Reviewed by Chris Eberle

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya - Blu-ray Movie Review

Synopsis

One day a bamboo cutter discovers a tiny princess in a bamboo shoot and brings her home. She quickly turns into a human baby and starts growing at an alarming rate. When she becomes a teenager, the bamboo cutter finds gold and beautiful robes in the forest. He decides that Heaven wants his daughter to become a noble princess so he builds her a mansion in the capital.

Soon five suitors arrive to compete for her hand. She doesn’t want to be owned by anyone so she assigns each of them an impossible task. When the Emperor demands her hand in marriage she refuses him. Then she discovers she must return to the Moon from where she came and potentially lose all memories of her existence on Earth.

Specifications

  • Universal
  • 2013, Color, Rated PG, 2 Hrs 18 mins
  • 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio
  • Starring: Chloë Grace Moretz, James Caan, Mary Steenburgen
  • Directed by Isao Takahata

Rating

  • Entertainment:
  • Video:
  • Audio:
  • Extras:
  • Violence: Brief
  • Sex: Brief partial nudity
  • Language: No

Commentary

Above everything, this film is beautiful to look at. The charcoal and watercolor artwork is simply breathtaking while remaining very raw and natural. The portrayal of motion is done with a minimalism that I found compelling. Plot-wise, it got off to a rocky start for me but once it found a rhythm, I was hooked. The story is very much a fairy tale where the main character is seeking her true identity and purpose. Her parents only want what’s best for her and that sometimes causes conflict. Ultimately though, their closeness remains even as the trappings of royalty and high society provide constant temptation. Kaguya’s strength carries the film beautifully as portrayed by Chloë Grace Moretz. She is as fine an actress in voiceover as she is in person. I also enjoyed Mary Steenburgen very much as the mother and narrator. My only casting beef is with the choice of James Caan as the bamboo cutter. He is certainly a tremendous and experienced talent but his tough-guy accent just didn’t seem to fit what I was seeing. Animation fans will certainly want to add this title to their libraries; highly recommended.

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Technical

It’s hard to imagine the image being any better. The painted animation literally breathes with life on the screen. Colors are not overly saturated but that is a function of the watercolor technique and entirely appropriate. The most impressive detail was the texture of the paper which I could see clearly throughout.

Audio was almost perfect with wonderfully detailed Foley effects that took place all around me. The music was equally beautiful with traditional Japanese songs, interludes performed on the koto and some clips with a full orchestra. My half-star reduction concerns the dialog. While perfectly clear, it was presented very forward in the mix. This tends to detach it from the image a bit as the center channel calls too much attention to itself.

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Extras

Bonus features include an 86-minute making-of documentary presented in standard-def. You also get high-def footage of the 40-minute announcement of the film’s completion. It’s basically an extended press conference. Rounding out the extras are trailers and TV commercials from both the US and Japan.

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