dbborroughs Isao Takahata's film, based on a Kenji Miyazawa story, about a cellist who is taught by animals to play better. It's a beautiful movie that is a nice marriage of sound and music. Coming from one of the founders of Studio Ghibli the style of animation is a close to but not a duplicate of the Ghibli house style. Emotionally the film seemed a bit distant to me. I could enjoy what I was seeing but at the same time I didn't feel as emotionally connected to what was going on. Normally with Takahata's films I have some form of emotional connection but this time I didn't. Its not bad, but I wanted to feel more at the end. That said this is definitely worth a look because its so beautiful its a must see

xxbrennan *Summary is at the top, Review is at bottom* Goshu the Cellist is a great fantasy that tells the story of Goshu, a cellist, and how he improves his cello playing by learning from four different animals, or spirits. Accompanying the story is an amazing score and beautiful, detailed artwork.The story begins with Goshu and the orchestra he is playing in practicing for a recital. His maestro begins to get frustrated with his lack of emotion and out of rhythm playing.Goshu later goes home and begins to practice and hears a knock at his door and opens it to find a Cat, probably prototype artwork for The Cat Returns and Whisper of the Heart. This Cat requests that he play a piece, but Goshu refuses and plays "The Indian Tiger Hunt". This makes the Cat fly around the room and hit his head, among other things.The next night he is visited by a Cuckoo, who asks him to play the scale so he can practice. Goshu does this, reluctantly, and goes into a dreamlike state where he is in a clearing in the forest and the Cuckoo is flying into the sky, which is later broken when he thinks of Beethoven as a bird. He begins to yell at the Cuckoo and makes the him leave.A young Raccoon (possibly another prototype for Pom Poko) is the next animal, or spirit, to visit Goshu. The Raccoon asks Goshu to play a song so he can play the drums on Goshu's cello. The first time Goshu plays it, the Raccoon tells Goshu that whenever he plays the second string, he feels like he is stumbling. Goshu then plays the song again and goes into another dream, where he and the Raccoon are playing on a moonlit field. It soon becomes morning and the Raccoon leaves.Goshu's last visit comes from a Mouse and her child. She tells him that her child is dying and Goshu is the only one who can cure him. Goshu proclaims that he is not a doctor, therefore can not help. He soon finds from the Mouse that his music cures the animals, and that whenever an animal gets sick, they go under his floorboards and are cured almost instantly. Goshu agrees to play, and the child mouse is cured.You then see Goshu performing with his orchestra. When they are finished, the maestro begins to cry. They are asked for an encore, so the maestro sends Goshu to play. Goshu thinks that this is to make fun of him, so he plays "The Indian Tiger Hunt" again. Even though he played this piece of music, everyone gave him a standing ovation. The maestro then comments on how he improved so much in just 10 days. The whole orchestra then goes to celebrate.*Review* Goshu the Cellist is a wonderful piece of art. You could expect something this great from Takahata, and it also shows prototypes for the art in Pom Poko and The Cat Returns. The movie is filled with great artwork and music, and is very relaxing and gently paced. Although short, it will stick with you for a long time. This movie is hard to come across, so don't pass up the opportunity. You will not regret it.

David Feldman Art with a didactic agenda often fails by succeeding - once we learn the message, we lose interest in the messenger. Fortunately, the animal night spirits here disguise their lessons *for* Goshu as requests for favors *from* Goshu. They never explain themselves. Even for the viewer who gets the point before Goshu, the film will deserve at least a second viewing to appreciate the teacher's cunning.Goshu begins the film as a *mediocre* professional cellist (so his playing may already sound pretty good to a child beginner!). He already shows dedication to practicing; the film carries a message more subtle than the mere value of hard work.The spirits aim to teach the higher values of music. Indeed it takes a pretty good ear, at first, even to hear the difference they make. Sufficient ambiguity surrounds their didactic message that no one should find the film heavy handed. As subtle as its message about music itself, the movie really speaks to the art of teaching (hence didactic of the second order!).I suspect that a Japanese viewer will immediately understand the animals as (potentially menacing) supernatural spirits (rather like denizens of dreams), and thus understand Goshu's initial violent hostility to his actually friendly visitors. If one misreads the visitors as mere (fantasy) animals, Goshu's reactions to them just seem monstrous. In other words Disney would expect you to suspend disbelief in the presence of a talking cat (not to mention a person who so quickly finds it natural to talk to a talking cat), but Goshu knows cats don't talk, though spirits, manifestations of our inner demons, very well may. A young Western child watching this film might find it useful or even comforting to have this explained in advance!

JG2001 I just watched this film the other night with a bunch of other college aged students. We all had a blast. This is a great film for kids to watch as it contains only a tiny bit of mild animated violence, no profanity, and plenty of laughs.