Picture
NOTE: This is the opinion of one writer on the Rotoscopers team, as is evident by last years Frozember content event. While Frozen has taken the world by storm, there are still others who don’t hold the film in such high regard. This is an article showing the less-popular perspective.


*The original article posting can be found here.*
**Mild Spoiler Alert**

Some of you might remember an article I wrote in November titled 5 Reasons Why I’m NOT Excited for ‘Frozen‘, leading up to the release of the latest Disney Princess film. This article received a huge reaction from passionate fans in support of the film, so leading up to the moment that I finally got to watch the film, I kept asking myself, “Did I put my foot in it?”

While the financial success of the film can not be argued, nor the instant loyalty it received from fans, I still find a need to represent the other side of the coin. As I mentioned in the original article, I was really hoping to be proven wrong on all accounts in regards to my lack of enthusiasm on the film. While certain aspects of the film did surprise me in a positive manner, I was still left displeased with the film as a whole when the credits started to roll up the screen. Instead of going head first into a whole review, this article will look back at those 5 points from the original article.

*Continued onto the original article posting found here.*

 
*The Princess Profiles is a series of opinion articles on the Rotoscopers website which takes a close look at the Disney princess in the wake of the release of their most recent film "Frozen" last November. This article was originally posted here.*

As any young girl growing up, I was in love with the Disney Princess. She was everything I wanted to be, everything I wasn’t. And there was one particular princess that held my heart hostage; Aurora.

Aurora was the daughter of a king and queen whom had waiting a long time for a child. During the gathering to celebrate Aurora’s christening, we meet the three good fairies, all of which want to bestow a gift to Aurora. Flora gives the princess beauty, Fauna gives the gift of beautiful song, but before Merryweather can present her gift, Maleficent shows up angry because she was not invited to the shin dig, and bestows Aurora the gift of death upon her 16th birthday via pricking her finger on a spinning wheel. Left with no other choice, Merryweather gives the gift of sleep to counteract Maleficent’s evil spell. The fairies then take Aurora in secret and raise her for the next 16 years.

*Read the entire article here*
 
I had the immense privilege to attend the New York Film Festival on Saturday 28th of September, and watch a screening of The Wind Rises. Being Hayao Miyazaki's last film (as far as we know), and a Studio Ghibli creation, expectations were high. I, along with a vast audience of maybe 300 people, got to enjoy a wonderful story the way it should be enjoyed: on the big screen, with fellow enthusiasts and loved ones held close.

*The original article can be found here*
 
Picture
Disney’s first animated feature film was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs which was released in 1937, and since the success of that film, princesses have been Disney’s go to storyline to the vast audience’s pleasure. This November we have the latest Disney film Frozen, which as we reported earlier this year, will be adding the number 12th and 13th princesses to the Disney line up. As the trailer for Frozen won’t be released for a few more days, and even though some of us were able to take a look at the leaked video recording of the trailer, there are still many questions left regarding what kind of princesses they will be, and what direction Disney is now going to take with their princesses. But before we move forward, let’s look back at the qualities Disney has highlighted in their princesses in the past.

*The original article can be found here.*

 
Picture
If you are an avid Studio Ghibli watcher, you know that many of Hayao Miyazaki's films incorporate some of the toughest themes to be covered by animated films. Studio Ghibli doesn't just do coming-of-age stories (Kiki's Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro), or romance based stories (Only Yesterday, Whisper of the Heart) they also do fantastical moral stories (Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle). But the biggest theme Studio Ghibli covers is the theme of the morality of war and violence (or lack thereof). From Miyazaki's pre-Studio Ghibli days, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, to his most noted, Princess Mononoke, and even his most recent, The Wind Rises, Hayao Miyazaki chooses to highlight humanity in the midst of violent turmoil, and war. But the reasons the studio chooses to do so can be more striking than the films themselves. 

*The original article can be found here.*

 
Picture
My Neighbor Totoro, while being one of Studio Ghibli's most important films, is also director Hayao Miyazaki's most universally iconic. Riding off the success of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984) and Castle in the Sky (1986), Miyazaki decided to take a leap of faith and do something that would hit a little closer to home for him. Studio Ghibli's two previous films had garnered their success by playing to the public desires of animation at the time; magic, fantasy and futuristic plots and themes were extremely popular in Japan, and it was thought that anything else would prove to be a failure. But My Neighbor Totoro proved to be everything but a failure, eventually becoming a globally recognized figure, and being adopted by Studio Ghibli as their logo/mascot. 

Originally released in 1988, it actually took 10 years for Miyazaki to fully develop the story, while still making changes halfway through production. The idea for the film came during a time when Miyazaki was most unhappy about his career. He had just been offered to do a children's show on a Japanese television network, but he knew if he accepted, he would be giving up his own artistry and point of view. So, instead, he began writing what he thought would be a children's book, which ended up being a life-changing story. 

*The original article can be seen here.*

 
Picture
**This review is mostly spoiler free, but proceed with caution.**

Studio Ghibli has been known for its amazing imagery and intricate storytelling, incorporating everything from the supernatural (Kiki's Delivery Service), to the futuristically natural (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind), to the anachronistically wonderful (Castle in the Sky). However, every once in a while they do something a little different. Similar in tone and approach as Only Yesterday, From Up on Poppy Hill is a rarity in the world of animated films. It attempts to balance a coming-of-age romance story, with the pivotal self discovery of our two protagonists. 

*The original article can be seen here.*

 
Picture
I would like to preface this article by saying that I have thought long and hard about this and by no means is anything following this meant to offend any nation or institution. This is an article of pure opinion with a foundation of research and serious, sensitive contemplative thought. (Also, please note this article will only focus on Pocahontas and not the sequel as that lends for enough material to fill an entire novel.)

I was only 6 or 7 years old, and already in love with animation when my parents took me to the cinema for the first time. As we walked down the darkened isle to find our seats, an electric feeling of overwhelming excitement took me over. The Disney logo lit the screen and I was soon submerged in the story that I have now, many years later, come to love, and hate with a conflicting passion:Pocahantas. Having spent my childhood and adolescence romanticizing this film, and now my adulthood rationalizing and deciphering every inch of it, I am no closer to feeling resolved about it. I have, however, finally begun to articulate my mixed feelings about one of the most topical films Disney has ever released.

*The original article can be seen here.*