Now, I’m a huge fan of Hayao Miyazaki, as longtime readers of this here site will no doubt be aware, and I think all of his movies are masterpieces (yes, even Ponyo, I guess), but the one that might be his crowning achievement, 2001’s Spirited Away, is also the one that creeps me out the most. It’s got some of the director’s weirdest-looking creatures, not least of which is the ghostly No-Face who has a mouth underneath the mask he wears, not to mention a giant, terrifying baby, three heads that jump around independently of anything, a guy with spider appendages, and a massive-headed witch that can turn into a crow. Oh, and parents who turn into pigs. I mean, you guys, I love it, but it’s nut bars.

Cinefix’s 8-Bit Cinema turned this anime Alice in Wonderland (which is what I think it’s very like) into one of their patented video game-inspired shorts. And you know what? It’s still grotty and weird in the best way possible. Using both 8 and 16 bits, scenes involving the giant glob guy in the bathhouse and Haku’s transformation to and from a dragon are rendered simply but still quite beautifully. And if you’re curious, Yubaba’s giant baby son is still probably one of the top 5 most disturbing things I’ve ever seen, and I’ve watched Society.

If you’d like to read my thoughts on Spirited Away click on that link, and for all of my writings about the films of Hayao Miyazaki, you can click here.

Which films do you think would make good 8-Bit Cinema? Can a Miyazaki movie ever NOT be beautiful, no matter the format? Let us know below!

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HT: Boing Boing