Movies have been the main driving force in bringing entertainment to the world, ever since its infancy in the very late 1800s. Movies have evolved since its beginnings, and have now become a daily part of our life, but as a result of there being so many, there are now so few that truly stand out among the rest unless someone looks really hard. But there are people out there who still consider both movies and animation to be art forms in their own right, and combine them together to make a truly magnificent and ambitious viewing experience for a viewer. Studio Ghibli is one such example. They've been making movies since the 80s and are universally loved and praised by all who know them because they love and care for the art form and make movies that everyone of every country can enjoy, that are without equal. But in 2013, Isao Takahata, the director of the critically acclaimed Grave of the Fireflies, set out to make a very ambitious movie based on one of the oldest stories in the world, The Tale of Princess Kaguya.

The story is about an old man who finds a very tiny girl growing from a magical bamboo stalk. In awe of her beauty, convinced that she is a blessing sent from Heaven, he takes her home to his wife. She then morphs into a baby, and the old couple decide to raise the girl as their own. But the girl the neighborhood kids call Little Bamboo is no ordinary girl. She is growing faster than any normal child. She is beautiful unlike any other girl in the world. Wanting to give their new daughter a happy life, the old man and woman go to the capital to live among the nobility, but Kaguya grows dissatisfied with her new rich life, as it's not like the free life she lived with her friends in the country. It doesn't help that men from all over want to marry her, seeing her as only a rare jewel or a prize to be won.

The original story has been around for a millennium and is considered one of the oldest Japanese stories in the entire world, probably one of the oldest stories in the entire world in general. It's been constantly referenced, homaged, adapted into media, etc., ever since its original conception. No one knows who made it, but I must say, whoever made it will be very pleased with Isao Takahata's film version. There's no denying it: the animation is absolutely luscious. It's intentionally made to look like a watercolor painting in every single scene, which in itself is a homage to how traditional Japanese scrolls looked back in those times. One would think something like this would be made in the 70s or 80s, but it's easy to miss the fact that it only came out two years ago. Every single character is animated in a fluid, life-like way, and their movements are definitely true to life, from their changing facial expressions to the swinging movements their arms make. It's just so full of life and heart!

The soundtrack is equally as beautiful. Every piece of music sets the atmosphere, mood, and tension of a scene absolutely perfectly, even the background music near the end that seemingly feels out of place but actually doesn't. I won't spoil anything because it's important to the story, but the music is a perfect blend of sadness and happiness for that scene, and it needs to be heard to be believed. In fact, my dad loved the music for that scene so much that the first thing he did upon returning home from the theater was listen to the OST on YouTube! He even bought a synthethizer so he could try and play a cover of the BGM for himself! You know a soundtrack is good if it makes people want to replicate it.

The characters are all amazing in their own way. None of them feel incomplete, have subtle backgrounds, and they're all reasonably developed characters with their own well-defined roles. Even the side characters have a lot of personality, brought to life by the beautiful animation, and work so incredibly well with the main characters. Now, I have heard some complaints about Kaguya's behavior. Some even go as far as to call her a heartless jerk, or even evil, but that's not true. She's just simply a hormone addled teenager growing up in a harsh, strict, even misogynistic time period, deprived of the freedom she had when she was little. Haven't we all experienced the feelings she did at some point in our lives? Where we feel like the world and people on it are either against us or want to use us against our will for their own conveniences that we protest against but can't do anything about? Kaguya is a wonderfully flawed, realistic character whom I'm pretty sure many people can relate to. The story itself is relatively simple, and that works in the movie's benefit since with simpler stories you can flesh out the characters all the more, and the animators really did an amazing job with that.

Now as of this writing, I've seen both the English and Japanese versions of the movie, and there's a French version I haven't seen yet. While I do love both versions in their own right, I do have some minor problems with Kaguya's English voice actress, Chloe Grace Moretz. This is the first work I've heard her in, and for the most part she's a reasonably good actress. However, during the dramatic scenes where she needs to raise her voice and be sad, crushed, and heartbroken, she...unfortunately really misses the mark, especially during the final third of the movie. When she cries, she sounds more like she's singing in a very subdued manner rather than screaming her guts out and letting herself be consumed by her sadness, and considering she makes absolutely no attempt to raise her voice or put any emotion in her acting during that last third, it pretty much makes the scene fall flat on its face. Which is a shame, because she nails everything else. The Japanese actress definitely handled it better, and I'm curious if the French version did the same.

The story itself is very simple, and I read a copy of the story in college, so it's very short and sweet, so anyone can adapt it in any way they please. While this is the only version I've seen, I definitely feel its the best adaptation, and for me, nothing can top it. I'm not too familiar with Takahata's work, and I did see a majority of Grave of the Fireflies, but I never finished it, because it was too grim and sad. Many people consider Grave of the Fireflies to be his masterpiece, but I honestly feel Kaguya has not only a better story, but better animation, characters, and a stronger narrative that takes its time to develop itself and make its characters come to life. Seriously, Kaguya deserves so much more recognition than it gets, and it didn't exactly do so well in the box office, both in the US and Japan. Even so, it's a wonderful film on every level, and it deserves more recognition.

If you want a genuinely good story that'll take you away from reality, check out Kaguya. In my opinion, its one of the best movies ever made.