{"title":"Animation","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"wall-e-4k-uhd-blu-ray","title":"WALL·E | 4K UHD+Blu-ray","description":"\u003cp\u003ePixar has never again been as daring as they were with WALL·E. Large stretches of the film go by entirely without dialogue, depending entirely on the artistry of their character and world design. Even eighteen (at the time of writing) years later, the artistry of the film still holds up. Especially in a modern CGI boom that seems to largely favor dull, washed out backgrounds and lighting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf course, it’s more than artistic choices that make this film special. More than anything, WALL·E is notable for how clearly and unashamedly it views the ills of modern society through an environmental lens. Director\/writer Andrew Stanton deserves a lot of credit for fearlessly displaying earth’s future as a blasted hellscape of trash, in which unchecked resource stripping has robbed our planet of everything that made it beautiful, or even habitable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt seems all too relatable given current billionaire class dreams of space expansion, to imagine a future where the rich abandon earth to live a life of luxury in space, with no clear plan to create a society with meaningful goals or even the desire to pursue them. For what is ostensibly a family film, WALL·E paints a bleak portrait of humanity, what it has done, and where it is going. Something that only makes appreciating the film all the more necessary.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Zane's Video","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48192361463998,"sku":"715515279413","price":49.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0761\/1436\/2558\/files\/Wall-E_01_Front_0e77e378-db84-475b-8583-fe8e11eee9d8.png?v=1786839236"},{"product_id":"fantastic-mr-fox-blu-ray","title":"Fantastic Mr. Fox | Blu-ray","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"content\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"product__details_contain_a\"\u003e\n\u003csection class=\"product-features collapse\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"collapse-contain\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"header_lvl2 hideSmall\"\u003eWes Anderson's love affair with stop motion animation had already shown itself in The Life Aquatic, but I don't think many people would have imagined he'd be nearly so devoted to the art to execute something like Fantastic Mr. Fox (and later Isle of Dogs).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"header_lvl2 hideSmall\"\u003eExpanding on the beautiful short story by Roald Dahl, Anderson infuses the tale with his trademark style and wit and underlying themes of having a dad who is way, way cooler than you are. The result is a truly stunning piece of animated cinema that nonetheless manages to be a light and easy watch with a heartwarming message.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"header_lvl2 hideSmall\"\u003eIt's an especially rare feat in the increasingly CGI focused age of animation, where so much of the cinematic output from animation studios carries a samey, production-line feel to its quality. Released in 2009, Fantastic Mr. Fox has a hand-crafted love to it that jumps off the screen in every frame. A modern animation treasure.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Zane's Video","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48192363987134,"sku":"715515225717","price":39.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0761\/1436\/2558\/files\/FantasticMrFox_01_Front_021edaa2-f533-4829-93c4-1bf61ba50ab4.png?v=1786918752"},{"product_id":"millennium-actress-limited-edition-steelbook-blu-ray-dvd","title":"Millennium Actress | Limited Edition Steelbook | Blu-ray+DVD","description":"\u003cp\u003eStylistically, Millennium Actress just might be the most ambitious of Satoshi Kon's films. Not the heaviest, nor the most dynamic, nor the most innovative in terms of the story told. But for the actual complexity that Kon lends a simple narrative through artistic craft, the results are stunning.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn interview with a once famous, but long since retired, actress spirals into a series of flashbacks revealing her life through a dramatically changing Japanese society. The film also serves as a panorama of shifting trends in Japanese film as well, showing the actress in her various roles in different eras.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTold with humor and heart, Millennium actress does a remarkable job of relaying a fairly simple narrative with a complex visual theme. For a director whose work often trends toward the labyrinthine and mysterious, this is a great display of his ability to use those elements to nuanced effect.