Blu-ray Review The Hayao Miyazaki Collection (2014)

Genre:
Anime, World Cinema
Distributor:
Studiocanal UK
Release Date:
8th December 2014 (UK)
Director:
Hayao Miyazaki
Buy:The Hayao Miyazaki Complete Collection [Blu-ray]
Hayao Miyazaki is one of cinema’s great dreamers, with an astonishing body of work over the space of 12 films and numerous shorts. Miyazaki, as far as we know, has retired from filmmaking, but this is not the first time he has claimed this. He first came to worldwide attention with his masterpiece Spirited Away which was the first anime film ever to win Best Animated Film at the Oscars and so far the only one.

Miyazaki made his name as a chief animator back in the 1960s, and worked mainly as an animator up until he finally directed the full length The Castle of Cagliostro in 1979. He has since then made 11 more feature length films over the space of the following 33 years, as well as a host of short films. Miyazaki wasn’t that well known in the West until the English language releases of Kiki’s Delivery Service and Princess Mononoke in 1997. His earlier films have been rediscovered due to the success of his later films such as My Neighbour Totoro, which has became one of his most well loved films, with unforgettable characters like the title character and the Catbus.

His fame, of course, came to a head with Spirited Away: quite arguably the finest animated film ever made, and certainly the best animated film of the 21st century. Its surreal nature owes more than a bit to Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and is all about the wonder of childhood, following little girl protagonist Chihiro's passage from childhood to adulthood. He followed it up with the Steampunk fantasy of Howl’s Moving Castle, which I personally never cared for but it has its fans.

If Miyazaki’s retirement announcement is to be believed, his final two films are Ponyo and The Wind Rises. Ponyo, loosely inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, is one of his most twee and kid friendly films, full of charm and imagination, along with a ridiculously catchy theme song. Miyazaki turned 72 shortly before The Wind Rises was finished, and it shows: it’s a film by a old man that looks at a young man who dreams of making airplanes during the 30s and 40s and as usual, has Miyazaki’s pacifist message which is a feature in many of his films, most notably Porco Rosso.

Studiocanal has compiled a complete Blu-ray box set of Miyazaki’s 12 features. Unfortunately it has quite shamefully omitted all of the bonus features seen on previous Blu-ray editions Studiocanal has released. Instead, its sole bonus feature is a video of the press conference where Miyazaki announced his retirement. The box set also includes a lengthy booklet with a great deal of writing on his work, including some of Miyazaki’s treatments.

Ian Schultz