And this week's Friday night movie has been.....Panda go Panda!
This feature is a pair of anime half-hour shorts. Its not well known outside some circles but it is notable for being an early collaboration between Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata before they founded the legendary Studio Ghibli. With these shorts, Takahata directs and Miyazaki provides the script, design, layouts and animation.
So what we have here is clearly Studio Ghibli in it's Mesozoic era. The artwork is indeed a far cry from what would come in the future (this was made in the early seventies) but all the familiar trademarks are already in place: An eye for detail, expressive animation, humor, charm for both adults and children alike, an interesting heroine and, in Papa Panda, a progenitor of Totoro.
It may not be on par with Ghibli's finest but that doesn't mean it's without it's charms.
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