Hayao Miyazaki is my personal god. He has been, ever since Princess Mononoke hit the screens, and probably always will be.
He is able to accomplish a feeling in his movies that most animes lack.. while most animes like to use an angsty array of characters and an angsty plot, trying to draw you in with violence and graphics and a just.. "entertaining" storyline (*cough* fullmetal angstymist..), Miyazaki takes a diffrent approach. He uses imagination in his films, and provokes thought, emotion, warmth, and
feeling, while not going overboard on the dramatics. I say he is full deserving of the praise he gets.
My personal favorite of his ties between Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle.
When I was about 8 years old, I read the book Howl's Moving Castle for the first time. I simply loved it, it was fantastic: The character's oddity, the complete and utter
differences that it had compared to most modern fairy tales... it was wonderful.
When I heard Miyazaki was doing a rendition on it, I squealed with fangirlish joy.
All in all, for those intrested in reading the book by Diana Wynne Jones, do expect a LOT of diffrences. While it is magical, like how the film is magical, it is a diffrent type of magical. (As expected, with the usual Miyazaki flare.) Don't dare try to compare the movie and the book, simply treat them as two diffrent stories and they're both excellent. The plot of both are completely diffrent, as far as the dealio with Howl and the witch Suliman is concerned.
I disagree with people saying it wasn't his best film. He tried alot of diffrent things in HMC, but that doesn't mean that it didn't work out. But hey, we are all intitled to our oppinions.
One of the things that appeals to me most is his fluid, beautiful backgrounds, that go along perfectly with his vivid imagination.
To anyone who saw Howl's Moving Castle.. did you see the GARDEN?! (...
-drool-)
(on a side note, as good as Wallace and Gromit was, I still think HMC deserved that award. Too bad they can't
share it.)
Spirited away is tied, because it is fantastic, in about every way I can mention.
His other films, like Castle in the sky, Totoro, and kiki's delivery service are also very, very good. But I think he definatly has gotten better with age and experience.
Studio Ghibli in general is very good. While not directed by Miyazaki, Grave of the fireflies and Whisper of the heart have earned praise worldwide.
Now, for an intresting update. Miyazaki's son, Goro Miyazaki is in the process of directing his
own film.. an adaptation of Ursula K Le Guin's
The Farthest Shore (and borrowing a bit from the prequels,
The Tombs of Atun and
A Wizard from Earthsea.)
The during-production trailer is here:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=L1nA6rwLs3U&search=tales from earthsea
and some information is here, including a blog written by Goro Miyazaki during production, and a translation for the trailer.
http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/earthsea/
I hope great directing is in the bloodline.. As a fan of the earthsea trilogy, I can hardly wait.
