Whisper of the Heart (1995) voices Brittany Snow, Cary Elwes, Ashley Tisdale, Harold Gould, Jean Smart directed by Yoshifumi Kondô Movie Review

Whisper of the Heart (1995)   4/54/54/54/54/5


Whisper of the Heart (1995)

Heart Capturing

14 year-old Shizuku Tsukishima loves to read and she becomes intrigued by the fact every book she takes out of the library has been taken out by Seiji Amasawa which makes her wonder what he is like as they share a fondness of the same books. One day whilst travelling by train Shizuku finds herself sharing a carriage with a rotund cat who when she follows it leads her to an antique shop run by Shiro Nishi which features a cat statue by the name of The Baron. Shiro Nishi is a talented violin maker whose grandson just happens to be Seiji Amasawa who wants to be a violin maker like his grandfather and who ends up becoming friends with Shizuku. When Seiji heads to Italy to study with another violin maker Shizuku decides to follow her dream of becoming a writer and spends every hour working on a story.

That seems like I have divulged quite a bit which goes on in "Whisper of the Heart" when in truth I have divulged next to nothing and left out a lot more than you will find elsewhere on the net in other reviews. The thing is that yet again I find myself in the situation where to really review "Whisper of the Heart" I would have to divulge elements which make it such a compelling story, not so much twists but events in the way the story unfolds and I am loathed to do so.

So what can I say about "Whisper of the Heart"? Well it is a charming little drama with a nice slice of mystery, some humour and a love story which is beautiful. I won't say which characters are involved in what other than to say there is an intriguing cat at the heart of it who seems to be working in a mysterious way to bring people together. Sounds vague I know but trust me if you choose to watch "Whisper of the Heart" you will find yourself drawn into this teen storyline and loving every minute of it because whilst it is directed by Yoshifumi Kondô it has the same story telling charms you get in all Studio Ghibli movies.

That leads me to what everyone who loves anime will already know as this is another Studio Ghibli animation with a stunning look. The attention to detail is simply amazing and leaves you spellbound when you see something which almost seems irrelevant but makes it complete such as a scene where you see people's reflections on the rain drenched paths. It is why you can never just watch one of these movies just the once because they are so beautifully drawn that even when you watch it for the second or third time you see something you missed before.

What this all boils down to is that "Whisper of the Heart" is another fantastic animation from Studio Ghibli which delivers a teenage storyline with real drama but with the beautiful animation work which makes it come to life.


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