Trivia

Often called "the Walt Disney of Hungary". Jankovics actually had an ambivalent opinion on Disney's work. He has praised Disney's devotion to animation, the artistic expression and grotesque humor of his short films and some of his theatrical features. But he has also slammed Disney's reliance on emotionally manipulative schmaltz and kitsch, his unrealistically idealized heroes and heroines, his attempts to appease audiences' tastes at the expense of artistry, and for his overwhelming influence on how animation is produced and perceived worldwide.

Outside of the field of animation, he was an expert on history, folklore, folk symbolism and graphic design, and created artwork for a number of books on folk tales, as well as held innumerable lectures and even oversaw museum exhibits.

Disliked 3D computer animation. He used to say that traditional, hand-drawn 2D animation is art (in his native tongue, "müvészet"), while 3D animation is trickery ("büvészet").

Was an advocate of the notion that all films should be different from each other. In his view, if a movie looked or felt like another, then there was no point in making it.

In Japanese media outlets, he's often called the "Hungarian Hayao Miyazaki".

Having grown up in socialist Hungary behind the Iron Curtain, the animation he had watched in his youth consisted almost entirely of Soviet animated works and a handful of Disney movies and shorts.

In his eulogy spoken at Jankovics's funeral, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán named Jankovics one of the very last polymaths of the world, referring to his wide-spanning talents and his artistic, cultural and educational endeavors. He praised Jankovics's devotion to his Hungarian heritage and culture, and for never pandering to Western tastes and sensibilities with his works. However, in the same eulogy Orbán also criticized Jankovics for focusing on art and culture over politics, and admitted he had wanted to use Jankovics's cultural influence to "destroy" the political left.

Considered productions like Star Wars, Harry Potter and films adapted from superhero comics completely worthless, as he felt they lack artistic merit and were only made to dazzle audiences with cheap tricks. He disliked futuristic science fiction in general, feeling it diverts people's attention from the issues of today, and argued that people should focus more on our old traditions and our ancestors' wisdom instead. Jankovics wrote articles and essays criticizing contemporary pop culture and the reinterpretation of old folk tales, saying no classical stories should ever be updated and old literary stereotypes and cliches should always be preserved even if they are considered offensive to modern sensibilities.