Ghibli Tavern - Help Requested

Registration Date: 01.12.08
Location: Midlands
Posts: 6

Help Requested

This is a strange request but one which must be made!
Since i was a child i remember watching an animated film which may have been made by an oriental anime group, i can't for the life of my remember what the film was called but i am desperate to find it once again. I am really praying that someone on the fan site will have a clue what film i am describing, here goes:

I think the film starts in a very old weird toy shop where an old, old shopkeeper sells someone an enchanted board game (with pieces that look similar to chess pieces) the film then goes on to tell an adventure story about a boy/man on a quest, where there are trolls/giants, and different dragons according the the elements like earth, wind, ice/water and fire.

Much more than that i can't remember but it was an excellent story and i would really love it if someone else can give me any clue as to what it might have been. It was basically the film that inspired my love of anime and Ghibli films.

So pleasssssssse if my description rings any bells or you know the film then leave a reply to this message

Thanks

01.12.2008, 05:46 PM

Registration Date: 11.10.07
Location: Flat on my back gazing up at the stars
Posts: 370

Heya,
Hmmm, what you are talking about does sound familiar. So if you don't mind me asking; how old are you? Getting a rough estimate on the films age would be helpful.

But ss it stands now I'm drawn in by the idea of an enchanted board game, it sounds more like a western premise to an adventure film than an oriental one? But ignore me, I'm not one of the film know-it-alls around here. Someone should know what you're after.

Sadly it's not me

01.12.2008, 06:05 PM

Registration Date: 01.12.08
Location: Midlands
Posts: 6

I'm just 26, i might be slightly off on the board game thing, it might have been a small object like a carved chess piece that was enchanted, its a bit hazy. I just remember watching this mystery film and 'The Last Unicorn' and being interested in animated film ever since.

Thanks soooo much for the reply, i suppose i am now on a quest of my own LOL

01.12.2008, 07:02 PM

Registration Date: 11.10.07
Location: Flat on my back gazing up at the stars
Posts: 370

"The Last Unicorn"

OMG! Nostalgia......................................Overload!

01.12.2008, 07:26 PM

Registration Date: 01.12.08
Location: Midlands
Posts: 6

I know pretty wicked, recently all the films and TV shows from my past have just come flooding back to me !!! It was a wicked film and really quite scary in parts!

01.12.2008, 07:57 PM

Saddletank
Miyazaki's Best Friend

Registration Date: 09.28.06
Location: On your case
Posts: 10069

It sounds a little like Jumanji (sp?) starring Robin Williams but that was live action.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumanji_(film)

EDIT : It was 1986 putting it in the perfect time frame. And concerned a boardgame

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Post last edited by Saddletank on 01.12.2008, 08:37 PM.

01.12.2008, 08:31 PM

Registration Date: 11.10.07
Location: Flat on my back gazing up at the stars
Posts: 370

Yeah, Jumanji is immediately what came to mind for me. But A: it isn't old enough (released in 98ish?) and B: It definately wasn't anime, anyone who has bothered to post on an anime focused site about afilm queerie is going to know the difference between anime and live-action. At least I would hope so

Atra

01.12.2008, 08:34 PM

Roarkiller
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Registration Date: 06.03.03
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Posts: 6077

Doesn't ring a bell.

If you have a more solid description or a more specific time frame, I might be able to help. Like how old you were when you saw it, and what language you saw it in.

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01.12.2008, 11:46 PM

Nausicaa_Cat
Baron

Registration Date: 10.02.06
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Wait...I dont remember the Last Unicorn being anime?!!? If im remembering it correctly, its been a long time since i saw that....

And yeah certainly does sound like Jumanji. But of course thats live-action.

Hmm sounds good though, i want to see it

01.13.2008, 06:57 AM

Registration Date: 11.10.07
Location: Flat on my back gazing up at the stars
Posts: 370

The last Unicorn is an animated film, not an anime. I only mentioned it because I remembered it from when I was little.

01.13.2008, 08:01 AM

Registration Date: 01.12.08
Location: Midlands
Posts: 6

Well i was definately under 12 and im 26 now. It may well have been an animated film like Last Unicorn, even perhaps from the same people. The animation was beautiful, especially all the stuff with the different types of dragons. Im sure it had a bit about how green earth dragons can only eat certain rocks or precious stones etc. ohhhhhhhhh im soooo desperate to find out what film it was.

