Ocean Waves

I'm not calling for Marvin the Martian to lead a parade of pink elephants down Main Street, but what's the point of animating if the end goal is to simply trace over an ABC Afterschool Special?

The title Ocean Waves lends credence to the story as it refers to the idea that teenage feelings are like waves: ever changing.

A delicate, well-told drama that may lack the depth of something like Only Yesterday but proves that Miyazaki and Takahata's students were listening to their teachers.

Spreads its paper-thin story across a stodgy 72 minutes, but there's a warmth to it that prevents the film from ever feeling as two-dimensional as it looks on screen.

In its sensitivity and attention to detail, "Ocean Waves" makes itself into something special, and kind of magical, and so proves very much a Ghibli gem.

An exceptionally raw and unique Studio Ghibli movie. A film that deserves your attention, and a film that, to me, is criminally underrated.

The stakes of the film are fairly low, but it does an admirable job of capturing the frame of mind of teenagers and early 20-somethings, to whom such events mean the world while they are caught up in the moment.

It has some nice moments and the animation is lovely so I'm glad I saw it.

These visual flourishes are not always matched by the story. Ocean Waves is slight, and there's no getting around that. Still, the film never loses its innate likability, and is a brisk 76 minutes.

There are no mystical events, fanciful tricksters, or even spooky dream sequences-just the acutely observed travails of thoughtful young people facing their growing pains.