Purely Joyful Movie!

A Major Disappointment

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

A truly beautiful music video done by one the great Japanese animator, Hayao Miyazaki (Director of wonderful films such as "Princess Mononoke", "Porco Rosso" and "Spirited Away") which, in just a very few minutes is able to contain all the magic and captivating elements of his feature films.Not only is the quality of the animation incredible (With a high level of detail, fluid movements, magnificent backgrounds and also very nice and expressive designs) but also the story, without any word, is able to communicate many subtle feelings that vary from sadness and tension to happiness.The ending is particularly moving and heartwarming. A must-see.

It must have been a small but extreme labor of love to make On Your Mark, a short film directed by the great Hayao Miyazaki with his Studio Ghibli crew working at full throttle. It gets right to the heart of the idea in seven minutes through an immediate array of strange but deliriously exciting images, and its story gains momentum by the end. The end, also, is one of the happiest I've seen in Miyazaki's work (if a little fuzzy with an angel flying high into the sky). On Your Mark tells of such a winged being who becomes prey to the horrors of civilization, plague, technology, when she only got there through a tremendous blunder. But when two men finally decide they've seen enough, they go through the security, through the swarms of bio-chemical suited soldiers, and through a desperate escape they make it through the explosions and action. All through this Miyzaki and his team create small wonders frame by frame, with small details like falling rocks just as fascinating as the large-scale amazements like the 'city' at night in neon, or the shots of the getaway vehicle running along the highway, with the helicopters chasing afterwords. How or why this has happened to the angel is never made clear, but in such an amount of time Miyazaki can only show so much. What comes through best, in the end, is the immense talents of his team, his collaborators who transform such a near fairy tale into a one-of-a-kind show. The music, too, is a curious addition, as I don't think I would've cared for it much taken apart from the animation. With it, the song works on a romantically charged, epic scale (if it were in English, I might've mistaken it for an 80s power ballad). It won't remain as a true landmark achievement for Miyazaki like Princess Mononoke, but if you're already a fan of his &/or Studio Ghibli's works and you can find it (online is the best bet), it's more than worth it, it's a must-see.

This video helped myself get into anime. I too have also used it to get people into anime who think all Japanese animation is like the stuff found over on American television.The video is without dialog and leaves you to determine the storyline of the video. On top of that, it also seems to not stick to a regular time line.The way I find it is two soldiers find a winged female during a raid. While rescuing her, officials in contamination suits apprehend her from them for study. The two men plan a break out. The part I love most about this video is that Miyazaki in the video added it's own alternate ending (or the woman has special gifts to rewind time). There is one where the two men are trapped in their falling vehicle while getting the girl outside to fly off, and the other is they escape and set her free.

A truly thought provoking and odd experience. The film runs 6mins40secs and has almost as much depth as The Matrix (1999) which runs 136mins10secs. I think that this belongs as a short film and not a feature-length film. You'll get what's happening after about three viewings. I've seen it eight times and it still blows my mind. Show this to anyone who doesn't like anime. Grade: A+