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A gentle fable that beautifully demonstrates the artistry of classic hand-drawn animation.

Hayao Miyazaki’s latest film, PONYO (“Gake no ue no Ponyo” or “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea”), could be nicely summed up as charmingly innocent. I wasn’t even sure they still made films like it. It’s just a simple slice of pleasant storytelling. And you know what – audiences very much enjoy it. You [...]

[ August 14, 2009 to August 16, 2009. ] Advance word says that Japanese anime auteur Hayao Miyazaki’s latest film – which mixes Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Little Mermaid” with Japanese folk tales – is another masterpiece, this time aimed at five years olds. Miyazaki has opted for a simpler style of animation to tell his fairy tale, relying on old-fashioned hand-drawn cells with pastel [...]

Over a decade afters its original release, Hayao Miyazaki’s PRINCESS MONONOKE remains a monumental achievement in animation, and enthralling adventure-fantasy whose traditional hand-drawn cells easily outclass much of the soulless computerized cartoons of today. Looking back, it is easy to see MONONOKE as part of a trend toward showing some respect for anime when releasing [...]

[EDITOR'S NOTE: This article originally appeared on the Hollywood Gothique website on June 10, 2005.]

The premier of HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE, shown in the English-dubbed version at El Capitan Theatre on Thursday, June 9, 2005, was a rousing experience for fans of animation master Hayao Miyazaki. Unfortunately, the Japanese writer-director was not on the panel discussing [...]

Complex adult animation from anime-auteur Hayao Miyazaki
Feature film animation was once monopolized by Disney; in the era of CGI, other production companies like DreamWorks and Pixar staked a claim to the territory. But fans of anime know that there is another company that puts out consistently high-quality animation that often surpasses the best of Disney: [...]

Anime auteur Hayao Miyazaki’s amsuing feature film debut is a fun-filled romp
In CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO, superb director and future auteur Hayao Miyazaki made a fine film using established characters. Lupin III is a master thief, created as a manga character in 1967, as by the artist Monkey Punch (Kazuhiko Kata), who was inspired by French [...]

Typical Miyazaki, in all its glorious strengths and frustrating weaknesses
Hayao Miyazaki is rightfully considered one of the great artists working in the anime form. Eschewing the hard-edged violence that many American viewers (rightly or wrongly) associate with the form, Miyazaki creates painterly, pastoral visions filled with beauty and eccentric charm. And unlike much of anime, [...]