I’ve shown my 5 year old all of the Miyazaki movies except Nausicaä, Mononoke, and The Wind Rises. They’ve been able to handle all of them without any issues. But my 5 year old seems particularly brave with movies. They frequently request to watch the Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline.
Howl’s is maybe the only movie where there has been the “dad, this is scary” convo.
Man, the best movies when you are a kid are movies that are just a bit spooky because being slightly scared is a thrill. I wish I could be a kid again and be scared of things like Gremlins, The Dark Crystal and even The Black Hole. That last one is terrible but it’s weirdly special to me because it scared the living daylights out of me at five or six. Also those kind of movies that are aimed at kids but are still spooky are very different from actual horror movies, which I also watched as a kid. Different experiences, different takeaways, but the mildly spooky ones are always a great intro to scarier things precisely because kids are curious about this sort of thing, but potentially not ready for Freddy or Chucky, etc.
This is why I like Little Monsters. I was 6 when it came out I believe. It’s probably a terrible movie, but I remember it pretty vividly because it scared me a little bit.
I think I’m going to go for Spirited Away soon. I want to watch it again, and I think he can handle it. My son will either begin to draw No Face every day and make his own costumes or he’ll tell me he never wants to be alone ever again. There will be no in between.
It is terrible but I was nine and I liked it so much I even bought a copy of the book (which I’m sure is adapted from the movie) at the Scholastic book fair. That same year I also bought the book Watership Down at the Scholastic fair because it was the basis for one of absolutely favourite films, I film I started loving at age six when I initially saw it on home video. It’s a real messed up yet beautiful film full of bunny violence and death. I was a weird kid. Anyone wonder why my graduate research was focused on representations of death in children’s media? Watership Down did a number on me, lol.
I can just imagine someone buying this: Little Monsters book by Bonnie Bryant Hiller, opening up the front cover, and seeing “Property of BMO” written in there. Apparently this Bonnie Bryant Hiller made quite the name for herself by adapting all of the movies in the 80s and 90s to novels.
I’m pretty sure I still have my copy 
Not Miyazaki but Only Yesterday is wonderful. At least my friends and I enjoyed it.
I love Only Yesterday. It’s a prime example of why I like Isao Takahata’s films, precisely because of how he deals with day-to-day drama.
Better yours than the kids’. Always remember to sacrifice your dignity instead of your kid’s, that’s true good parenting. Seriously, it really is.
No doubt there’s a bit of Miyazaki to flight-loving geek Tombo (an underrated character IMO), but if I were to pick someone who’s absolutely a self-insert for ol’ Hayao it’d be the older, unassuming, proud, traditional, grumbling, stubborn, hard-working flight-loving gotta-hand-it-to-'im Porco Rosso. =P
I did finally watch Spirited Away with my 6 year old son. He loved it, although he was a little scared at points. I like that movie a little bit better every time I watch it.
Watching this on Max right now. I have it on DVD, but the video quality is nicer on Max. That being said, this just makes me want to get the Blu-ray remaster so I can have this musical score uncompressed. Has anyone seen the remaster?
This movie is so well edited. Good work Tomoko Kida, Naoko Kaneko, and Masatsugu Sakai.
This was Miyazaki’s second film, and he’s already delivering.
Joe Hisaishi just going wild on this score. There’s a Prog Rock song with a sitar and an RPG battle song with a synth pretending to be an organ. Joe Hisaishi can do it all.
I don’t have the remaster but I want it.
So the Spirited Away stage play is available to stream on Max and there are two versions for the different casts. I’m watching the Kanna Hashimoto version and it rocks. It is so far extremely respectfully recreating moments and even shots I didn’t realize I was nostalgic for. I think one can argue this doesn’t need to exist- a filmed version of a play version of an existing animated film- but I enjoy a cover. It also is just impressive from a “how would they do that in a stage play” sense. Because I’m often thinking of the next scene, “I wonder if they’ll do that or not” and then they do it!!
nice setup that you have there
I LOVE that scene. It’s my favorite in the whole movie and the music is entirely to blame.
Also I have read the manga series for Nausicaa and enjoyed it. If you like the movie, try the manga. Shouldn’t be disappointed. And on that note also read the recently translated Shuna’s Journey, also by Miyazaki.
