Studio Ghibli Ranking and Reviews

Other studios: DreamWorks | Disney

With a catalogue of 23 films and only 4 I wouldn't consider actively good, Ghibli is a legendary studio. Frequently lead by Miyazaki for light-hearted adventure, Takahata has been there from the start putting out more serious pieces, and other directors get their chances to shine to mixed results (topping but also rounding out the bottom of the list).

While overseas Walt Disney's productions impress more in dynamic movement and choreography (especially come the renaissance), Ghibli stands out in the beautiful static backgrounds and strong art direction to convey worlds mixed parts grounded and fantastical. There's also a lot of attention paid to small, seemingly insignificant details, bringing more life and wonder to the characters and locales.

I'll start with a clean list, then review in release order. I've also started logging animated films on Letterboxd, excepting major studios since these big round-ups are very fun.

1. Whisper of the Heart
2. Only Yesterday
3. Spirited Away
4. Castle in the Sky
5. Howl's Moving Castle
6. Ponyo
7. Grave of the Fireflies
8. When Marnie Was There
9. My Neighbor Totoro
10. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
11. Kiki's Delivery Service
12. The Boy and the Heron
    
13. Pom Poko
14. Porco Rosso
15. From Up On Poppy Hill
16. Tales from Earthsea
17. Princess Mononoke
18. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
19. The Wind Rises
20. The Cat Returns
21. The Secret World of Arrietty
22. Ocean Waves
23. My Neighbors the Yamadas

 

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Gorgeous setting and art, a soundtrack to elevate it further, but it drags a bit in the middle where it goes away from natural scenery for the rudimentary politics and basic characters - at least compared to the manga. Expanding and improving upon this in the course of more than a decade makes for a masterpiece in that medium, and the movie that started it all remaining relevant at all is impressive, and with sound and full color the wild and imaginative world remains uniquely alluring.

Castle in the Sky

Incredible pacing as the action goes ever-crazier, a mythical fantasy setting entangled with the long-lost technology shaping it, and charming characters all-around finding their place within it. Seeing the underwater portion of Laputa is amazing every time, there's a real sense of loss in this ancient floating ruin. Yet, it is still better that this grand tool remains lost than for it to fall into the wrong hands. Miyazaki is a big fan of planes, and this really catches onto the sombre romanticism of flight (to leave, to rise above the world), and ties it into its characters and history.

Grave of the Fireflies

Captures humanity and the tragedy of war in devastating beauty. Such a draining, depressing affair, leaving no choice but to appreciate my own life in contrast.

My Neighbor Totoro

True to childhood in its whimsy and light-hearted mystery, small places and events having great impact and importance. The panicked search for her younger sister is a bit of a downer, making for a weird tonal shift.

Kiki's Delivery Service

The aesthetic is a bit generic at its base, but still nice and really pops any time variety is introduced, whether colorful skies as the sun sets or the spectacular flower arrangements. A lot of movement too to great effect, her lift-off when she needs to save the simp is full of energy to dispel all the built-up tension. I've never had an art block really but paralleling that with fluctuating magic abilities is pretty neat. Beyond that the plot is nothing special, never delivering on the stakes or danger they pretend is there, but it works as an excuse to see the charming cast in action (the tsundere baker husband winning my heart, but there's some competition).

Only Yesterday

A contemplation on how we are formed and shaped by influence that, while we may not like it, isn't always going in a bad direction. While you can't truly find your place in the world by following tradition and other people's expectations, doing the opposite is no better. Finding that better path while peppered with memories of childhood trauma, big and small, paints Taeko in rich colors as it builds to the wondrous climax. Also stunningly beautiful in ways I never imagined when deciding to rewatch, it was the story-focused one in my mind but now I am wiser and a folder of screenshots richer, from her soft colorful memories to stunning naturalistic vistas in the present.

Porco Rosso

I'm usually quite fond of the contrast going from mature and nuanced bits of dialogue and worldbuilding, to the lighthearted tone of the drama. This time I couldn't withstand the tonal whiplash though, as they establish this bleak war setting with a three-time widow fresh out of tears and a depressed man cursed to porcineity, only to paint on that canvas air pirates acting silly as they kidnap a bunch of kids, said kids also acting all silly as if they weren't about to face horrors if it was anywhere near as grounded as the main characters. The climax hinging on Buta winning a bet or Fio getting married off is also a bit uncomfortable. A lot of nice moments and writing, even if it doesn't fully come together.