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Zane's Video","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48192365494462,"sku":"826663222876","price":26.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0761\/1436\/2558\/files\/MillenniumActress_01_Front_2ecbe4d2-2f81-4d12-8c68-d80d8ee4a237.png?v=1786834824"},{"product_id":"tokyo-godfathers-blu-ray-dvd","title":"Tokyo Godfathers | Blu-ray+DVD","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe most narrative-driven of Satoshi Kon's remarkable filmography. Tokyo Godfathers recasts the plot of the classic John Ford\/John Wayne western as a modern journey through urban Tokyo, replacing the rough and tumble cowboys with a trio of homeless vagrants.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBecause the film lacks so much of the mind-bending surrealism of Kon's other projects, it places a much clearer emphasis on the director's remarkable ability for turning animated characters into fully fledged actors. Gin, Hana, and Miyuki are filled with small tics and gestures, micro-expressions and unique characterization. A cast realized far more expressively than most animators would ever dream of chasing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEnd of the day, Tokyo Godfathers is a funny, heartwarming, and thoroughly emotionally involving film. A wonderful story of chosen family and finding happiness wherever possible.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Zane's Video","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48192365527230,"sku":"826663201796","price":26.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0761\/1436\/2558\/files\/TokyoGodfathers_01_Front_bc9e5a6d-5093-4952-9844-196f6b2ef1b2.png?v=1786835768"},{"product_id":"mind-game-blu-ray","title":"Mind Game | Blu-ray","description":"\u003cp\u003eFor a medium that offers a near limitless potential for artistic vision and creative design, animation tends to get very locked into stylistic trends. For years, every North American animation studio (with the exception of Ralph Bakshi) seemed to be aping Disney. Today, Pixar sets the tempo. For Anime, Studio Ghibli, Sunrise, and Bones Inc. have lead the way.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll of which makes Mind Game feel like a complete breath of fresh air. Masaaki Yuasa's overflowing, fine line sensibility gives a feeling of a Moebius comic book, seen through a fisheye lens. Exacting character models that stretch and warp into a visual sensibility all their own. Coupled photo collage and even some rotoscoping, the result is a mold-breaking feast for the eyes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe story of a young man killed in a chance encounter with yakuza thugs, who must now journey his way back from purgatory in the belly of a giant whale. Mind Game must be seen to be believed. It can't be easily described.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Zane's Video","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48192365625534,"sku":"1986506963","price":23.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0761\/1436\/2558\/files\/Mindgame_01_Front_82e1df5b-9fbe-4c61-8d0b-56512216d229.png?v=1786834861"},{"product_id":"whisper-of-the-heart-blu-ray","title":"Whisper of the Heart | Blu-ray+DVD","description":"\u003cp\u003ePerhaps the most effectively realized romance in Anime cinema? I'm probably not the right person to make that judgement call, but Whisper of the Heart does an unusually nuanced job (especially for what is ostensibly a fantasy genre film) of painting a portrait of two people whose love for one another grows slowly and naturally over time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA young girl dreams of being a writer, a young man dreams of being a violinist. Both are clearly talented, but as the love between them grows it becomes clearer that their dreams of success may take them far away from one another.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of Studio Ghibli's chief animators, Whisper of the Heart was Yoshifumi Kondo's only feature directorial credit. It's a beautiful, sentimental story with all the sense of magic, detail and craft that has defined the studio's best known works.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Zane's Video","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48192366280894,"sku":"1986502247","price":25.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0761\/1436\/2558\/files\/WhisperOfTheHeart_01_Front_05d587de-bba5-4842-8b1b-1c9f24b1f319.png?v=1786919718"},{"product_id":"wallace-gromit-the-complete-cracking-collection-4k-uhd-blu-ray","title":"Wallace \u0026 Gromit: The Complete Cracking Collection | Collector's Edition | 4K UHD+Blu-ray","description":"\u003cp\u003eBritain's triumph of stop motion animation. For nearly three decades now, Nick Park and his Aardman Animations studio has been producing some of the best, most heartfelt, and entertaining work in the world of animated film. And for much of its history they've been crafting that entertainment using the incredibly time consuming, detail-oriented art of claymation. