The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (時をかける少女)

picture credit

A story about a young teen age girl who got the skill to leapt through time. She knew about it when she met an accident and was about to die. During that time she somehow manage to go back a few minutes before the incident and manage to dodge the accident. She was quite surprise and went to her Aunt to discuss about it, which her Aunt deduce that she could leapt through time.

Finally figuring out how to do it again, she started to redo her mistakes in school, ace the exams, go back in time to enjoy a karaoke, or enjoy a dinner again. When she went back to her Aunt, she was warned that while she was having fun someone might be suffering from what she has changed in time. And true enough the consequences started manifesting itself. She  tried to correct this by again going back in time. Then one day she found a tattoo on her arm, and the number change each time she made a leap, which meant her time leap was numbered.

One day after hooking up her bestfriend, Kosuke with a girl, she almost figure out how she got the ability to time leap, when Kosuke text her that he was borrowing her bike to bring his girlfriend home. Then realizing that the bike's brakes was damage, she ran after Kosuke. Arriving at the train crossing, Kosuke was no where in sight, thinking that Kosuke had cross safely, talked to her bestfriend Chiaki over the celphone. During the course of the conversation Chiaki asked her if she could time leap. Not wanting to answer his question, she used her last time leapt to avoid the question, only to realize that Kosuke has yet to cross the train tracks after her conversation with Chiaki. How can she save Kosuke now?

Release on 2006 by Madhouse and distributed internationally by Bandai
Directed by Mamoru Hosada
Won a lot of awards




The Girl Who Leapt Through Time OST title listing can be found at AvaxHome.
To listen online for some sample go to timeleapost.
Lyrics for the following songs:

• Kawaranai Mono - lyrics and translation
• Garnet (ガーネット) - lyrics and translation

Wallpapers Downloads can be found at:

• TheOtaku.com
• Wallpaper Abyss

Observation:
The choices we make indeed makes a difference, even in the everyday life of a teenager, how she handles school, her friendship and relationship, there is a love story in this movie though I have not mention in the summary above, so not to spoil your viewing pleasure, yet it's quite touching to see and so true, that if we have the choice to undo the things we mistakenly did in the past and especially for the one we love, we would do it.

Anyways, time travel has always been a coveted ability human wishes for a number of reasons, and if you search the internet about it, the articles and resources are vast, here's a few example.





Howstuffworks on time travel.

So are you also interested to time travel?

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Cars

Love the way how the Cars shine in this movie, I mean the sleek look of the cars and the fast pace speed in the race track.

This movie is definitely for the little boys.

Lightning McQueen a racing car who wishes to win the Piston Cup, so he can get better sponsorship and the lime light off course. Was left behind while travelling towards California where the location of the race will be held. He woke up in the middle of the road, and seeing his rig already far off the road, tried to catch up with it. While running after his rig, he accidentally damages the road at Radiator Town spring, which got him impounded and sentence to repave the road, unfortunately it was going to take more than a day. Will he be able to reach the race in time? And win it?

Released on 2006 by Disney-Pixar Studio
Directed by John Lasseter
Won a lot of awards including the Golden Globe.





Cars Soundtrack or OST listing can be found at wikipedia.
Lyrics can be found at allthelyrics.com
Sample of the soundtrack can be viewed on artistdirect.com
And you can sing along to a minus one at disney.go.com

Below is the main song of the film.




Wallpaper resources are avaialble at:
joblo.com
freewallpapers.to


Notes:
This is the first release of  Pixar after the acquisition of Disney, Pixar was previously owned by Steve Jobs, the guy who co founded Apple. Since Disney bought Pixar, Steve has been given one of it's largest shares in the company.

This movie also cash in a lot on it's merchandise. And is one of the bestselling items of Disney.

There is a sequel on this, which was released just this June 2011, but the sequel did not do well with the critics, it was the first film from Pixar that got a bad review.

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Beauty and the Beast

A timeless tale that is more enjoyable to watch with Disney's version of this story.

If you are a hopeless romantic, you wouldn't want to miss this one. Disney has inserted some very good storytelling in this movie. You would want to see it time and time again.

Soundtrack in this movie is also superb. Really warms your heart to the story.

If you are unfamiliar with the story, here it is:
A young prince cursed by a witch due to his attitude towards her, that he was given a magical rose, that will bloom till his 21st birthday, by then he must find someone who he can love and who will love him back inspite of his looks in order to break the spell, or remain a beast forever.

