![The gimmicky picture book charm of “Giant Peach” [Mizumaru Kawahara’s CINEMONOLOGUE Vol.53]](https://cinemore.jp/images/cbcdb850abdf2a2cc7d93971316564b13cc73755cdcc1ad1c93e5dcd1588ce41.jpg)
The gimmicky picture book charm of “Giant Peach” [Mizumaru Kawahara’s CINEMONOLOGUE Vol.53]
A fairy tale feeling that lives on even in the live-action parts
The musical element is also one of the attractions of this work. ``Dream Life '', `` Let's Eat Peaches '', and `` Family '' sung by James and the insects in the animated part are all impressive and joyfully convey the feelings of each scene and characters. The music was composed by Randy Newman, who is also known for composing Pixar works such as `` Toy Story '', and he actually composed the music for `` A Bug's Life .'' After all, I want to put these two works side by side as insect anime from the same period. I like all the songs, but ``Dream Life,'' in which the insects sing about their yearning for a wider world, is the most enjoyable.
There are many things that appeal to me, such as the shapes of the insects and the music, but as I wrote at the beginning, I think it's the combination of drawing the insects in stop motion that gives the video its magic. The method of photographing miniatures is suitable for depicting the small world of insects. The inside of a peach, where insects have lived, is filled with a warmth that makes you want to live there, even if the walls are sweet and not delicious. I also like the boldness of the size of the furniture, which doesn't really take into account the scale of the insects, such as the sundial in the center that serves as a floorboard and the cantera containing glowworms.
The reason why the animated part is so wonderful is because the world that James was in until just before was gray and dull. However, the world depicted in the live-action part is not too realistic, and has a somewhat fairy-tale-like feel to it. The exterior of his aunt's house with its withered peach tree looks almost like a witch's home, and the New York cityscape that James finally arrives at has an artificial feel with its rows of divided buildings (Empire State Building, etc.). (It's also nice to see a crane taller than the building come to lower the peach stuck in the tip of the building to the ground.)
It is true that if the live-action part was a realistic real world without any cuteness, the contrast with the anime part might have been quite striking, but if you think about it, James and the insects' adventures are different from those in a dream. It's not an event, it's something that actually happened, as James told the people of New York (the aunts who followed him "in the car" to New York dismissed it as a pitiful delusion). As proof of this, insects the same size as humans end up living with James in New York and each achieves the life they had envisioned.
The method of depicting the departure and arrival in live action and the adventure itself in animation feels like a picture book with elaborate, colorful illustrations that pop out from the flat pages. From the beginning, there was no boundary between the live-action and animation, and because each part was harmonized so that they didn't separate too much, I think it was possible to create a story that is connected, like a picture book.
Illustrations and text: Mizumaru Kawahara
Born in 1991. Illustrator. In addition to illustrations and covers for magazines and books, there are also illustration columns for movies and books. New movie reviews are currently being serialized in "SPUR" (Shueisha).
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