personification

His films consistently animate inanimate objects and natural forces with distinct personalities, from living castles to spirits embodying human emotions and environmental concepts.

He masterfully personifies monsters, creatures, and even architectural spaces as complex characters with agency and emotion, blurring the line between the monstrous and the sympathetic.

His whimsical visual storytelling frequently attributes human qualities and emotions to everyday objects, landscapes, and abstract concepts through inventive practical effects and metaphor.