DVD Review: Whisper of the Heart

DVD Reviews

By Frankie Dees Mar 20, 2006, 12:48 GMT

With the death of American hand-drawn animated films, Japanese anime has become that much more meaningful - especially the works of Studio Ghibli, the Japanese equivalent of Walt Disney (at least the Disney of yore, when hand-drawn animation didn’t automatically mean cheap sequels).

Hayao Miyazaki, the most notable of the Studio Ghibli filmmakers, has been churning out great films for 30 years including 2002’s masterpiece, Spirited Away (which won the academy award for best animated film) and last year’s Howl’s Moving Castle (nominated this year but lost to Wallace and Gromit). Miyazaki had gotten in his mind in the mid-90s that he was going to retire and turn over his work to Yoshifumi Kondo, his protégé.Kondo worked alongside Miyazaki (along with fellow anime giant, Isao Takahata) for years, first in the television realm with the show, “World Masterpiece Theatre” in the mid-70s then to Miyazaki’s own television show “Future Boy Conan” in 1978 and finally to the various Studio Ghibli films over the years.“Whisper of the Heart” was Yoshifumi Kondo’s only film. Sadly, Yoshifumi Kondo died before his time succumbing to cancer in 1998 when he was forty-eight. Even more tragic when one considers this film and the obvious talents Kondo could have applied to his future films that are a perfect combination of Takahata’s realism and Miyazaki’s surrealism.“Whisper of the Heart” is based more in reality than Miyazaki’s fantastical works (although Miyazaki wrote the script and produced the film). The movie is a leisurely-paced coming-of age tale about a 14-year old girl, Shizuka, who dreams of becoming a great writer and wonders about her true talents.

Early in the film, she has taken to John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and rewrote the lyrics to coincide a little more appropriately with her lifestyle. Oddly, John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” (sung by Olivia Newton-John during the opening credits of the English soundtrack) is kind of the major thematic current that runs through the film and becomes a constant throughout the film sung in several variations.Ironically, a royalty’s dispute over this song was rumored to hold up the American DVD release and resulted in Disney releasing 2002’s The Cat Returns (which features a character from this film and was considered a prequel to Whisper of the Heart) last year ahead of 1995’s Whisper of the Heart.Shizuka, being a budding writer, buries herself in books, and is constantly reading. One day, she notices her current batch of books from the library were all checked out by the same boy right before her. Her and her friends seem to think this might be fate. A boy with the exact same taste in reading as her?Later, Shizuka finds herself on a train ride to the library to drop off her dad’s lunch. On the train she notices a chubby, indignant-looking cat riding by himself on the train. Intrigued by his some-what human demeanor, she follows him to an old antiquities store where she meets a kindly old gentleman with lost-love fables to share and a fascinating statue of a well-dressed feline named Baron that seems to hold some interest for her.Here she meets the old gentleman’s grandson who aspires to be a great violin-maker and wishes to skip high school to apprentice with a master in Italy. His confidence in his dream and his insistence on making it happen inspires her to start on her first story, a fable that involves Baron the feline statue come to life. And does this boy turn out to be the same boy that checked out those books?

Except for the occasional fantasy sequence that we see through Shizuka’s imagination as she writes her story, the film is a fairly grounded, charming story about two kids who follow their dreams amidst young love and the usual melodramatics of day-to-day teen life: the early awkward relationships between the sexes, the annoying siblings and the parents promoting studying over such possible fruitless endeavors as writing or craftsmanship (something even more applicable in education-driven Japan I’m sure).The animation headed by Inque Naohisa is, of course, stunning. The colors feel like they drip off the screen. As you watch the film, it’s almost like you can actually see the sweat and tears and the strokes of the brush as the artist’s pain-stakingly hand draw every frame. Every inch of the frame down to the smallest detail looks extraordinary almost to the point of distraction. I found my eyes wandering outside the action to make sure everything was getting appreciation. Without a doubt, the most gorgeous animated sunrise ever to be put on film.The film is 1.85:1 widescreen and is enhanced for widescreen televisions (a great picture to watch at 480p if there ever was one). Being a fan of anime, I would be hard-pressed not to recommend the Japanese 5.1 audio track over the English 5.1 track. But if the film was being watched with young children, then it’s understandable that the English track would be the only way to go. And it’s to Disney’s credit that they continuously seek out experienced and appropriate voice talent to dub their Ghibli releases. Brittany Snow, Courtney Thorne-Smith and Cary Elwes (who reprises his role from The Cat Returns) among others provide voices.The Special Features include a small featurette entitled Behind The Microphone which consists of interviews of the English Dubbing cast and shows them during some of their voice-over sessions. The original feature-length Japanese storyboards (which has the 2nd disc all to itself) are fascinating stuff - although I can’t imagine anybody watching the whole film in storyboards.

Theatrical Trailers and TV Spots for Whisper of the Heart and previews of other Disney releases are also included. For being a 2-disc set, the special features are slightly disappointing. I would have loved to seen some footage from Ghibli’s studios and I can’t imagine there is no interview footage with Kondo out which would prove all the more resonant now that he is no longer with us.I found this film to be a lovely and charming affair that should find both children and adults enraptured by it. With children now being raised on CGI dreck like Madagascar and Shark Tale, a film like this needs to be sought out by parents and treasured.Whisper of the Heart is now available at Amazon. It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for an April 10th release. Visit the DVD’s database for more information.

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Jeff SwindollMar 20th, 2006 - 15:35:39

Dont count hand drawn animation out just yet. Disney Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter (of Pixar fame) has expressed interest in reviving hand drawn.

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Frankie DeesMar 20th, 2006 - 16:40:21

Yeah, I actually read that somewhere. Let's hope Lasseter can actually make Disney's name synonymous with quality again. Looking at films like Atlantis, Treasure Planet and Home on the Range....and Disney wonders why they underperformed? It had to be the medium, right? and not the quality of the films?...even when the charming Lilo & Stitch did quite well, they still didn't seem to get it. Well, here's hoping Lassater can change that.

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Jeff SwindollMar 21st, 2006 - 23:58:18

I don't know that I'd call any of those Disney titles classics (Atlantis, etc.), but I did enjoy them. Loved that cool CGI sub in Atlantis, too bad the toy looked like crap or it would sit next to my Nautilus model ;). I think that Lasseter is going back to the Beauty and the Beast days, or hand drawn with a CGI assist in certain scenes. Atlantis was basically the same, mostly hand drawn with a CGI enhancement every once and awhile. At least lets hope that's what happening. I think the animation people at Disney are most pleased that Lasseter is onboard.

Cheers.

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SinJerouJun 3rd, 2006 - 03:20:07

Well if it at all possible i would like to get the lyrics to country roads. not the one that john denvar sings the one shizuka sings and seiji plays. i hope u know what i am taling about.

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SusanJul 25th, 2006 - 23:34:29

I really enjoyed watching this movie and it was really great! I watched this more than 10 times. I love the characters and the songs. My favorite characters are Shizuku, Yuko, Seji, adn Sugimura. Oh! And I also like the cat, Moon. See you later...

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AngelaAug 16th, 2006 - 15:58:40

I love whisper of the heart.

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elayna age 9Jul 18th, 2009 - 22:16:37

i haven't seen whisper of the heart but i've heard it's good, i've read a ton about though and it sounds interesting...

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