Japan’s beloved director Hayao Miyzaki and his studio Ghibli have produced many films over the years with great success. For those of you who don’t know much about it, Miyazaki/Ghibli is basically Japan’s Disney. It’s only natural that other companies would rise up, trying to emulate what they do in order to capture audiences’ attention (and wallets)-- similar to what Dreamworks and Fox Animation Studios tried to do in the late 90s with their Disney-like animated features. (Spoiler alert: Dreamworks adapted into CG movies and became successful, Fox Animation studios crashed and burned.)
Now comes INDIESTORY’s SATELLITE GIRL & MILK COW riding on that sweet whimsical children’s movie wave, and it looks great! While the backgrounds are beautiful, the character designs are simplistic (much like a Ghibli film), though my only complaint art-wise is that half the time the characters’ eyes are looking in two different directions and that’s kind of distracting. Is the person they’re looking over here or other there???
GKID’s synopsis of the movie:
“An out of commission satellite picks up a lovelorn ballad on her radio antenna and descends to Earth to find the source of such sincere emotions. But on the way she is caught in the crossfire of a raging magical battle and is transformed into Satellite Girl, complete with Astro Boy-like rocket shoes and weapon-firing limbs. Meanwhile, the balladeer in question -- a loser 20 something at a café open mic -- meets the fate that befalls all broken-hearted lovers: he is turned into a farm animal. But love knows no bounds, and aided by the wise and powerful Merlin -- a wizard who has been turned into a roll of toilet paper -- our duo must evade the all-consuming incinerator monster, the wily pig witch, and other nefarious adversaries in an attempt to be together. From the brilliant and slightly twisted mind of writer/director Chang Hyung-yun, Satellite Girl and Milk Cow is a heartfelt and wildly entertaining commentary on the possibility for human connection in the crazy, mixed-up, post-modern world we live in.”
So the lead male in this film becomes Milk Cow, despite the fact that he is male and does not have udders. Eh, it’s whatever.
It’s about time Korean animation started getting the love it deserves, seeing as everyone always outsources to them.
The film was originally released in Korea in 2014, GKIDS recently picked up the North American distribution rights. It is already available for streaming on VRV! If you’re into anime and animation, I highly recommend it. I wish I was getting paid to say so, but I’ve actually been in love with VRV for months now, watching all kinds of fantastic domestic and foreign animations. However, the app and website are far from perfect.
If you don’t care to buy into another streaming service (I’m totally watching this this shit TODAY), you can wait until the Summer theatrical release followed by a release for home video.
Animation Geekette signing off!
~Big Eyes
