.

Parts of this story are extremely easy to relate with, the overbearing overachieving sister (she was EXACTLY like my own sister), the self doubt, the insecurity, the hopeless search for happiness and meaning in ones life are all emotions which are easy to see in oneself. Unfortunately the movie doesn't focus on these elements as much as they should; instead it decides to turn the story into yet another generic and clich? tween romance. The story starts out so heartwarming, so beautiful and light, but then takes a nose dive straight into mediocrity. Maybe romance just isn't my thing, but whenever I see middle scholars talk about romance, love, and (cough) getting married when they grow older, I can't help but role my eyes. There is nothing more annoying then tween romances.

The animation, like all Ghibli's works, is good for the most part and great in all the right places. The character designs are relatively simple, the motion fluid, and the backgrounds detailed and diverse. One of the closing scenes, when Shizuku and Seiji are together looking at a sunrise, was one of the most beautifully animated scenes for any Ghibli movie ever made. I'm a sucker for a good sunrise scene, and although it didn't match the brilliance of similar scenes from movies like The Place Promised in Our Early Days, for the time it was made (1995) its fantastic.

Overall if you like tween romances, then go ahead and see this film. Just because I didn't like it (and I'm in the minority here) doesn't mean that you won't, but I warn you do not expect the same wonder and excitement of Miyazaki's films, this is a romance and nothing but.

Replay value; moderate.

Movie Review: affection for the characters and their lives
Summary: 5 Stars

what a lovely film this is. i had seen "the cat returns" and been rather disappointed by it after enjoying many other studio ghibli things greatly, but "whisper of the heart" is totally different, both in the kind of thing it's trying to do (it's not fantasy) and in its levels of emotion and inventiveness. i'm giving this film full marks - sure there are things i don't like so much here (e.g. the kitschiness of the baron himself and his lady friend), but they're of minor significance. the characters are so great - i feel such affection for them that it's genuinely sad to reach the end of the film and know that that's all i am ever going to know about their lives.
as a bonus, if you watch the dub, that's very nicely done as well.