After how many years has passed an old man lost in the forest stumbled upon his castle, the old man was given shelter but when he was about to go home he picked a rose in the garden, which made the Beast mad, and was imprisoned. His horse manage to escape and return to the old man's cottage where his daughter Belle, was waiting for him. Distraught to see that her father is gone, she rode the horse back to the castle. Where she asked the Beast to let her father go in exchange, she will remain in his place. And here is where their romance started.

As the magical rose was nearing it's expiration date, Beast arrange a special evening for the two of them, so he can propose to her. But when he asked her if  she was happy with him, she revealed that she misses her father. Giving her the enchanted mirror it was revealed that her father is out tirelessly looking for her. Shocked, she requested the Beast to allow her to go to the old men. Since the Beast is already in love with her, he couldn't deny her request, knowing full well his time is almost up.

Belle, upon reaching her father, took him home and assured her father that she was treated very well by the beast. Unfortunately a former suitor named Gaston whom Belle turned down before, posted a friend to inform him once she is back. This person immediately informed Gaston, and he stormed her house. Belle's father hoping to save her daughter from the Beast, told everyone about the Beast. And Gaston used this to blackmail Belle and enrage the town people to kill the Beast.

Now the town's people stormed the castle where the Beast resides and during the battle, the Beast was fatally wounded.  Belle rushing to his side, revealed her feelings for him just as the last petal fell from the stem. And the Beast was turned back to a human being.

First animated movie to be nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Picture and won.
Also garnered the Globe awards and many more.
Released in 1991 by Walt Disney pictures
Directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise





Beauty and the Beast Movie Sountrack can be found at wikipedia.org
To listen to some of the music.
Lyrics for the soundtrack can be found at fpx.de
Wallpapers are available at free-extras.com



Lyrics | Belle - Bonjour lyrics



What is the most amazing part about this movie is the ballroom dance between Beauty and the Beast, as they move the view of the camera to a 360 degrees sweep of the ballroom giving you a feel of a 3D effect, while focusing to the two figures. An impressive view and very intricate details.

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Wall-E

picture credit

Earth is overrun with garbage. No living thing can be seen, and only 1 remaining robot was functioning to continue with the clean up. Wall-E.

But unlike the other Wall-E's robots, this remaining Wall-E robot has learned to fix itself, adjust and adapt to the place in order to survive, he is quite curios about the garbage he is cleaning up and would collect trinkets he finds interesting. At one time he found a small plant under the pile of garbage and collected it.

The following day a space ship from space arrive and left another robot, it was from the human beings. Sending another robot to check if it is already safe for them to return and settle back on earth. Wall-E befriended this robot, her name is Eve, when Wall-E showed her the plant, she suddenly took the plant and went on sleep mode. Wall-E beside himself tried many ways to wake up Eve to no avail. Then one day the space ship that place Eve on Earth was back to collect her. Wall-E not wanting to let go of her hitch a ride and tried to be with Eve.

A CG animation from Pixar
Released on 2008
Won numerous awards

Resources found on the net:
Wall-E Movie Soundtrack title can be found at Wikipedia.
For the lyrics on the following songs:

• Put on your Sunday Clothes
• La Vien En Rose
• It Only Takes A Moment

For Wallpaper resources go to EntertainmentWallpaper.com






Lyrics | Peter Gabriel - Down to Earth lyrics

And a few more funny promotions for Wall-E:





Observation:
1. Garbage is one of our major problems, and the way we dispose of  it, somehow this movie shows a small truth about our world.

2. Cockroach, of all the animals in this world, this one is definitely very hard to get rid off, they can even survive even in radiation contaminated areas.  So I guess it was only appropriate that Wall-E's pet is this one.
  Click on the link for some facts on the Cockroach: Softpedia and Roachcom.net

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Ratatouille

picture credit

A story about Remy, a rat who has a special skill, his nose can smell a good food from bad ones. And because of this he does not want to eat garbage or pick up food from any garbage thrown by humans, he wants to learn how to cook. As inspired by the TV host he is always watching during the afternoons. However his father is against this, as he is a rat and he should not be picky about what he eats, and discourages this dreams of his to become a chef. A string of unfortunate events led him to get a chance to be a cook but in disguise. How long can this secret be hidden?


This movie garnered awards.
Release on 2007 by Disney Pixar
Directed by Brad Bird






Ratatouille movie soundtrack title list can be found at wikipedia (click on Music in the table of contents).
To listen to some sample of the soundtrack.
A lyrics to go along with, Le Festin
Here are some resources to download wallpapers on your PC:
fanpop
bestgames wallpaper


Observation:
It would be nice to taste some of Remy's cooking, and what luck! There is actually a recipe for the dish ratatouille. The studio wanted to have a real food to base it's cartoons with, and so after much consultation Thomas Keller gave them this recipe - Confit Byaldi to be used for the movie. The Recipe and how to preparation is at about.com. But if it's hard for you to follow it, here's a video on how to do it, it's still a bit complicated:




To my dismay some of the ingredients is not available in my location, so to those who had the chance to do this, tell me how it goes, don't be shy and go ahead leave a comment.

