Disney vs. Ghibli

[McGilliguts]

SvennoJ said:

McGilliguts said:
Hands down Disney is better.

Ghibli's films are really quite bland and Miyazaki is overrated. The studio has failed to produce any other talent on his level, so I fully expect that Ghibli is now finished.

If you look at the importance of disney in the history of animation there is absolutely no comparison. Disney pioneered every major technique in animation, and even in anime tezuka is a far more important figure than Miyazaki.

All of miyazakis characters look the same. It's laughable really. He hits you over the head with trite sacharine morality, his animation style is boring and subdued, the films are interminable, watching a ghibli film more than once is painful. Otomo, oshii, anno, and kawajiri have all done far better work, if not with as much broad family friendly audience appeal.

I feel that way about Disney, same characters, same story every time. I discoved my nostalgia for Disney was just that, nostalgia. I've been buying the classics on blu-ray but find it hard to sit through them. Well apart from jungle book, love that movie, and Fantasia is also a favorite.

What trite sacharine morality does he hit you over the head with in Princess Mononoke? That everyone has their own motives and no one is simply right or wrong, good or bad? Seems a much better message than what Disney presents every time.

I wouldn't wite off Ghibli just yet. I quite liked From up on Poppy Hill as well, his son shows promiss. He is working on the tv series atm. I've watched plenty of other anime and apart from Wolf children and Journey to Agartha nothing comes close to that Ghibli magic.

I will admit that disney's stories are generally fairly shallow and by the numbers, although films like Pinocchio and hunchback and fantasia have some dark moments. The difference, I think, is that in disney films, things generally move quickly, the focus is on action songs and emotion, whereas with Ghibli, the whole exercise frequently feels bloated and self important. That said, I am quite fond of nausicaa, mononoke, and sprited away. 

From what I have seen, it seems that non Miyazaki Ghibli simply attempts to ape the master's style, and I don't think they'll get very far with that approach. Disney has had such an array of talent over the years - from Fred Moore and bill tytla to milt kahl and the nine old men to glen keane, Eric Goldbeg etc, there is simply no way Ghibli can compare to that legacy, it's really not a fair question IMO.

Of course the poll here suggests otherwise, but perhaps that is because the accomplishments of Ghibli are more recent. It's true that disneys glory years  seem rather distant at present.