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat dedication to craft is present in every frame of Wallace \u0026amp; Gromit. Whether it's the earliest short films like A Grand Day Out or the remarkable Creature Comforts, or his later longer projects like Curse of the Were Rabbit, Park's work shows the dedication of a master.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOriginally compiled and released in 2023, this set unfortunately does not include the most recent Wallace \u0026amp; Gromit film, Vengeance Most Foul, however it does include all earlier features and short films from the beloved duo.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Zane's Video","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48192366477502,"sku":"1000841561","price":65.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0761\/1436\/2558\/files\/Wallace_GromitBox_01_Front.png?v=1786691973"},{"product_id":"the-dark-crystal-limited-edition-collectors-set-4k-uhd-blu-ray","title":"Dark Crystal, The | Limited Edition Collector's Set | 4K UHD+Blu-ray","description":"\u003cp\u003eIf ever there were a fantasy film that lacked an intended audience, The Dark Crystal is that movie. A massive ($25 million in 1982) budget puppet film, viewers would expect it to be a movie targeted directly at children.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut as with Henson's other noted fantasy production of the 80s, Labyrinth, the end result is just to creepy, too nuanced, too unsettling to really call it a kids' movie. What remains is a movie that mostly feels like it's for weird teens. A film that pours love and care and craft from every pore, and tackles a simple story of adventure and coming of age with a sense of darkness and sadness that takes maturity to appreciate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI guess if I'm trying to get anything across it's that The Dark Crystal is a triumph and I love it. Initially dismissed as something of a Star Wars clone, it has outlived that response to prove itself as a rare monument to creative vision and craft.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Zane's Video","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48192366543038,"sku":"1000839922","price":69.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0761\/1436\/2558\/files\/TheDarkCrystalBox_01_Front_bf889eb5-f7e8-441d-9201-7eb3f8ea0baa.png?v=1786658794"},{"product_id":"kikis-delivery-service-limited-edition-steelbook-blu-ray","title":"Kiki's Delivery Service | Limited Edition Steelbook | Blu-ray+DVD","description":"\u003cp\u003eFew movies can warm the heart quite like Kiki's Delivery Service. A coming of age tale much less about learning basic concepts like 'it's important to work hard' or 'fight for your dreams,' and much more about learning that sometimes caring for yourself is the most difficult thing a person can do.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSet in an absolutely stunning coastal town, animated the way only Miyazaki can, Kiki's Delivery Service paints a portrait of gentle conflict, striving, and self love that envelopes the viewer in an aura of positivity. It's all good vibes, all the way down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eArguably one of Miyazaki's least challenging pictures, but no less a beautiful and meaningful work for it's lack of heavy drama.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Zane's Video","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48192367100094,"sku":"1986512129","price":30.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0761\/1436\/2558\/files\/KikisDeliveryService_01_Front_09b74b95-1a42-4e75-9ca3-428f43bd55d9.png?v=1786834534"},{"product_id":"porco-rosso-limited-edition-steelbook-blu-ray","title":"Porco Rosso | Limited Edition Steelbook | Blu-ray+DVD","description":"\u003cp\u003eIt's not that Porco Rosso lacks anything in terms of action or thrills or dramatic stakes. It's just that, at heart, this dieselpunk air-pirate movie is much more of a low-key hangout vibe than anything else.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn a world of fascist military overreach, deadly battles, and vengeful buccaneers, Porco Rosso is all about beautiful lagoons, emerald isles, lost love, and one pig's journey toward rejoining the human race.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn a filmography that includes such undeniable masterpieces as Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and My Neighbor Totoro, there's a reasonable argument to be made that this might just be the director's most entrancing and enchanting film.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Zane's Video","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48192367132862,"sku":"1000805161","price":26.