Here’s an excerpt of what Hideaki Anno had to say about the new movies in 2007. The complete text is available on Funimation’s web site, although not properly credited:

The visual work called Evangelion is composed of a variety of desires.

The desire to put our own honest feelings on film.
The desire to convey to as many people as possible the fundamental
appeal of touching primitive emotions and how versatile the medium
of animation is in its expression and images that it is capable of realizing.
The desire to take the exhausted animation of Japan and carry it into the future.
The desire to shatter the spreading sense of helplessness.
The desire to carry on the strength of spirit that lives on in the real world.

The desire to realize these desires once again.