Ocean Waves

A bad soap opera, as the film calls it, is pretty accurate. Such a simplistic style, even if the narrative beats in concept are fair (until the end where it's just a love triangle). Slightly comfy but every character is so overly dramatic and weird, I can't connect.

Pom Poko

It's cool seeing the transformations into various yōkai, the tricks they play (or wars they fight) on humans, and their internal festivities and meetings. Through these events they explore urbanization and adaption to a new age, notably with how foxes go about that very differently. It moves quite slowly however, without delving really deep in the themes or perioding it with a grand togetherness, so it feels like it could've been trimmed a bit to keep momentum.

Whisper of the Heart

Within the first 5 minutes they've established a world that feels so close with quarrelling high schoolers whether strangers or sisters - yet, there's a fantastical twist to it with a boy having borrowed every book Shizuku has read from the library. Expanded to the mysterious cat and more unbelievable coincidences, several times it feels as if it may break the relative normalcy to introduce some supernatural element.

Never giving in to that, art and the earnest pursuit of their passions is the real magic it offers. The band scene as its pinnacle, awkward and delightful in equal measure, the older generation harmonizing with and encouraging the young protagonists. The couple themselves gradually coming to value the other as a mirror, while finding what they want to pursue and doing so despite how exhausted and terrified it leaves them to bare their soul. 

Princess Mononoke

Superficially brilliant with amazing environmental art, often very heavy on green but breaking out stunning colors when it really matters like in the forest of the deer god. Stark, bloody action that flows with unreal lightness is an interesting choice to communicate tone and setting. Sadly, that setting doesn't really have much to it, very fantastical gods and monsters without managing to ground it. Nausicaä is the most direct comparison, both environmentalist Miyazaki movies, and it's a shame that even after making that into a manga masterpiece, this doesn't really reach the quality of even the film in most respects.

It's like fantasy to Nausicaä's alt-history, no real clear mechanics of how it all functions. Nausicaä's plot might be pretty basic, but it still makes me feel fondly for nature due to the cool insects and forest, this sea of decay that's formed as a natural response to human toxins. Humans have politics in the manga that are compelling, but still I tend towards rooting for the nature side because it's so interesting and beautiful, while in Mononoke it's more the other way around. The gods are entitled magical morons, while humans are carving out their place in the world with innovation and guts. The deer god that ignores the gun shooting him in the face to then destroy his own grove, the boar god that bemoans his kind's lowering intelligence only to be fooled by humans in boarskins (the same boar that lead a suicidal honorable charge to end his kind but then ran away when he himself got injured), these divine assholes have nothing on the charming dynamics of the ironworks community.

That touches on much of the plot as well and why it fails to capture me. Particularly with how weak the ending is, things go back more or less to normal, supposedly humans will still do the ironworks, San will live in the forest which is only half burned down, and worst to me was how there is just no resolution to the human vs human conflict that's a driving force throughout. Whether you're a misanthropic nature freak or an industrial simp or anything in between, I just don't understand how this lands in any way.

My Neighbors the Yamadas

I like the animation at times, the baseball scene at the TV and the road trip have a lot of movement that's not just panning or moving whole elements. Overall though, that can't carry fourty minutes of toxic family comic strip-scale melodrama, and there's a whole hour more that I didn't feel like sitting through.

Spirited Away

Deeply magical from the transportive story framework that introduces the setting, to the wonderful inhabitants working their day-to-day or taking a fancy monster vacation. Chihiro may be lost from the world, but slips right into her new fantastical role while trying to escape with her family, getting a close-up perspective on the inner workings on the bathhouse and dealing with the vivid clientele (personable in their own sense, but certainly dangerous). Progresses like a dream dancing whimsically between evocative situations and characters, only Chihiro keeping it all on track, to eventually let it all go and return to mundanity.

The Cat Returns

It's imaginative and charming, coming home to fabric all over the floor since her mother can't figure out which pattern to go for brings a ton of life to the setting initially. The events of the plot are relatively shallow though, with no weight to anything that happens. While the cat kingdom couldn't have been as detailed as in Whisper of the Heart given a reasonable budget, looking as generic as it does is a real shame.

