He doesn’t like spending time drawing villains, so he doesn’t do it much.Īnd the studio’s latest “From Up on Poppy Hill,” written by Miyazaki and directed by his son Goro, is also sublime it whisks you into another stylized, hand-drawn 2D world. He was thinking about the images in that film for ten years, he said. Miyazaki, who studied politics and worked his way up as an animator while always wanting to write manga comics, admits that he never wanted to make Totoro’s origins or powers crystal clear. He celebrates quiet moments.”Īt Lasseter’s Academy tribute to Miyazaki, the Disney animator provided commentary on his favorite Miyazaki clips: a rousing helicopter rescue operation in “Castle in the Sky,” a bar scene with pig-faced aviator “Porco Rosso,” the scary magic of “Spirited Away,” and the dreamlike catbus scene from “Totoro,” as the giant furry creature waits with two little girls in the dark rain at a bus stop. “I love the positive messages in all the films,” he said. The language only adds subtlety and depth.

That’s what it’s all about.” Backstage, Lasseter said that you could watch the films in Japanese with no subtitles and still figure out what was going on. When Lasseter interviewed Miyazaki in front of 6500 fans in Hall H, the Disney/Pixar chief praised him for running a “filmmaker-led studio dedicated to making great movies. At Comic-Con in 2009, Miyazaki told the crowd the secret behind his artistry: “My process is thinking, thinking and thinking, thinking about my stories for a long time,” he said with a smile. around the time of the now classic “My Neighbor Totoro.” Where Lasseter has developed a strong collaborative ethic at Pixar, he reveres Miyazaki for dreaming up his stories and drawing much of the storyboards and characters himself. The two men are mutual fans and friends, going back to Miyazaki’s visit in the 80s to the U.S.

Miyazaki and Lasseter share something rare: they are filmmakers in charge of animation giants in their respective countries, Studio Ghibli and Disney Animation/Pixar. Now that Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpieces “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Howl’s Moving Castle” are available on Blu-ray we ranked the Top Ten Studio Ghibli films (hint: “Totoro” and “Howl’s” make the list).Īs John Lasseter has been called America’s new Walt Disney, so is Miyazaki known as the Disney of Japan.

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