The Tale Of Princess Kaguya - Blu-ray Review

'Ghibli's version of this story is beautiful, wonderful, of course it is, but it is not brief or speedy enough, not imbued with the kind of lightness of touch it needs to have'

Studio Ghibli are often compared favourably to Disney, and rightly so. If you look at the studio's offering over the course of the last twenty years or so, as we did recently with the release of The Miyazaki Collection they more than stand up to The Mouse House in terms of visuals, storytelling and pure invention. They deserve their place at the head of the animation pack and, if this is to be one of the studio's last films, their absence will be keenly felt.

The Tale Of Princess Kaguya though represents for me a rare example where I can envisage a world in which Disney told this story better. Kaguya is a fairly straight 'princess in a bad place' story, a la copious Disney offerings; from Aladdin to Brave. Disney do this sort of thing well, with humour, brevity and care. Ghibli's version of this story is beautiful, wonderful, of course it is, but it is not brief or speedy enough, not imbued with the kind of lightness of touch it needs to have; the same lightness of touch Disney specialise in.

The hand-drawn art is wonderful, a reminder that, no matter how slick they become, CGI visuals will never replace traditional renderings. Director Isao Takahata mixes styles to incredible effect. When the narrative introduces speed and flight, Kaguya's drawings become impressionistic and vague. When we get to the emotion of the story, close-ups show the tear-streaked faces. The sound effects too need mention - watch for a rainfall scene near the start, which seems perfectly synced.

It does feel though that this is a film that got away from Takahata, as seen in the Ghibli documentary The Kingdom Of Dreams And Madness. The narrative seems to loop at least once and opportunities to inject some pace aren't taken. The scenes with Princess Kaguya's returning suitors, for instance, all take place individually, despite their universal deceit.

It is, of course, a long way from a bad film, and entirely beautiful throughout, but unlike 'normal' Ghibli the storytelling wasn't captivating, the catbus not purring on all cylinders.

The Tale Of Princess Kaguya is released on UK Blu-ray and DVD from Monday 13th July.

By Sam Turner. Sam is editor of Film Intel, and can usually be found behind a keyboard with a cup of tea. He likes entertaining films and dislikes the other kind. He's on Google+, Twitter and several places even he doesn't yet know about.