Pixar and Miyazaki
By olisaur
@olisaur (1922)
United States
May 14, 2010 5:13pm CST
I was watching Howl's Moving Castle on DVD earlier today, and I looked at the bonus features. One of them was footage of when Hayao Miyazaki (film maker behind Totoro, Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle) went to visit Pixar studios. John Lasseter (Pixar director behind Toy Story, Monsters Inc, etc) and Miyazaki are apparently good friends, and the original screening of Howl's Moving Castle in the US was at Pixar studios.
John Lasseter is also a big fan of Miyazaki's films. I don't know if you've heard, but Totoro (Miyazaki's most beloved character) has made a cameo in Toy Story 3.
1 person likes this
2 responses
@olisaur (1922)
• United States
17 May 10
I think Howl's Moving Castle is the only one based on a book, the rest are all original stories.
There's one called Gedo Senki ("Tales from Earthsea" in english) that was released in Japan in 2006, and is to be released in the US in August. I've heard that it's loosely based on parts of a book series.
@allyoftherain (7208)
• United States
15 May 10
I didn't know about the cameo but I knew that Miyazaki and Lasseter were friends. There are a few connections between the two famous studios. Personally, I really like Pixar films and I'm pretty fond of all the Miyazaki films I've seen. I haven't seen every single one, but I've seen Ponyo, Nausica: Valley of the Wind, Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle (Which I didn't like very much cause it strayed so far from the book...).
@olisaur (1922)
• United States
16 May 10
I haven't read the novel, so I wasn't disappointed so to speak with Howl's Moving Castle; the artistic and imaginative factors were amazingggg, but I thought it was too thematically similar to Spirited Away.
And have you seen Princess Mononoke? That, in my opinion is one of the top Miyazaki films (it's really thematically similar to Avatar, but it came out in the late 80's so if anyone's "Copycatting" it's Avatar, lol), the tattoo covering my thigh is of Mononoke characters. ^o^
1 person likes this
@allyoftherain (7208)
• United States
16 May 10
I liked the movie at first because I saw the movie before I read the book. When I read the book I found myself disappointed in the movie. After I read the book, the movie felt like it had really cheapened the value of what was in the original book through the changes. I wish I could see them as two separate entities because both were good in their own right, but I can't.
Yes! I've seen Princess Mononoke! I forgot to list that one. I enjoyed it too, though not nearly as much as some of the others. I think Nausica is my favorite, followed closely by Spirited Away.
Avatar copycatted everything. lol It's not really an original movie.
