If there is one thing that pisses me off it is all this 3D/HD/digital animation hype. Cartoons trying too hard to look like real life figures and computer animated to the extreme. It only makes my eyes hurt! Also the humor in children's films nowadays, it has underlying adult meanings, grotesque "fart" jokes. What happened to the simplicity and classiness in the classic Disney films like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, or Cinderella?
One classical filmmaker that gives me hope in this futuristic day in age is Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki. Apparently his films were big in America for people my age growing up, but I was not introduced to them until recently.
Miyazaki is head of the Japanese animation studio, Studio Ghibli, which has produced 20 animated films, the first, Naussica:Valley of the Wind, in 1984, the most successful Ghibli film, Spirited Away in 2002 which went on to be the highest grossing film in Japan of all time as well as be the only non-english film to win an Oscar in the animation category, and the most recent, Ponyo, which was released in 2008.
The thing that strikes me the most about the Studio Ghibli films is the amazing animation. Miyazaki draws his artwork by hand. The films are colored and detailed in a way that delivers awe and a serenity. I get almost a weird calming feeling when I watch them, that really draws me in as a viewer.
Originally the voices are recorded in Japanese but for the American rereleases of the films they are dubbed in English. Studio Ghibli has a contract with Disney so that all the films released outside Japan are done so thru Disney. They also have a strict rule about not editing the films in ways to make them more Americanized.
This is a rule I really like. Watching the films, although they are dubbed in English they still have a strong Japanese vibe to them from the names of the characters, to the foods they eat. I think this is beneficial, especially to children watching the movies because it teaches them about cultures other than their own.
Usually big name English speaking actors re-dub the voices for the rereleases. Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett, Betty White, Frankie Jonas, Kirsten Dunst, Brittany Snow, Matt Damon and Noah Cyrus are a few big names who have lent Miyazaki a hand. This along with the fact that the films go under the name Disney definitely add to the foreign success. Unfortunately, without these two factors drawing English speaking audiences in, I feel a lot of people might ignore the Studio Ghibli films for the same reasons I am drawn to them i.e. too Japanese, not high definition/3D/digital enough.
There is a Studio Ghibli Museum in Tokyo. I am sure this is one of the first places I am going to visit when I go to Japan. I am really excited to see what this museum holds and I can only predict the crowd that will be there: people of all nationalities, adults, children, teenagers and families. Miyazki's work has captivated so many like myself. the man is really a genius!
マリㇱサ
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