Whisper of the Heart (1995)

Rating: 70%
Okay so about a couple of weeks ago or so, my friend Candra and I decided to see a movie at the same time via our computers, and she picked Whisper of the Heart so here's what I thought about it.

Plot: Shizuku is a junior high school student in Tokyo who likes to write. One day she follows a cat all the way to an antique shop where the owner makes her become fascinated by a cat statute called The Baron, so she becomes interested in wanting to make a story about it. Meanwhile she has a little trouble with finals and her best friend's crush on a guy and starts to get bugged by a boy named Seiji who happens to be the anitque shop owner's grandson.

Generally, this movie was just cute. While it's not one of the most fantasy heavy films from Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki (who wrote the screenplay but didn't direct the film), it does give an interesting type of coming-of-age film with a lesson that any kid who likes to write like Shizuku should learn, a side story about boys and girls during junior high, and...really just the romance and The Baron to top it all. I mean the whole deal with Shizuku's social life in school is cute and all, but it's what little you learn about The Baron and the romance in general that really does it. Because the little moments with The Baron made me a little curious about The Cat Returns which is the spin-off of this film. And the romance... well I don't want to speak for Candra, but I for one like Studio Ghibli/Miyazaki films best when there's a little bit of romance. So with that said, the romance between Shizuku and Seiji was the main thing to focus on to me. It was cute, it was corny at times, but I liked that they accepted that, it was what I enjoyed most about the film. That aside I will say that the film did have some nice supporting characters (mainly the antique shop owner and his friends) and did show some little fantasy moments that gives us the kind of animation we all enjoy from Studio Ghubli/Miyazaki.

And that's my review for Whispers in the Heart. It's a decent coming-of-age film that has some nice morals that kids could hopefully like when they see this film. But for me personally, it's the little cute romance that makes this an enjoyable film to me and may be the same for you.