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9

An American CG film.
Released on 2009 by Focus Features
Produced by Tim Burton
Got nominated for awards.





We all know when it comes from Tim Burton it is a fascinating story, a bit weird but still fascinating.

Spoilers:

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Sometime in the future, earth seems to have been destroyed by machines, and the only one's who survive this devastation are these sack like creatures with a life of their own. 9 it seems was the last sack like creature made, when he woke up, earth is totally devastated and void of life. He found a metal with strange inscription beside him and just below the table where he woke up a deadman lies. So he keep the strange thing inside of him, for safe keeping.

As he was wondering around he chance upon a group of survivor that looks like him, but has different numbers on their back. And they are hiding from the machine that is always roaming around looking for survivors to kill. 9 thinks they should fight back in order to survived, but the others do not agree. Unfortunately the machines were hunting them, and so as their numbers where slowly dwindling, their resolve before was change, as they saw 9's determination to end their current situation.

Sources in the net I have found for this movie:
9 Movie soundtrack listing can be found at wikipedia.
A sample you can listen to.
And lyrics to sing along with.
If you are fond of reading transcript of movies, here is the transcript of  9.
For wallpapers you wish to put up on your computer like I do, and screensavers, the following sites have some really interesting things:
Glamsham.com
Entertainment Wallpaper
Cinema Blend

Observation:
I am unfamiliar with Focus Features studios, so made a little research on this, it seems a lot of people in the entertainment industry is interested with anime nowadays, to my surprise this is one of the family of NBC Universal. And they've been at this for quite sometime already. Will be looking up their list of anime that they have released, wanna see how good their anime are.

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Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (風の谷のナウシカ)

from impawards

It seems after a devastating war, earth is taken over by some poisonous materials, that turns most of the earth surface to a toxic jungle. Most of the humans are downsized to being kingdoms, and Nausicaä, a princess of one of the kingdoms, understands the jungle more than anyone. She especially knows how to communicate with the insects which is one of the primary key to keep the toxic jungle away from infesting their kingdom. However their peacefully valley was invaded by the Tolmekia-a violent kingdom, when one of their airship crashed in Princess Nausicaä's valley. It seems the two warring kingdoms, Tolmekia and Pejite is after one thing, the cargo from the crashed ship. Which was revealed as to containing a live thing that they called the Warrior. The Tolmekian  believes that they can utilize this to end the toxic jungle. However Nausicaä thinks this is not the answer, but her kingdom is caught between the two kingdoms, how can she save her people? And how can she convince the two kingdoms to stop fighting each other?

Release on 1984 by Toei Company
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Won numerous awards
The film earned 740 Million yen
And the last video game of Hayao Miyazaki, base on his work.





Here's a few more resources on the net I've found:
For the Nausicaä Movie Soundtrack titles, go to Anime-OST.
For lyrics, translation on the theme.
For Guitar tabs click here.
To listen online, see if you like the music.

wallpaper available at animepaper.net

A few observations why I like this movie:

1. See that air glider she has there? I would love to own one of those and ride it. But would you believe? Japanese people are actually trying to do just that, take a look at the following link:

• Glider Mehve Project
• Moewe pattern

2. Though it wasn't clear as to where the poisons on the surface came from, it is quite interesting to see how nature cleans itself up, for further readings, you can go to comicbox to read the interview about this film and get some answers to your question.

If you have other interesting info, do please drop me a line and I'll place it here. And I will continue to update pages here, when I have further time for in depth research on this film.

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Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

from Final Fantasy wikia

The Second film for Final Fantasy
The first to use the photorealistic technique in a computer animated technology film.

The movie clearly has a good storyline, but what fascinates me is how close to a human face the resemblance is. I thought she kinda look like Sandra Bullock.

Here's a little spoiler on the movie:
Earth is in ruins and humans are living in barrier cities, it is the year 2065, and aliens which they called Phantoms are roaming the planet and killing people by sucking their life force when in contact.

Dr. Aki Ross a scientist and her mentor Dr. Sid believes that there are 8 spirit signatures that should be completed in order to be protected from the Phantom aliens. However General Douglas Heins from the military sector do not share this view of Dr. Sid's theory on "Gaia"- the spirit of the planet, as it is not yet proven. The General believes that the only way to kill all Phantoms is to destroy the source, which is the meteor that fell from the earth years ago. To do this, the General needs clearance from the Council to use the Zeus Cannon, a weapon that has just been completed and capable of mass destruction. However using this weapon would also destroy Gaia. During the course of the debate, it was revealed that Dr. Ross is infected with a phantom, and the signature spirits they have collected are the ones that is keeping the infection from spreading. The proof to convince the Council that Dr. Sid's theory is a fact.

