The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013)

The tale of princess Kaguya-★★☆☆☆

The tale of Princess Kaguya is an animated film based on what is widely believed to be 10th century Japanese folklore, it’s generally a good sign to see the name of Studio Ghibli in the title cards, as they have released some good films in the past such as Pom poko and Castle in the sky. But even with the talent of Ghibli-trained animators rendering a story in a hand-drawn, highly emotive style, it honestly was a letdown for me.

The problem comes solely down to the direction of Isao Takahata., while I'm certainly not a purist as far as how a film should look, I expected better from such a high class director

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While the story is a sad and heartfelt one, its presentation suffers greatly as Takahata really foregoes centuries of storytelling know-how, ensuring that audiences will have to expend a great deal of effort to engage with the plot. Kaguya (voiced by Chloë Grace Moretz in the English dub), is a goddess descended from the moon to live with a poor unnamed bamboo cutter and his wife (James Cann and Mary Steenburgen, play these roles respectively). For reasons left unexplained, the child grows from an infant to an adolescent in a matter of weeks (Possibly days), and is blessed with a gift of gold and silks from the stalks of bamboo plants, which sends her father into the path of narcissism and self-absorbed negligence, and social-climbing ambition (to go from rags to riches if you will) . He pulls Kaguya into the city to be raised as royalty in an effort to try to feel fulfilled on his own, and Kaguya is miserable until she's eventually called back to the moon due to reasons we never get the time to know (which did make me dislike the film as the film was so long they could have added a backstory of some sort), because she's off the screen and the movie's over in less than ten minutes after we first hear of it.

This plot, is all over the place if simply put, it sets up a lot of questions for us to ask. It's hard to understand why she's so reluctant to return to the moon (much less how she knows of her destiny), when her father was such a miserable person to her for pretty much her entire life, using her to gain some semblance of self-worth. I never got any time to try to relate to her, or to glean any sense of her relationship with others as I just didn’t feel connected to the character. The plot skips when it should walk crawl and when it should run. At over two hours long, it both rushes and drags in ways I haven't seen in cinema for many years now. Stories like this are the reason so many storytelling tropes have been invented and accepted over the years. This film simply follows a three part plot beginning middle and end but overall in my opinion it was rushed.

Sadly, there's not much else to save it. The music is fitting, and not overbearing. It's not to my liking unfortunately but it's well-done. The voice acting for the three main characters is worth applauding. The performances are characteristically stilted and flat, which might fit the Disney-imported trend, but it's hardly required.

If i had to sum this film up i mildly enjoyed the first 20 minutes to 30 minutes of the film, but if i had to be honest I tried so hard to keep my eyes open, in my opinion it was simply too long rushed and un interesting

~Ryan ~