“The Wind Rises” and “Ernest & Celestine” Win Critic Prizes

A critical consensus is beginning to form around Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises as the best animated film of 2013. Following up on its National Board of Reviewa and New York Film Critics Circle recognition, Miyazaki’s final feature film was honored as the year’s best animated film by the Boston Society of Film Critics. The film did not earn its honor without some controversy. One Boston critic, Inkoo Kang, argued against the film, calling it ‘morally repugnant’ because of its whitewashing of Japanese war crimes during World War II. She provided a copy of her dissenting statement to Criticwire.

Meanwhile on the West Coast, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association handed out their best animated feature award to the hand-drawn French animated feature Ernest & Celestine, directed by Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar and Benjamin Renner. Their runner-up film was, of course, The Wind Rises.