Alex Milway - Official Website
Children's author, illustrator, screenwriter
Panda! Go Panda! is massive with the little one in our house (and the big ones, actually). If you’ve not seen it, it’s one of the first things Miyazaki and Takahata of Studio Ghibli did together.
It’s bonkers and quite wonderful in equal measures, and has very nice bamboo.
Any way, because we like it, I painted the big Panda as a present for my niece. I also then had to paint one for my own daughter. And so, we have multiple Pandas. Here they are…
Anyone who’s ever met me will have heard me go on about Studio Ghibli. Watching Laputa was the one defining moment in my life that made me want to create stories. So, as you can guess, the appearance of a new Ghibli film always excites me.
Arrietty, based on the Borrowers, is a traditional Ghibli film in the nicest of ways. When Arrietty walks through the grass with a leaf held above her head, it felt like Totoro at its loveliest. The hunt for the sugar cube (was it just me, or was the fridge white noise the same noise as that in the airships in Laputa?) was as exciting and atmospheric as anything in Laputa or Princess Mononoke. And the artwork! Boy, the art is probably the best I’ve seen in any animation.
As for the story, it was lovely, even though the narrative drive and ending were unconvincing and unnecessary. I really didn’t understand why the housekeeper hated the Borrowers, which was the lynchpin of the film. But there we go, it’s never a great idea to question why things happen in a Ghibli film. They just do.
And then there’s the language issue. I watched a dubbed version, which is always a bad way of seeing a Ghibli film, but this one was okay. It was far better than most. I actually think Mark Strong was really trying to sound like a Ghibli character, which is a step forward in translating the pure Japan-ness of the films. And the fact that we got a British (no American actors) dub helped.
So where does it rank in all-time Ghibli films of note?
It’s not up there with a Miyazaki film, but I think it’s definitely a film from his stable. The elegant little details, and the three or four scenes of greatness show that Miyazaki’s influence is there in spades.
As for its standing amongst Ghibli films, I’d put it alongside The Cat Returns (which I like a lot, even if the ending is mental) and just below Kiki’s Delivery Service. So, a minor masterpiece that’s far better than most films out there. And it’s definitely one to see at the cinema.
The world is full of news at the minute. You can’t sit down without hearing something new on the radio/TV/Twitter, which makes you want to stand up again.
The big news of the children’s book world is the loss of Diana Wynne Jones. When I first met my agent, her office was full of Howl’s Moving Castle and Studio Ghibli memorabilia. I was awestruck, as she’d recently travelled to Japan with Diana to meet Miyazaki. It seems such a slight thing, and she’d never have known it, but without Diana Wynne Jones, I wouldn’t have picked my agent, and the yetis may never have happened. So here’s me raising a drink in memory of a true great of the children’s book world.
Next on to Julia Donaldson, and the piece in the Guardian where she explains why she thinks ebooks are a bad idea for children. She says that: “if everyone just says yes to there being an ebook of everything, there is a danger they could take over.”
To think digital is not already taking over is a real mistake. You only have to look at the music industry and note how badly CD sales are faring to see that publishers have no choice but to embrace technology.
There’s no going back to an age where paper is the best medium for words, we left that long ago, and in all honesty, you can’t, and won’t, stop children picking up phones/iPads/laptops and using them. My 16mth daughter is already captivated by our phones. She’ll be coding by the age of four and reading ebooks by the age of 5.
I don’t believe all books should be retrofitted to work on digital devices, but new work should definitely look to the future and embrace its possibilities and potential. It’s exciting what might come out of it. And picture books look beautiful on a backlit screen.
And while we’re on the subject of picture books, Polly Dunbar has made a wonderful online picture book about writing a picture book. Just lovely (and digital).