Three Adorable Movies

I know it's kind of a lot at once, but I figured that instead of making individual posts about each of the three adorable movies I've seen in the past three days, I should just make one big post about all of them! So, here goes!

On Saturday, I saw Adam. I made a post about this movie back in July when I first saw the preview, and it turned out to be every bit as adorable as I expected it to be! The movie takes place in New York City, and it is basically all about Beth (Rose Byrne) and Adam (Hugh Dancy), who has Asperger's syndrome, and their whole relationship and basically what it's like to be an adult with Asperger's syndrome and to be in a relationship with someone with Asperger's syndrome. It was especially interesting for me because I know all about autism spectrum disorders because of my mom's work, but it had never really occurred to me before that most people don't know about them or understand them at all, which is what they show in the movie. One guy who reviewed Adam went so far as to say that the character was "just quirky."

But anyway, the whole movie was basically unbearably adorable. This is because every time Adam learns a new social skill or handles change well or whatever, it makes you really happy for him! And any movie that starts off by referring to The Little Prince is automatically adorable. Plus, Rose Byrne and Hugh Dancy are super-cute in the first place, and even though the movie happens in fall, winter, and early spring in New York City, it is somehow always that perfect, crisp, fall weather that means you can wear corduroy skirts and cable-knit sweaters and tights and boots and scarves and maybe a pea coat, but it's not so cold that you have to wear giant puffy jackets and anything that will cover you up, regardless of whether or not it is adorable. And Adam always wears really adorable sweater-and-collared-shirt combinations and basically dresses exactly how I imagine my ideal man dressing.

And on top of all that, everyone has adorable apartments with adorable paint colors on the walls and there are two especially adorable parts in the movie involving raccoons! I know that this is horrible to say because I love Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt so much, but I really recommend seeing this movie over (500) Days of Summer. Both movies have boy-meets-girl adorableness and really amazing clothes and adorable actors, but Adam has substance beyond that, and it does a much better job of making you feel better at the end.

Sunday, I saw Julie & Julia. Anyone who loves cooking absolutely has to see this movie. Meryl Streep is perfect, and Julia Child and her husband are super-adorable together in the movie!! There is also a super-cute little French girl who is in the movie for like two seconds. And both Julie and Julia have a Le Creuset pot in the "flame" color in the movie, and now I think that that is the color I want for my future Le Creuset pot.

This is basically a movie about exactly how I want my life to be. If I lived in this movie, I would have an adorable husband to be adorable with who loves all of the food that I make with my Le Creuset pot in my adorable kitchen in my adorable apartment, and we would have adorable dinner parties and an adorable cat! And at least for a little while, there would be no babies to mess everything up and break things! Perfect.

Finally, today I saw Ponyo (real title: Gake no ue no Ponyo, or, Ponyo on the Cliff). Hayao Miyazaki, the writer and director, is probably one of my favorite people ever, and he always makes adorable movies. Ponyo is super-adorable, too! The plot of the movie is basically The Little Mermaid, including the possibility of her turning into sea foam from the original story (Disney left that part out of their version), except that Ponyo starts out as a goldfish and the story is about five-year-olds instead of adults. Plus, Ponyo loves ham just as much as I love bacon!

The town that Sosuke (the boy who finds Ponyo) and his mom live in is adorable, and the scenery in the ocean and on land is amazing. Apparently Miyazaki drew a lot of the ocean scenery himself (it's all hand-drawn animation), and this movie is worth seeing just to see that. And Sosuke and his mom live in an adorable little house on top of a cliff by the ocean! What was disappointing was that I'm pretty sure Disney messed with the end of the story to make it simpler and target it more towards kids (it's rated G, while his other films are rated PG or PG-13). Miyazaki's movies that I've seen are marketed as children's movies, but what I've always liked about them is that there's always some sort of theme that makes the movie interesting and relevant for adults, too.

Miyazaki's films are different from most children's movies because none of the characters are purely good or evil, and I think that that confuses most Americans who take their kids to the movies and expect something much more Disney-esque. I think that having characters who aren't just one-dimensional and who are more like real people makes Miyazaki's movies even cuter. Spirited Away is probably still my favorite Miyazaki film, but Ponyo is definitely cuter than the rest!

Love, Jillian