kytrigger said:
Hell yeah! Spread the Takahata love!
I rarely see Takahata vs Miyazaki post though. I mean, never. You'd think these two modern famous animated directors would get pit against each others more often.
Personnally, i'm torn. I mean, I prefer Miya, but if I try not to be biais (then again, what is biais ? I got bias vouching for miya because of how good I find him, so it does make sense) i'm still saying miya.
Both have got very distinct styles. Way back in the 60's and 70's, they were much more alike (they did work together their whole carreer. Takahata got to direct before Miyazaki, but Miya always seemed like the one with the biggest ideas), but Takahata always prefered to have something much deeper within his movies and ideas, while Miya prefer to just tell a wonderful story that transcend any messages.
Now, Takahata tried many things. Unlike many directors, he's gone from doing child cartoon, to a musical (Goshu) about what is music to real life tragedy to making one of the most melancolic movie ever made (Only yesterday) to simply adapting a comic strip on screen (Yamadas). But while he's diverse and tries to reinvent animation each time (by questionning people's belief in animation itself), some of his movies' quality isn't always equal. His Grave of the fireflies is a milestone in animation, while his Pom Poko (a great movie nonetheless) is far inferior, imo. Interesting, but not on par.
Miya, unlike Takahata, kept a hight standard his whole carreer. He's tried to change genre, but his style has always stayed the same. In doing so, you can go back and watch Totoro and admire his simplicity and then jump in the more epic and complex Mononoke without ever loosing any quality in doing so.
So, imo, Miya wins. But not by much.
edit: and I picked the Iron Giant out of all of those. While there are some great ones, few of them connected with me as much as this one did. Heck, Brad Bird is one of the only GOOD director in Hollywood these days able to get financed and make a movie. A shame that studios prefer to go with crap and generic formula.
And I cant believe Steve Oedekerk directed that recent CGI turd Barnyard. Would I not know he did, and I would now learn he was making an animated movie, i'd be all excited about it. Now that I know he already has done one, and it's THAT bad, I'm lost, sniff.