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0761\/1436\/2558\/files\/PorcoRosso_01_Front_000f9232-5ca2-4535-b45e-c9b3bb1b5c24.png?v=1786917633"},{"product_id":"nausicaa-of-the-valley-of-the-wind-limited-edition-steelbook-blu-ray","title":"Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind | Limited Edition Steelbook | Blu-ray+DVD","description":"\u003cp\u003eReleased two years before Castle in the Sky (Hayao Miyazaki's first Studio Ghibli film), Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind nonetheless carries all the trademark style and themes of his soon to be realized animation studio in partnership with director Isao Takahata (of Grave of the Fireflies fame).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn fact, this film represents the first of the directors' two artistic collaborations, with Takahata acting as producer for the story written and directed by Miyazaki. Although set in a distant, post-apocalyptic future, the picture has a sense of timelessness wherein futuristic inventions and technology blend seamlessly with a world of swords and armor and feudalism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlways interested in humanity's relationship to nature, Nausicaa is the director at his most unforgiving. A world already lost to human destruction, rebuilding as something new and strange even as men continue to risk destroying it all over again. Not an uplifting narrative, but beautifully and intricately crafted. A forceful early work from a master artist.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Zane's Video","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48192367231166,"sku":"1986512130","price":26.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0761\/1436\/2558\/files\/Nausicaa_01_Front_aaed3f22-cba6-4019-81a4-1cad9a0937f3.png?v=1786917451"},{"product_id":"princess-mononoke-limited-edition-steelbook-blu-ray","title":"Princess Mononoke | Limited Edition Steelbook | Blu-ray+DVD","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe poetic high point of Hayao Miyazake's many great works. It's probably not fair to say an entire industry 'peaked' especially not one as large and varied as anime, but the late 90s feel like the peak of the anime industry. Whether it's Princess Mononoke, Perfect Blue, Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebob, or Berserk, this era saw some of the greatest art the industry has ever produced.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLike many of Miyazake's films, Princess Mononoke is especially focused on themes of environmental impact and man's relationship with the natural world. In this case, the deforestation caused by strip mining and the ways in which destroying our world not only harms plants and animals, but robs us of our humanity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot the happiest tale, but a truly powerful and impactful work from Miyazake. The first of the director's works to be released in the US, on the back of a new distribution deal between Studio Ghibli's parent company and Disney, Princess Mononoke turned Japan's most revered animator into an international sensation.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Zane's Video","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48192367624382,"sku":"1986213387","price":31.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0761\/1436\/2558\/files\/PrincessMononoke_01_Front_466b6186-d4b8-4e9e-93cd-69d5ca8f481c.png?v=1786835314"},{"product_id":"perfect-blue-limited-edition-4k-uhd","title":"Perfect Blue | Limited Edition | 4K UHD+Blu-ray","description":"\u003cp\u003eSatoshi Kon's moodiest and most horror-driven film. More akin to his Paranoia Agent miniseries than the rest of his output. Perfect Blue tells the story of a pop star turned actress whose new career, along with attention from a potential stalker, start to unravel her sense of identity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile Satoshi Kon had no lack of artistry as a storyteller or art designer, the real unique aspect of his filmmaking as an animator comes from his remarkable character design and ability to animate people. More than any other animator out there, his characters feel like actual actors, with the full nuance and range of emotion to give meaningful performances.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs a film, itself about acting, Perfect Blue is an ideal showcase of that ability. Satoshi Kon may have only made four feature films before his untimely death in 2010, but every one of them is a masterpiece.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Zane's Video","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48192367755454,"sku":"1000858098","price":69.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0761\/1436\/2558\/files\/PerfectBlue_01_Front_117f800c-7b18-4a8b-8b56-93bb4d503dd4.png?v=1786917575"}],"url":"https:\/\/zanesvideostore.com\/collections\/animation.oembed","provider":"Zane's Video","version":"1.0","type":"link"}