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War of the Words:

The Oscar for Best Animated Feature goes to...

Image © 2013 Hatake Jimusho - GNDHDDTK

» Princess Kaguya the next ‘Spirited Away’

Jerrison Oracion
Senior Columnist

t has been 12 years since Spirited Away
won the Academy Award for Best
Animated Feature Film. It was Studio
Ghibli’s biggest success and is still the
highest grossing film in Japan. It amazed
a lot of people with its animation and
it inspired many to make films that are
similar. Recently, one of the founders
of Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki,
announced that he will retire after he

makes Studio Ghibli’s recent film The
Tale of Princess Kaguya, nominated in
the Academy Awards for Best Animated
Feature Film this year, one to see.

The film is made by the lesser known
founder of Studio Ghibli, Isao Takahata,
which is his first film in 14 years. It might
be the last film that is made by Studio
Ghibli that will be nominated by the
Academy. Studio Ghibli’s next films will

Yonebayashi, who might be the next
Miyazaki and Takahata respectively.

The Tale of Princess Kaguya is based
on the Japanese folktale The Tale of the
Bamboo Cutter. Takahata referenced it
in his previous film My Neighbors the
Yamadas. The film talks about a girl who
does not want to be a princess. So she
goes through various obstacles to get back

: to the countryside.

The story involves a bamboo cutter

: named Okina (James Caan) who finds

: a little—literally little—princess in a

: bamboo tree. Okina and his wife, Ona

: (Mary Steenburgen) name her Princess

: (Chloé Grace Moretz). They raise her in

: a country lifestyle and she grows bigger

: every day. Next, Okina decides that

: Princess should go to the capital to be a

: princess. There she’s named, Kaguya. But
: she believes that her lifestyle is fake in the
: capital.

made his last film The Wind Rises—which :

The film is presented in the same

: style as My Neighbors the Yamadas. The
: watercolour images are used in a way

: that does not look like a cartoon. It has a
: lot of colours, showing the beauty of the
: Japanese countryside.

There are various aspects of the film

that reference Takahata’s earlier works
: and Spirited Away. Lucy Liu’s narration
: in the film is like someone reading a

: children’s book.

be made by Goro Miyazaki and Hiromasa_:

However, the ending of the film was

sudden and disappointing. While all of
: the films that are nominated this year

: have great animation in them, some of
: them have disadvantages.

The reason why The Tale of Princess

Kaguya should win the Academy Award
: for Best Animated Feature Film this year
: is because of the beautiful watercolour

: images and the great story.

 

 

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» ‘The Boxtrolls’

Brittney MacDonald
Life & Style Editor

Now I never tell people what
they should vote for when Oscars
time rolls around. Not that their votes
matter anyway, I’m pretty sure I don't
know any members of the Academy. But
when we, as consumers of the almighty
film reel, are gifted with something as
amazing and intricate as The Boxtrolls, |
have to speak up.

Too often I hear people nowadays
discredit stop-motion animation
as aesthetically “creepy” or not as
impressive as the computer graphics
(CG) epics like Big Hero 6. Yet when a
film like The Tale of The Princess Kaguya
is suddenly talked up—not only because
of its narrative, which I will admit is
beautiful—but because it employs
traditional animation (i.e., hand-drawn
frames), which is considered so much
more tedious and difficult than CG, I
have to wonder: what makes that more
valuable than stop-motion animation?

If we’re measuring a film by depth
of process and dedication of team then
hands down The Boxtrolls should win.
As someone who has attempted stop-
motion animation before, it is far more
difficult than any traditionally animated
film. Not only does every character need
to be modelled, but they also need to be

 

Image © 2013 LAIKA Inc. / Focus Features, LLC

: modelled for every movement that they
: will make during the duration of the
: film.

To put it into perspective, one of

: the most famous stop-motion animated
: films in recent history is The Nightmare

: Before Christmas. The main character,

: Jack Skellington, had over 500 heads.

: And that was just his head! Imagine how
: many pieces it took to animate the rest

: of him!

All of those models must be

: sculpted by hand, unlike traditional
: animation where frames can be traced
: over top one another.

Of course none of this would matter

if the concept and the writing weren't

: good. I loved the story behind this film.
: Not only is it wonderfully imaginative,

: but it also teaches valuable lessons

: against classism, limiting yourself with
: preconceived notions, and what makes
: a family.

In my opinion, though The Tale

of The Princess Kaguya is wonderfully

: written, so are all of the nominees for

: the Best Animated Film category. From
: Big Hero 6 to How to Train Your Dragon
: 2, well-written, family-centric narratives
: were really big this year. Nevertheless,

: only one movie goes that one step

: beyond with its animation style, and I

: definitely think it should be rewarded

: for that.