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10. Pom Poko

There are a number of brilliant films that you won’t see on this list, firstly because when you are ranking Studio Ghibli films the field is incredibly strong and secondly I am going for my favourites here rather than the best. Take Grave of the Fireflies for example, which is a superb movie but so so upsetting. Similarly The Tale of Princess Kaguya has a sweet, touching story and the most beautiful animation but there are just others I enjoy more. So here we are at number ten then with Pom Poko, the utterly bonkers but very funny movie about a gaze of magical shapeshifting raccoons who wage a quite violent war on the humans who are destroying their habitat. (Check out me and my ability to Google animal’s collective nouns.) Darkly comic and captivating, this lesser known Ghibli movie surprises and delights in equal measure.

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9. Princess Mononoke

This film typically comes higher on lists like this but for me it doesn’t quite find the balance of tone that other Ghibli films achieve. Still though, it is a truly epic and magnificent story full of stunning imagination and great characterisation. Sharing an environmental message with Pom Poko and several of the studio’s other films, with properly disturbing imagery and several random decapitations, there is still nothing quite like this in Ghibi’s catalogue, or anywhere else.

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8. Howl’s Moving Castle

Ghibli have successfully transferred a number of books to the screen, which is actually quite rare for the big animation studios. Disney have clearly made films of lots of traditional stories but their closest novel adaptations, like The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Tarzan, typically vary a lot from the source material. Only 101 Dalmatians is a close interpretation. When Ghibli do this though they tend to keep more of the original story, albeit with their own style and flair.

As it is, it might be this that holds Howl’s Moving Castle, taken from Diana Wynne Jones’ 1986 book, away from a higher spot on this list; there is just a tad too much story and it lacks some of the beautiful simplicity of their other work. Still though, it is a compelling adventure with some spectacular design. The castle in Wynne Jones’ novel moves but it doesn’t walk. That is all Ghibi, or more specifically it is all Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki is the legendary studio founder who directed twelve of Ghibli’s movies, including Princess Mononoke (he also wrote all of these ten along with three others), and his focus on globalisation, environmentalism, the complexity of people, human relationships and magic find perfect realisation here.

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7. Porco Rosso

Also one of Miyazaki’s films as director, this builds around another of his loves; aviation. You see a lot of planes in Ghibli movies but never more than here and in The Wind Rises. Unlike that last movie though, Porco Rosso mixes the craft of flight with an element of fantasy and an old fashioned tale of heroism and ill fated love. Oh, and for reasons that are never fully explained the protagonist is a pig. In fact the way the film handles the porcine nature of its titular WW1 flying ace may be its trump card. You get enough information to suggest why he is like he is but are also left to fill in a few gaps and it is here where this otherwise quite broadly comedic film treats its audience with real intelligence. It also steers away from any pat endings. Porco Rosso is like a joyous amalgam of Beauty & the Beast, Dastardly & Muttley and The Best Years of Our Lives while being wonderfully and absolutely it’s own thing.

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6. Arrietty

Another literary adaptation, this time of The Borrowers by Mary Norton, this movie is one that has that appealing simplicity mentioned earlier. It tells the story of a family of minuscule people that live in the fabric of a regular house on the outskirts of Tokyo (transposed from Leighton Buzzard in this version). There real treats in seeing young Arrietty, with a ‘giant’ peg in her hair and a needle sword at her side, navigating the dangers of an environment that is not built for her and her parents. The story is relatively low on peril but high on charm and it a good example of how Japanese and English sensibilities around rural domesticity, family duty and childhood are quite aligned.

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5. The Boy and the Heron

Miyazaki announced his retirement in 2014 and in response the studio promptly shut down production. At this point Arrietty director Hiromasa Yonebayashi and established Ghibli producer Yoshiaki Nishimura promptly left and started up their own company which to date has released just one feature film, Mary & the Witch’s Flower. That film came out in 2017 by which time Miyazaki had already changed his mind and started work on a new movie. It’s taken a while but The Boy and the Heron is that film. Having played in its home country, and a few international film festivals, it is currently getting a star studded dub in time to come out in the UK in December.

It’s a big deal to have Miyazaki back and the movie does not disappoint. This has the same sense of magical adventure as the best of his work while still being grounded in some reality. There is a bit of Grave of the Fireflies here with an opening scene around a cataclysmic fire, as well as some of the home life seen with Totoro and Arrietty and a fantasy land akin to Spirited Away, but it still has its own distinct identity with a touching story about grief and belonging.

The film feels as though it has different chapters which keeps it focused and accessible as well and everything that you love about what this man and this studio puts on screen is there. It has that artful mix of different levels of detail where people in crowds have no faces but in the bird close ups you can see every strand on every feather, and it’s young hero, untypically a male here, is an endearing combination of bravery and caution, as all of Ghibi’s adolescent leads are.

Welcome back master.

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4. The Cat Returns

I have not talked much about the voice work in these films, either the Japanese or English, but the sounds of Cary Elwes’ clipped tones coming out of the mouth of gentlemen cat The Baron in this movie is just such a delight. Elwes is playing the same character as he did in Whisper of the Heart, but here in a much expanded part and with all the sophisticated charm and cool heroism he gave in The Princess Bride.

This is just one of the many treats in The Cat Returns though, as the narrative follows a young girl rewarded for saving a wayward puss in the street by being whisked off to a feline fantasy land where she fights to retain her independence and humanity. Ghibli stories are full of surprises but this one has more than most as some big character secrets are revealed and other players odd motivations take things in amusing directions. It is all just such a lot of fun.

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3. Spirited Away

This is the film that introduced a lot of people outside Japan to the wonder of Studio Ghibli when then head of Pixar John Lasseter, who had become a friend of Miyazaki, persuaded Disney to distribute the film in America with a dub that he himself oversaw. It went on to make big bucks around the world and won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, being to date the only non-English-language animated film to do so.

It’s a good Ghibli movie to start with as it features many of the studio’s signature elements with a young protagonist finding their way in a fantasy world as they strive to succeed on a mission around their own identity and sense of belonging. Seven of the films on this list are built around a similar idea. The imagination and design that defines the work of this studio is also present and then some. More than this though it has the most touchingly beautiful and magical adventure at its heart. It is just enchanting.

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2. Kiki’s Delivery Service

Kiki’s Delivery Service has so much of what makes a lot of these film’s great but it edges to the top because of its lead character; a charming and kind young witch who while trying to make her way in the world discovers that having a flying broom lends itself well to a certain profession. There are no ancient spirits or anthropomorphic creatures in her adventure. She’s just a girl who is helping people out, albeit a magic girl but even this element is reigned in. Jiji is also another great feline character.

It has to be said that Japanese animation is great if you love cats (they are a big part of the country’s culture) and Ghibli really leans into this.

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1. My Neighbour Totoro

How can it not be My Neighbour Totoro at the top, Everything that this studio excels at; the focus on family, the creation of magical creatures, the reverence it gives children, the depiction of the realities of life, celebrating the natural world, whimsy and strong but uncomplicated characterisation, all find the most perfect balance here. More than this thought My Neighbour Totoro is their most heartwarming, most universally accessible and most charming movie. It really is the definitive Ghibli film.

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