Which hayao miyazaki movie is the best

When it comes to young kids, there is no better place to start than My Neighbor Totoro. Seriously, try showing this movie to kids and 1 not go crazy after listening to the excellent, magical theme song for the film, and 2 not have them become addicted to Studio Ghibli. If there's one thing Miyazaki is incredibly good at, is making surprisingly rewatchable films where not a lot happens, but that still manage to charm and delight after viewings.

This is Miyazaki's most serene film, a masterpiece of soothing filmmaking with a simple story driven by the whims and imagination of two young sisters desperate to find escapism from their grim reality. Unfortunately, this is the first and only film made by Yoshifumi Kondo, who was being groomed as Miyazaki's successor but died a few years after the film's release. The film is the closest Ghibli gets to a proper romance movie, following a year-old aspiring writer named Shizuki who spends most of her time reading and picturing fantastical adventures rather than pursuing them herself.

When she meets a young aspiring violin maker, she instantly gets a crush on him, and is inspired to follow his lead and pursue her passions no matter what. What makes this a standout among Ghibli films is how it embraces both the importance of the creative process in how young people make sense of a chaotic world, and also how difficult and not-straightforward it can be. Shizuki is a diamond in the rough, and she eventually comes to terms with it.

The characters in Whispers of the Heart know there will always be people better than them, and they don't become world-class artists yet, but they are okay with it, because this is only the start of their journey, and they have to experience all of it.

There's a reason why footage from this film became the background animation for "Lofi Girl," a channel that fueled countless students and young creatives' inspiration sessions. Plus, did I mention that the plot revolves around John Denver's ode to the feeling of comfort and belonging? There's a reason why Spirited Away held on as the highest-grossing anime film for nearly two decades after its release, and why this was the first Ghibli movie to win an Academy Award.

For starters, this is perhaps the most accessible Ghibli film, combining the spiritual themes Hayao Miyazaki explores over and over again, with a simple yet very effective modern take on the Wizard of Oz "isekai" story that is now extremely prominent in seasonal TV anime.

We follow Chihiro, a year-old girl who finds herself trapped in a sort of resort for supernatural beings and spirits, and has to find a way to free her parents from a horrible curse. It must be said that, though this is a movie for kids, it is genuinely scary. Chihiro discovering what happened to her parents is a grotesque, scary, and ugly scene that sets the mood for the rest of the film, and many of the dozens of spirits can give you nightmares if watched too early.

Of course, this is still Ghibli, so there's a whimsical tone to the movie that perfectly balances the horror imagery, as it stays centered on the coming-of-age tale of Chihiro herself. A trend with Ghibli is that their female protagonists are both empowered and vulnerable in a way that no other studio manages to do, and this is no exception. Animation-wise, Spirited Away is a true marvel, bringing dozens of unique characters to life in a way that rivals any other animated film.

It's a shame we'll likely never get to see what Tarantino had in store for Star Trek. He specializes in writing about horror and animation, and yearns for the day a good animated horror project comes along so he can combine the two. Without further ado, here are the best Studio Ghibli movies, ranked.

Earwig and the Witch Image via Studio Ghibli. Image via Studio Ghibli. This mid-career Miyazaki is an all-out pulp adventure story, whose grouchy pilot protagonist happens to be cursed with the face of a pig. The filmmaker's love of all things airborne is given free rein in dazzling dogfighting sequences, set against brilliant blue skies and crystal seas — a visual palette of bold primary colours that extends to Porco's own deep-red plane.

Beyond the old-school derring-do and gorgeous evocation of s Italy, the film has a sweetly melancholic romantic streak. A pacy, porcine pleasure. The final film from Isao Takahata is a thing of utter beauty — with a charcoal-meets-watercolour visual style unlike any other Ghibli film, or any other movie full-stop. The stunning impact of the imagery flowing across the screen never diminishes over its considerable nearminute runtime.

It's the perfect way to tell a traditional Japanese folktale, in which a bamboo cutter discovers a tiny girl in a bamboo shoot, raising her into a young woman whose beauty becomes desired by high society. If it's not a thrilling whiz-bang adventure, it's undeniably an absolute work of art. Even if it bears a completely different visual style — with an almost pencil-like texture and a distinct lack of anime-isms — thematically it's pure Ghibli: a quietly profound fable that explores the human experience and our relationship with nature.

What begins as a simple shipwreck story becomes much more — an incredibly emotional experience told entirely without words, letting its meditative, abstract imagery do all of the talking.

This supposed swansong from Miyazaki who later announced his upcoming comeback encompasses all of his cinematic obsessions: Japanese history, the power of dreams, the beauty of flying machines, and the impact of war. A sort-of biopic of Jiro Horikoshi, the designer of the Zero plane used by the Japanese airforce during World War II, it's a deeply moving and elegiac portrait of a man whose pure pursuit of his dreams faces corruption — dedicating his life to inventing a beautiful aircraft that will ultimately be used to cause murder and mass destruction.

Sumptuous in every way — particularly its astonishing dream sequences. Ghibli's follow-up to Spirited Away proved another mainstream success — a loose adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones' fantasy novel that acts as a launch-pad for Miyazaki's boundless creativity.

The house of the title is a magnificent thing — a clanking, wheezing, steampunk-esque creation — while the burgeoning love story between the vain Howl a wizard and sometime-birdperson and central hero Sophie who spends much of the runtime trapped in the body of an old woman is swoon-worthy, bolstered by one of Joe Hisaishi's most magical scores.

This quasi-adaptation of The Little Mermaid is sometimes wrongfully considered minor Miyazaki — it's ridiculously charming, with animation that dazzles even by Ghibli standards. It's a sweet, all-ages-appropriate story of a fish-girl who befriends a land-boy, and the underwater world proves a perfect canvas for Miyazaki's vibrant imagination.

Its opening ascent from the seabed to the surface is one of the all-time-great Ghibli sequences, and for all its cuteness don't even try resisting the film's jaunty theme it finds the filmmaker understandably furious about humanity's pollution of the oceans.

The film that brought Ghibli to mainstream audiences. For a Western world raised on Disney traditions, Spirited Away offered something completely different — bearing an unapologetically-anime visual style and steeped in distinctly Japanese traditions. A young woman is turned into an old woman by a witch, and she needs the help of a wizard with a moving castle.

Princess Mononoke is not messing around. It was my favorite Miyazaki film until…. The greatest animated film of all time fight me , Spirited Away is about a year-old girl who moves to a new town, but somehow finds herself in a world of spirits where her parents are turned into pigs and she has to work to get them out and go back home.

And this is one of the only movies that has ever made me cry, but they were tears of joy. Honestly, nothing comes close.

But what do you think is his best film? Let me know in the comments. Lover of Avatar The Last Airbender, not the blue people , video games, and anything 90s, he will talk your ear off about Godzilla, so don't get him started. Rich Knight. Your Daily Blend of Entertainment News. Synopsis: A lifelong love of flight inspires Japanese aviation engineer Jiro Horikoshi, whose storied career includes the creation of the A-6M Synopsis: During a forbidden excursion to see the surface world, a goldfish princess encounters a human boy named Sosuke, who gives Synopsis: A prince becomes involved in the struggle between a forest princess and the encroachment of mechanization Synopsis: This acclaimed animated tale by director Hayao Miyazaki follows schoolgirl Satsuke and her younger sister, Mei, as they settle into Synopsis: Young orphan Sheeta and her kidnapper, Col.

Muska, are flying to a military prison when their plane is attacked by Synopsis: year-old Chihiro Daveigh Chase moves with her parents to a new home in the Japanese countryside. After taking a wrong