Movies Similar to Japanese Fantasy

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers(2005)

One of the most exciting and memorable stories in the history of the World Trade Towers is that of Philippe Petit, a French man who walked a tightrope between the massive monuments in 1974. Narrated by Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal, this is an animated adaptation of the lyrical Caldecott Award-winning book by Mordecai Gerstein. Directed and animated by Michael Sporn, with music by Michael Bacon (of the Bacon Brothers).

6.8

Nosferatu(1922)

The mysterious Count Orlok summons Thomas Hutter to his remote Transylvanian castle in the mountains. The eerie Orlok seeks to buy a house near Hutter and his wife, Ellen. After Orlok reveals his vampire nature, Hutter struggles to escape the castle, knowing that Ellen is in grave danger. Meanwhile Orlok's servant, Knock, prepares for his master to arrive at his new home.

7.7

Bloody Date(2012)

Your first date becomes your worst nightmare...

6.2

The Triplets of Belleville(2003)

When her grandson is kidnapped during the Tour de France, Madame Souza and her beloved pooch Bruno team up with the Belleville Sisters—an aged song-and-dance team from the days of Fred Astaire—to rescue him.

7.4

Big Buck Bunny(2008)

Follow a day of the life of Big Buck Bunny when he meets three bullying rodents: Frank, Rinky, and Gamera. The rodents amuse themselves by harassing helpless creatures by throwing fruits, nuts and rocks at them. After the deaths of two of Bunny's favorite butterflies, and an offensive attack on Bunny himself, Bunny sets aside his gentle nature and orchestrates a complex plan for revenge.

6.5

The Golem(1915)

This mostly lost film is often confused with director Paul Wegener third and readily available interpretation of the legend; Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (1920). In this version of the golem legend, the golem, a clay statue brought to life by Rabbi Loew in 16th century Prague to save the Jews from the ongoing brutal persecution by the city's rulers, is found in the rubble of an old synagogue in the 20th century. Brought to life by an antique dealer, the golem is used as a menial servant. Eventually falling in love with the dealer's wife, it goes on a murderous rampage when its love for her goes unanswered.

6.7

Faust(1926)

God and Satan war over earth; to settle things, they wager on the soul of Faust, a learned and prayerful alchemist.

7.9

Elephants Dream(2006)

Elephants Dream is the story of two strange characters exploring a capricious and seemingly infinite machine. The elder, Proog, acts as a tour-guide and protector, happily showing off the sights and dangers of the machine to his initially curious but increasingly skeptical protege Emo. As their journey unfolds we discover signs that the machine is not all Proog thinks it is, and his guiding takes on a more desperate aspect. Elephants Dream is a story about communication and fiction, made purposefully open-ended as the world’s first 3D animated “Open movie”. The film itself is released under the Creative Commons license, along with the entirety of the production files used to make it (roughly 7 Gigabytes of data). The software used to make the movie is the free/open source animation suite Blender along with other open source software, thus allowing the movie to be remade, remixed and re-purposed with only a computer and the data on the DVD or download.

5.8

Lost and Found(2008)

A magical tale of friendship and loneliness, which tells the story of a little boy who one day finds a penguin on his doorstep. Although at first he is unsure what to do, the boy becomes determined to help the penguin find his way back home... even if that means rowing all the way to the South Pole!

7.8

Oktapodi(2008)

Two Octopi fight for their lives with a stubborn restaurant cook in a comical escape through the streets of a small Greek village.

6.9

Journey to Mars(2005)

Journey to Mars (Viaje a Marte) is an animated stop motion short film. This independent production, which was made in Argentina, is the result of two years hard work. Since then, it has won 50 awards in different festivals around the world, competing in many cases against real action productions. The short tells the story of Antonio, a boy from the 60s, who is a great fan of science fiction tv serials and space trips. In view of the child's passion, his grandfather decides to take him to Mars in his tow truck.

6.2

Working for Peanuts(1953)

Chip 'n Dale live next door to a zoo and spot the elephant's stash of peanuts. They go after them, but both the elephant and his keeper, Donald, are too clever. Then the boys realized the visitors throw peanuts, so they put on a song-and-dance act. Then they paint themselves white and pose as albino chipmunks.

6.8

Jiraiya the Hero(1921)

Jiraiya is some sort of super-ninja with superpowers. He can fly, he can avoid detection by turning himself into a toad, and he has some sort of ability to vanish.

5.2

Puce Moment(1949)

Puce Moment is a short 6 minute film by Kenneth Anger, author of the Hollywood Babylon books, filmed in 1949. Puce Moment resulted from the unfinished short film Puce Women. The film opens with a camera watching 1920s style flapper gowns being taken off a dress rack. The dresses are removed and danced off the rack to music. (The original soundtrack was Verdi opera music; in the 1960s, Anger re-released the film with a new psychedelic folk-rock soundtrack performed by Jonathan Halper.) A long-lashed woman, Yvonne Marquis, dresses in the purple puce gown and walks to her vanity to apply perfume. She lies on a chaise lounge which then begins to move around the room and eventually out to a patio. Borzois appear and she prepares to take them for a walk.

5.6

Baby Butch(1954)

An alley cat is foraging for food when he sees Tom's house and decides it's a rich haul. He dresses as a foundling baby and lands on the doorstep. Tom takes him in and Butch proceeds to raid the fridge between Tom's babying him. What he doesn't know is that Jerry's going to grab the ham Butch swiped every chance he gets.

6.7

Casanova Cat(1951)

Tom heads for a big city penthouse to become acquainted with a rich pretty female cat that lives there. He brings her Jerry as a gift and does some humiliating things to Jerry. Jerry, in turn, attracts the attention of another cat who also becomes interested in the female cat. It eventually turns into a fight between Tom and the other cat for the lady's hand but Jerry is the one who gets her in the end.

6.7

The Two Mouseketeers(1952)

Tom, a castle soldier in 16th century France, is assigned to guard the food laid out on a banquet table. Jerry and a smaller mouse companion, two wandering "mouseketeers", make the situation miserable for Tom as they abscond with (and occasionally eat) all the food they can.

6.7

The Cavalier's Dream(1898)

He sits asleep at a bare table; old witch enters, raps three times, then disappears; cavalier sees table spread for a sumptuous repast. Mephistopheles appears; then the old witch, who suddenly changes to a beautiful young girl. The changes and magical appearances are startling and instantaneous.

4.3

Bambi Meets Godzilla(1969)

Bambi is nibbling the grass, unaware of the upcoming encounter with Godzilla. Who will win when they finally meet? Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2009.

6.4

Frankenstein(1910)

Frankenstein, a young medical student, trying to create the perfect human being, instead creates a misshapen monster. Made ill by what he has done, Frankenstein is comforted by his fiancée; but on his wedding night he is visited by the monster.

6.0