Hayao Miyazaki, the anime director behind such classics as “Spirited Away” and “Ponyo,” has reportedly announced his retirement. Was the great Japanese animator greater than Walt Disney?

September 2, 2013, 12:18 PM

Hayao Miyazaki Retires: Was He Better Than Walt Disney?

By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

2001 – Studio Ghibli “Spirited Away.”

Reports that Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki is retiring has sent anime fans into mourning. But it should also send them to their DVD collections and to iTunes to watch his work and celebrate his genius. The news about the famed filmmaker’s retirement was announced yesterday at theVenice Film Festival, where the director’s latest movie,  “The Wind Rises,” received its international premiere, Variety reported. Miyazaki reportedly will give a press conference later this week. Representatives for DisneyDIS -0.41%, which distributes Miyazaki’s movies in the U.S., didn’t respond to a request for comment. Miyazaki was often likened to Walt Disney, but such comparisons sold both animators short.Over his career, the 72-year-old Miyazaki has been both beloved and somewhat mysterious, often remaining distant from the Western press, even as his films were warmly embraced by critics. Still little-known in the U.S., his movies are blockbusters in Japan, and are hugely influential around the world.

When I interviewed Miyazaki in 2009 shortly before the release of “Ponyo,” I found him to be anything but reclusive–he was was expansive in his answers, and quick to laugh.

Miyazaki directed such animated feature film classics as “Howl’s Moving Castle” (2004), “Kiki’s Delivery Service” (1989), “My Neighbor Totoro” (1988), “Castle in the Sky” (1986) and the Oscar-winning “Spirited Away” (2001).

Many of Miyazaki’s films explore the futility of war. His films often lack villains–and instead present opposing interests looking for resolutions. Miyazaki told me that growing up in Japan in the shadow of World War II shaped his outlook about conflict, but he tries to keep his views from coming across too “overtly.”

While Disney movies typically feature female protagonists only when they are princesses, and only a single Pixar movie, “Brave,” has had a female hero in the lead, Miyazaki’s movies routinely celebrate girls in central roles. “Kiki’s Delivery Service” was about a young witch’s coming of age; and in “Spirited Away” a young girl saves her family.

There’s no real debate over the genius of Disney. We’ll all get a closer look at the man (albeit through a dramatic lens) in the coming movie “Saving Mr. Banks,” in which he will be portrayed by Tom Hanks.

I recently took a trip to Orlando where the power of Disney’s commercial vision was reconfirmed, as I waited in long lines for rides and shopped for branded toys for family members. The recent release of Disney Infinity, the video game that features figurines of Disney characters, demonstrates how Disney’s imagination translates profitably into advancing technological times.

While none of Miyazaki’s films was a huge hit in the U.S., his influence on animation was global.

Protecting the environment is a major theme in Miyazaki’s works, and with the growing concern over global warming, his vision seems increasingly visionary. In “Ponyo,” man and nature are portrayed as out of balance, and the sea is depicted as full of refuse. “All I did is just draw how the sea has become, the way it is in reality,” Miyazaki told me.

I was first introduced to Miyazaki during a trip to Japan years ago. I stayed with a family friend, who told me that Miyazaki was “our Walt Disney.”

I’ve since learned that he was much more than that.