Believing that Dr. Ross in under the aliens influence, General Heins device a plan to gain access of the Zeus Cannon, however things did not go as he planned, and the city was now under attack from the phantom aliens. Now Dr. Ross and Captain Grey Edwards must find the rest of the spirits to save the earth, and they must find it before General Heins destroys Gaia.

Released on July, 2001 from Square Pictures
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi
Got a few nominations for an award, but never won.
Dr. Aki became the first fictional character to be voted in Maxim's list of the sexiest women.





The Spirits Within Movie Soundtrack title listing can be found at  Wikipedia.org
Lyrics can be found at the Opera House.
Some fan also did a transcript of the movie at  Drews script-o-rama.

wallpaper download at gamewallpapers.com

Personal opinion:
During my research about this movie, it was quite a surprise to learn that they had a $130 million dollars expense for this movie yet it didn't garnered enough audience to make a profit, the overall money poured in for this movie is only $52 million and that's already worldwide. This anime actually flop. Maybe the game was far more better than the story.

As for Square Studios, this group only released 2 movies and both movie was Final Fantasy, maybe since they are part of the corporate family of the game.

What I like about this movie is that they can record a person's dream in a way as if seeing it yourself, that would be nice if we have one of those. And surprise! Surprise! The Japanese is already at it.

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Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫)

image from Anime Avenue

A story of magic, a fight to strip the land that is rich with natural resources or preserving the forest that stood on the way.

A cursed Prince travel to where the origin of the iron ball which was found in the demon Boar he killed, seeking for the healing from the curse. But upon reaching the Iron Town and meeting Lady Eboshi, he realized he wasn't the only one who was with a curse. However he was caught between the feuding spirits of the forest and the Head of the Iron Town. Can he lift the curse in time before he dies?

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Release by Toho in Japan and Miramax for the International version
Garnered a lot of awards, like:
MMCA Special Award in Multimedia GrandPrix for 1997
Best Director in Kinema Junpo Japanese Movies for 1997
However this movie did not do well in terms of financial, this anime was actually considered a flop in the US.



Princess Mononoke Movie Soundtrack title list can be found at Wikipedia.Org
Found Princess Mononoke Theme Song - lyrics, translation
Music Sheets can be found here.

Wallpapers available at WallpaperAbyss

Observation:

What's interesting about this story is, it has Japanese folklore and a little social history in it's storyline, like the night walker and kodama, then there's the lepers and prostitutes. Non Japanese viewers are given a glimpse of the life in Japan and their beliefs.

Here is a link to the making of the film. Do please watch, a lot of interesting information about the details that was placed in this anime.

Part 2 of the MakingPart 3 of the MakingPart 4 of the MakingPart 5 of the MakingPart 6 of the MakingPart 7 of the MakingPart 8 of the MakingPart 9 of the MakingPart 10 of the MakingPart 11 of the MakingPart 12 of the MakingPart 13 of the MakingPart 14 of the Making

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Laputa: Castle In The Sky (天空の城ラピュタ)

from Hayao Miyazaki Web

Laputa is a known legend, as a castle that floats in the sky, nobody has really seen it, only the stories. But one man manage to take a picture of it - Pazu's father, even so, nobody believed him. And he died because of this.

After how many years passed, Pazu who is working at a young age, saw a girl floating down from the sky, towards the mine shaft where he was working. He manage to catch her, and took care of her, but the following day pirates appeared, and Sheeta - the girl who fell from the sky, knew they were after her. As they were trying to escape from the pirates the Army appeared and with a motive also to get a hold of Sheeta. It seems everybody was interested with the stone she was wearing, as it has powers that they believe came from Laputa.

Released on 1986 by Studio Ghibli
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Won the award for Animage Anime Grand Prix for 1986







Laputa Castle in the Sky Movie Soundtrack can be found at Wikipedia.org.
Found the following lyrics and translation for the songs:

• Laputa: Castle In the Sky - lyrics, translation
• 14. Carrying You - lyrics, translation

 Music sheets for the soundtrack can be viewed here.

Wallpaper downloads

Observation:
I would like to know technology associated with the crystal, as to how it make things fly, but it was never revealed in this movie, or on my further research no info was found so far. But the anime story is still very good to see even if not all information is in. It is about a journey after all.

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