Comments: Alright, I must say that this is one of the most gorgeously animated, well acted, and wonderfully executed movies I have ever seen. In my book, this would get at least a 9 out of 10 in epic. But, I forced myself to be objective and gave it an 8, because honestly this is something that would have to appeal to you in order for you to like it. I must state that I’m a HUGE Miyazaki fan, and this film reminded me eerily of his work Castle in the Sky. One thing that I liked about this movie was the moral portrayed: “You can’t try to relive the past, you can only move forward.” This message is portrayed very hopefully in that things may just be better in the present, despite the fact that everything is different from when you knew it. The only downside to this movie is the fact that it’s not for everyone. I watched this with both of my younger siblings and they were both "freaked” out by the “strange feel” of the film. “ It was okay…it was really freaky…and weird,” were my brother’s exact words. My sister just thought it was it was “okay”, but it was obviously not her thing. I, however, adored and savored every second of it. To add to that, my sibling and I are ALL Miyazaki fans. This is proof that peoples’ tastes vary in numerous ways, and while some may enjoy “Origin: Spirits of the Past” whole-heartedly, it may rub others the wrong way. Some may be too off put by the “creepiness”, others may see it as a “Castle in the Sky-rip-off”, and still others may just not like some of the CG-graphics used. All and all, no matter what opinions you may have, this movie was quite well done. This is why I shall recommend this film to fans of action, sci-fi, Miyazaki, and overall interesting and well-told stories.

Violence: The violence in this is mild. Nothing you wouldn’t see in a typical sci-fi action movie of this rating (TVPG). It’s your basic, bloodless, fantasy violence complete with explosions and superpowers. There is zero gore, ziltch blood, and zippo slashing. There are, however, creepy moments of people turning into trees. It’s a “tad” intense since these people appear to be going through a lot of stress, but it’s nothing you wouldn’t see in something like Justice League or Star Wars: the Clone Wars. There is also the appearance of a man who is “merged” with a tree (part of the forest), and he looks…kind of scary, I guess. Little, 5-year-old kids may be frightened by him, but in all honesty, I don’t think that this would be anything a 10-year old couldn’t handle. This movie would be simply PG if it were rated by the system.

Language: There are a few minor swears said throughout this movie. D’s and H’s are all I heard, and you could probably count the number of swears on your fingers.

Sexual Content: There is no actual on-screen sex of even innuendo of that sort of thing. There isn’t even any fan service (YAY!). The closest it would possibly come to this is when the main female character (Toola) is all wet and wearing a rather short (non fan service-y) medical gown-thing. The main male character (Agito) seems to “notice” briefly, blushes, and looks away to focus on something else. There is also a scene in which we see two female tree-spirits kind of “merge” together. It doesn’t even look remotely, they just sort of "mush" together into one person. This scene is obviously NOT meant to be sexual AT ALL, but I could see why someone would be “crept out” by seeing this in the commercials on promos. Really though, this scene is mostly harmless, and barely even worth mentioning at all.

Nudity: Aside from the fact that certain female characters wear clothing that could be deemed immodest (not fan service-y though), there are two female tree-spirits who have what I call U.N.S (Undetailed Nudity Syndrome). This nudity however is completely non-sexual and barely ever shown completely save for one scene, and even then it looks more artistic than anything. In this scene, they at first look like painted Greek statues, merged into a tree. It’s artistically detailed, but not scantily detailed (in other words you won’t see anything explicit.) You see them frozen like that for several seconds, and then they literally stretch out (looking like stretching ribbon people for a few seconds) then the “merging scene” happens while they are covered with leaves. This is possibly the worse it gets, and even then it’s not explicit or sexual in anyway. In all honesty, most magical-girl transformation sequences are worse than this, and this scene is practically harmless. Save for this scene, the rest of the movie is pretty clean nudity-wise.

Objectional Religious Content: I decided to give this a four out of ten, because there is a present environmentalist theme running through this. It’s no more than a Miyazaki film, so if you have no problems with his “themes” you’d be just fine here. Basically, the movie deals with man trying to negotiate a symbiotic peace with the apparently sentient forest. There are also at least four people (marked with white hair) who become “one” with the forest and achieve its “powers”. When these people die, they join the forest in a sort of “heaven” in which we get to see once in the film. At least 3 people get to go to this “heaven” and (spoiler) one gets to go back. Other than that, the series is free of any witchcraft and the like, even though there does seem to be a “spiritual air” to the forest.

This is a wonderful story about living and moving on with your life. From the beginning we see how lonely Toola is in a world that is completely unfamiliar to her. It's her changing and realizing that just because they're different doesn't mean that it's bad, and that she doesn't need to start the world over again- she can live happily with friends and good people in the world as it is now.

Failure to really compare why things in advanced cities are better than the life they have in the ruined city also makes the drive of the main protagonist seem unrealistic and overzealous, especially when the main goal to return things to the way they were wouldn’t bring back the technology that they lost or the loved ones that have died- it would merely make the vegetation less likely to attack someone.

However, even with that uncertain logic, the story still flows well and is well-told. The characters are likeable, if a little stereotypical. The action is exciting and draws the viewer in. You can’t help but root for Agito to be able to find the ability to bring Toola back and convince her to not destroy the forest, and Shunak makes a good, fairly convincing antagonist. While the environmental message might be there, it’s no stronger than anything you wouldn’t see in a Ghibli movie, and ends up being fairly well-integrated and not overbearing.

My overall rating for this movie is an 8, but the respective scores for things are: Story- 8, Music- 10, Art- 10. This has some absolutely gorgeous art I've seen, and the CG blends in very well. The music is beautiful, and I'm especially making note of the opening song that sets the tone wonderfully. The story lacks a bit in comparison.

Violence: There are some comedic injuries early on in the movie, one of the boys manages to fall pretty hard onto a sharp rock… on his butt. Obviously very painful and played for laughs, but it’s no more violent than the Looney Tunes. You do also have some fighting where the injuries caused are more serious, however no blood is spilled and all the characters are perfectly fine afterwards. There is implied death, and you do see skeletons for a few moments near the beginning.

Spoiler: The goal of one of the town's enemies is to 'restart' the world, which means destroying the forest. To do this there are some shots fired at the town and forest, though no one is killed or injured during this.

Nudity/Sexual Content: When Toola’s medical scrubs get wet (and they look like a short dress) you do get some skin-tone showing, but nothing detailed. This only happens once near the beginning. In one scene where you see the forest spirit ‘avatars’- two young girls- they are portrayed in a very stylistic way though they are nude in it. It’s like looking at a classical painting for dryads or nymphs. There is also a scene where the girls ‘meld’ into one being- this is not graphic, nor is there any blood or gore.

Theological Themes: Agito becomes a 'seed of the forest' in order to bring Toola back and show her that things really aren't that bad in the world. This means he is given superhero powers and in time will 'become a part of it'- as in become a tree or plant that is connected to it. The girls that are guardians of the forest seem to have a spiritual connection to it.

Other: I don't remember any swearing, and there was no drug use or anything else objectionable.