Studio Ghibli – Stream On Demand

‘Only Yesterday’ – getting a little help from the past on HBO Max

!Featured, Animation, based on a comic book, Blu-ray, childhood, drama, DVD, family friendly, feel good movies, HBO Max, International Cinema, Kid Stuff, SVOD, young adult 08/23/2022 Sean Axmaker

The animated drama from Studio Ghibli by Isao Takahata is not a fantasy film but something more like an animated memoir with commentary by a past self.

‘The Tale of the Princess Kaguya’ on HBO Max

!Featured, Academy Award nominee, Animation, Blu-ray, childhood, DVD, family friendly, fantasy, HBO Max, International Cinema, Kid Stuff, SVOD 08/10/2022 Sean Axmaker

Isao Takahata directs this animated 10th-century fairy tale of a magical princess who is born of a bamboo stalk for Studio Ghibli, the animation powerhouse he cofounded.

‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ – Miyazaki steampunk on HBO Max

!Featured, Animation, based on a novel, Blu-ray, DVD, family friendly, fantasy, HBO Max, Kid Stuff, SVOD 07/27/2022 Sean Axmaker

This animated fantasy of a shy shopgirl, a mysterious wizard, and a jealous witch is set in a steampunk 19th century past of magic and mechanical wonders.

‘Princess Mononoke’ – Miyazaki’s mythic masterpiece on HBO Max

!Featured, adventure, Animation, Blu-ray, Cult Movies, DVD, Essential Viewing, fantasy, Have You Seen...?, HBO Max, Streaming Movies, SVOD 07/14/2022 Sean Axmaker

This magnificent fantasy of the battle between the forest spirits and the industrial revolution is an environmentalist epic as blood and thunder adventure on an apocalyptic scale.

‘Ponyo’ – Hayao Miyaki’s ‘Little Mermaid’ fable on HBO Max

!Featured, Animation, Blu-ray, DVD, family friendly, fantasy, HBO Max, Kid Stuff, SVOD, Venice winner 11/25/2020 Sean Axmaker

Part Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid, part ecological fable, and part children’s fantasy come to life, Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo (Japan, 2008) is a gentle storybook film, a simple, sweet tale animated with a delicacy unique to animated features. Ponyo is a water sprite, a curious undersea creature and daughter of the sea gods who […]

Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘The Wind Rises’ on HBO Max

!Featured, Academy Award nominee, Animation, art and artists, based on a true story, biographical, Blu-ray, drama, DVD, Have You Seen...?, HBO Max, historical, International Cinema, Streaming Movies, SVOD 08/25/2020 Sean Axmaker

The Wind Rises (Japan, 2013) is a very different kind of feature from Hayao Miyazaki, the beloved filmmaker and animation legend famed for his lush, ambitious, inventive fantasies and mythical adventures. It was a passion project for the director and he chose it as his fitting swan song, a final feature before retiring from filmmaking […]

‘From Up on Poppy Hill’ from Hiyao Miyazaki and son on HBO Max

!Featured, Animation, Blu-ray, childhood, DVD, family friendly, Have You Seen...?, HBO Max, high school, International Cinema, Kid Stuff, Streaming Movies, SVOD 07/30/2020 Sean Axmaker

Goro Miyazaki directs this gentle, somewhat slight, yet unexpectedly rich story of student life and young love in early sixties Japan.

‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’ on HBO Max

!Featured, Animation, Blu-ray, DVD, family friendly, fantasy, Have You Seen...?, HBO Max, Kid Stuff, Streaming Movies, SVOD 06/24/2020 Sean Axmaker

Kiki’s Delivery Service (Japan, 1989) carries us into the experiences of a young witch as she charts her path in the real world. Sincere, spirited Kiki has turned thirteen, the age when witches leave the nest for a year of solo training. She’s ready to take on the world with her broomstick and her best […]

Christina Ricci is Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald in 'Z: The Beginning of Everything'

What to stream: Christina Ricci’s ‘Z’ and Studio Ghibli’s ‘Ronja’ on Amazon Prime and more on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now

!Featured, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Netflix, Streaming TV, What to Stream 01/27/2017 Sean Axmaker

Amazon picks up the gauntlet of original streaming drama with two new shows debuting this week. Christina Ricci is Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald in Z: The Beginning of Everything, an Amazon original series about the high-spirited Southern Belle who took New York society by storm as the fiercely independent wife and muse of F. Scott Fitzgerald […]

From Japan's Studio Ghibli comes the animated adventure based on the novel by "Pippi Longstocking" author Astrid Lindgren

Watch This: Studio Ghibli’s ‘Ronja, The Robber’s Daughter’ comes to Amazon Prime in January

Amazon Prime Video, Animation, News, Watch This! 01/12/2017 Sean Axmaker

Studio Ghibli, the great Japanese animation house founded by Hayao Miyazaki, presents this animated series based on the novel by Astrid Lindgren (author of “Pippi Longstocking”) and directed by Gorō Miyazaki. A hit in Japan in 2014 and 2015, the series debuts in the U.S. in an English language version (with Gillian Anderson narrating) on […]