Whisper of the Heart rated G

This film was recommended to me by the same friend that I watched The Book Thief with.  We have very similar tastes in film so I expected to like this film.  I was further intrigued by the mention of The Baron aka The Cat from the equally wonderful film The Cat Returns.

This picture tells the story of a girl named Shizuku (voiced in English by Brittany Snow) who is going through the transition from being a "child" to "adult".  She finds that she enjoys reading books and also writing but she doesn't seem to be doing anything "serious" with her life according to her bratty older sister Shiho (voiced in English by Courtney Thorne-Smith).  Shizuku is supposed to be preparing for high school (the implication that I gathered is that "high school" in Japan is more like college here).  Her fellow classmates have been studying and prepping all summer for the barrage of tests that will come with school that will determine if they get into high school or not.

While that is happening, Shizuku's friend Yuko (voiced in English by Ashley Tisdale)  confesses that she has a crush on a boy from school.  This conversation and similar ones afterwards lead Shizuku to think about boys and love.

Additionally, Shizuku finds that she has no sense of "direction".  She doesn't know what she wants to do with her life really until she gets to know a boy from school named Seiji (voiced in English by David Gallagher).  When she initially meets Seiji, he teases her about a song that she wrote which causes her to "hate" him.  As they meet and interact more and more, Shizuku starts to like him.  After he tells her of his plans for his life which don't include going to high school, Shizuku is simultaneously inspired to continue down the path of writing and devastated that she "doesn't have anything to offer in comparison to him".

This is a lovely coming-of-age story I think.  Like many Hayao Miyazaki Studio Ghibli films, the characters all come across as very relatable and real.  They also all grow to some extent, some more than others.  Also the end is very hopeful and happy in a believable way.  Excellent family movie.