Animation is cinema, animation is not a genre… Keep animation in the conversation. - Guillermo del Toro, Filmmaker
When you look up on the internet for the word-to-word definition of "animation", it says: Animation is a filmmaking technique by which still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film.
Animation, as an industry as well as a format of film, has grown rapidly in the 21st century, greatly in the past decade or so. With industries all over the film world have started contributing to this genre of cinema, the major industries remaining in business are the American film industry and Japanese film industry, prominently.
Now, for this blog, as the topic of animation is so vast and completely bombarded by animation enthusiasts on the internet, I am going to stick to 3 animated films: The Wind Rises (from Japan), The Lion King (from USA) and Arjun: The Warrior Prince (from India).
I have selected these 3 films because of one distinction, the place of origin. The most well-known animation studios are Walt Disney, Pixar and DreamWorks, based in United States of America. The Japanese animation industry has also become a popularized medium in films and series, with last year’s The Boy and The Heron, directed by Hayao Miyazaki (who also directed The Wind Rises) that won the Academy Award for Best Animated Film. And of course Arjun: The Warrior Prince, which is one of the few examples of a good animated film made in India, with some pretty good dialogues and shots.
The Wind Rises, 2013
The Wind Rises is a 2013 animated historical film, directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki has directed some of the greatest, if not the greatest, animated films such as Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro and Howl’s Moving Castle.
Hayao Miyazaki is a pioneer who established Japanese animation industry as one of the leading film industries around the globe. Miyazaki is the only Japanese filmmaker to be awarded with the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, not just once but twice, as well as the Honorary Academy Award. (for Spirited Away and The Boy and The Heron). Miyazaki has proved himself as a one-man industry time after time, with animated blockbusters in Japan, which are loved all over the world, which is a testament to his resilience to this art form… after failing to retire for almost a thousand times.
The Wind Rises is based on a Miyazaki’s manga of the same name, which is a fictionalized account of Japanese aeronautical engineer Jiro Horikoshi’s life during second World War.
The title of the film is taken from the 1937 novel The Wind Has Risen by Hori Tatsuo. This might be overanalyzing, but Hori Tatsuo looks a lot like Jiro Horikoshi in the film, or the opposite. Or maybe Japanese people just look the same.
The Wind Rises is a distinct film amongst Miyazaki’s filmography as it is his only real-world event-based film. The waves of war, lurking in the times of 1920s and 30s Japan is ever-present in the film, along with a romantic turn in Horikoshi’s life. The film juxtaposes the event as well as Horikoshi’s personal struggles in an interesting way, with a question being the main theme of the entire film. Why do we dream?
Our dreams make us who we are. Jiro Horikoshi’s dream to fly a plane was obstructed by his poor eyesight, thus giving him the motivation to create the very planes he once dreamed of flying. The Wind Rises is not simply an animated film about love, war, pacifistic ideology, inner turmoil, dreams, and planes, it is cinema.
The Lion King, 1994
The Lion King was Disney’s biggest film in 1994, with the iconic 2D animation style being implemented one of the final times before Disney’s current 3D animation style took over. The detailed environment, well-crafted music, and emotionful expressions of the characters (in this case animals), makes for an experience that you cannot recreate.
Directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, The Lion King was a global success, critically and commercially, becoming the highest grossing animated film of all time at its release. Being one of the few good examples of a good musical film, The Lion King is also one of the most adapted, recreated and referenced animated films, also being remade in a complete photorealistic CGI format in 2019.
The 2019 remake of the The Lion King cemented the idea of live action remakes being nowhere near in comparison to the original. The remake earned a whole lot of money - more than 1.6 billion dollars - but was not critically successful and later on was forgotten by the audiences, calling it “emotionless” and “unoriginal”.
The Lion King is considered a masterpiece in animation, and not just a children’s movie, but an emotional story about a son and his father, the wholesome feeling of having a family, the quality time spent with friends, and about the circle of life.
Birth and Death, are part of this journey called Life. For a children’s movie, having such heavy themes, The Lion King deals with them in a simple and in children’s way as they say. How a child deals with his father’s death, and the trauma of leaving home, to become the one true king of the lands, after overthrowing the tyrannical rule of the mad tyrant, The Lion King shows all this, in ONE, SINGLE, FILM.
The story of one prince, who does all good and gets into his senses, understands the difference between cowardice and courage, to set his path against the tyrannical evil…
Wait a second!
Arjun: The Warrior Prince, 2012
Arjun: The Warrior Prince is an animated film based on the legends of Arjun from the Indian epic, Mahabharat. The story follows a non-linear narrative divided by the story of Uttar's mother, and the story of Arjun & Pandavas. As I said, Arjun, is one of the few times, when an Indian film has nailed the animation genre. It might not be the best work as compared to the previous two films, but it certainly established a landmark for Indian animation.
For children, in India, the animation is nothing but a medium of cartoons, with orthodox cartoons such as Motu Patlu and Chota Bheem being so backwards in their way of storytelling and presentation, that Indian animation has been on a constant setback since the past decade.
India, being the largest film production industry, should definitely delve into the world of animation, with the evergrowing number of audience in this country, as well as the media literate audience growing day by day, will definitely bring out the best of works from the cultures and diverse stories.
Again, this is just an opinionated blog and nothing much, you can have every sort of opinion and you can criticise or appreciate this if you want. Thank you, and I'll see you at the movies!