01.15.2008, 11:48 AM

Registration Date: 03.17.08
Location: Southern California
Posts: 12793

Hi Giovanna

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03.25.2008, 11:50 PM

Registration Date: 03.17.08
Location: Southern California
Posts: 12793

Hi Giovanna...

I have just spent some time on Internet Movie Database (IMDb) and, while coming up with a lot of dragon involved movies, both animated and live, I wasn't able to pinpoint any particular one. You might try that site yourself and maybe something will click with you that, not having seen the film, I might have passed over...

Good luck

Husky

EDIT: Don't know how the double-up occurred ^

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Post last edited by husky51 on 03.28.2008, 06:18 PM.

03.25.2008, 11:54 PM

Artoo
Warawara

Registration Date: 07.19.07
Location: UK
Posts: 160

Giovanni, it sounds like it might be The Flight of Dragons (1982) you are talking about. I haven't seen it (though I want to) so I am not sure, but from your and husky51's posts, it seemed all I could think of.

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quote:
Originally posted by Atradius
The last Unicorn is an animated film, not an anime. I only mentioned it because I remembered it from when I was little.

It might not be considered anime by many, but it was animated by Topcraft, and a lot of those who worked on it apparently went on to work on Nausicaa... so it's not as clear-cut as saying it's as American as Disney, 'cos it isn't, really.

Excellent film btw, regardless of what label you want to put on its animation.

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Post last edited by Artoo on 03.26.2008, 09:39 PM.

03.26.2008, 09:27 PM

Super Dollfie
Kodama

Registration Date: 02.12.08
Location: Leeds, United Kingdom
Posts: 35

The Last Unicorn was American-produced and Japanese-animated, by, of all people, many of those who would animate Nausicaä and other early Ghibli films. "Japanese-animated" isn't quite the same thing as "Japanese animation," so it's little confusing and uninformative to call it anime (the same could be said of recent western-aimed productions such as Afro Samurai – though that's relatively more Japanese, everything is analogue in the end).

The two features which (consciously) imbued me with an attraction to animation were The Last Unicorn and The Phantom Tollbooth – eveyone knows the former, while I've only ever met one person who remembers the latter (and I'm jealous of the relatively numerous people who saw The Flight of Dragons instead of that). I was going to proffer The Phantom Tollbooth for this reason alone, but The Flight of Dragons, while I don't know anything about it plot-wise, would seem to be a more likely candidate. It is indeed from the some collaboration of Rankin-Bass and Topcraft, and made more or less simultaneously with The Last Unicorn.

03.28.2008, 11:40 AM

Registration Date: 03.17.08
Location: Southern California
Posts: 12793

Artoo and Super Dollfie...

Thank you for your input.... I found it for sure!

It is 'The flight of the Dragons'...

I found a connection on YouTube that has a copy of the film in segmented form. There are the dragons belonging to wizards that represent the sky, space, the sea, etc... Segment three of the film shows a young man in a room (possibly a toy shop) displaying and playing a boardgame that he invented, with a man that he is trying to convince to finance the production of the game. The young man is the fellow that will be sent on the quest to save the world.

I am 100% sure that this is the film beong sought!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LudfQsviuw4

Thank you again for your help...

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Post last edited by husky51 on 03.28.2008, 07:33 PM.

03.28.2008, 07:31 PM

Registration Date: 01.12.08
Location: Midlands
Posts: 6

THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to everyone who has helped to reconnect me with this small part of my childhood.
This film is excellent and i will enjoy watching it for years to come.
I shall also be in search of this Phantom Tollbooth that some of you have mentioned.

Thanks ever so much everyone, once again.

03.31.2008, 10:12 AM

Registration Date: 03.17.08
Location: Southern California
Posts: 12793

Where??? Did I forget to pay a toll somewhere???

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03.31.2008, 06:06 PM

Farren
Baron

Registration Date: 07.18.07
Location: Tasmania, Australia
Posts: 2163

oh bollocks i was about to help....oh well

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03.31.2008, 06:48 PM