Howl's Moving Castle

A lot of resonant themes and scenes, remarkably beautiful, but doesn't focus enough on what works so well. It's mostly about age, Sophie's visual age varying as she feels more confident in her love, Markl who pretends to be an old man but really wants to be a kid and play around, Howl who doesn't want to grow up, the witch who wants to regain her youth. Belonging is also a big focus with its many spaces and moving home, Howl giving Sophie that field of flowers, the lake where they wash clothes and Markl is so happy. It's really whimsical and colorful, and the age-related struggles mostly come forth in subtext but are still concluded really nicely. 

Then the other big theme is war being bad, which is a lot more heavy handed and gets in the way. There's a sense of hopelessness as every city around them burns and even after giving his heart to a demon Howl doesn't have much impact on the war continuing. Then at the end she kisses Turnip and he's a prince and he fixes everything. Howl doesn't want to grow old but also doesn't want to run away from the war, he has something to protect now, but what it should really be about is he has someone to grow old with now, he doesn't have to exist so fleetingly. Reading it like this, I really like their relationship and Howl's arc, but the film doesn't fully commit to that perspective.

Tales from Earthsea

This would be so easy to hate if it wasn't for someone at Ghibli being ridiculously good at drawing grass. Not to mention the glorious ruins, cities, bricks and rocks (they made buildings beautiful! It is nigh unmatched in this regard); and of course the clouds, whether backlit by a brilliant sun or looming over the full moon. In tone, emotion, maturity, character design (even if you ignore the whitewashing, lol) and story it fails wholly in adapting Le Guin's charming novels, but there is life and beauty to its world regardless.

Ponyo

Infused with such joy and charm, a touch of magic and beautiful animation to bring it to life. There's many parts I'm not sure of the exact significance of - the tunnel, the ritual of true love between two 5-year-olds, Ponyo sleeping/losing her magic, the old lady going against the sea guy, etc. There's definitely a lot of focus on death, but I'm not sold on it all being a metaphor for passing on or whatever. I buy the tunnel being some transitory symbol, but what that means for the events before and after that isn't really clear and reading it that way doesn't do anything to explain the things I mentioned. I love the juxtaposed darker tone though, whatever it means.

Arrietty

Such a basic movie with very little interesting or charming going on. Besides the liquid behaving differently because of surface tension, there's nothing new or delightful in its tiny world, very much a scaled down human home with a proper stove, decorated crockery, metal utensils etc. The characters are flat, fulfilling roles and archetypes without any work done to explain why they are like that and what motivations they have, and besides Arrietty and her father they're straight up not very charming or likeable.

The story goes nowhere, as they start scared of humans and end scared of humans, going from stealing stuff from one house to stealing stuff from another house because they got discovered. Besides a tiny scene with the crow and the cat at the start, animals (which should be terrifying to the miniature people) are completely glossed over. The entire human family line have seen or heard of the little people and spent tons of money to accommodate them and wanting them to have a nice time there, yet their psychopathic housekeeper is the only one who actually ends up interacting with them besides Sho for some shallow drama and tension. Because despite being so rudimentary and stepping around any real issues or dangers they could have faced, the movie is constantly trying to make it seem like they are in danger and refuses to simply be a chill slice of life story about tiny people stealing to live.

From Up on Poppy Hill

Doesn't aim very high but a cute little story about renovating a clubhouse, high school campus politics and youthful romance. The only real issue I have is the frequent vocalized music, making it feel more like generic shoujo than it generally is. Some really nice moments like their train ride home from Tokyo lingering on this delightfully awkward shot with just a bit of fitting vocal music. 

The Wind Rises

It might be an accurate documentary, but I don't think it works too well as a story. The main themes are the doomed relationship and his work, but they're both handled pretty briefly without even a focused atmosphere or tone to contextualize them. There isn't much depth of motivation and development in his ambitions, more time goes toward showing off plane design and physically what's going on in terms of travelling around to speak to clients etc. The love interest isn't much of a character at all, which creates shaky foundations for a relationship, let alone a love at first sight one. By the end of the 2 hours, I know what happened in Jiro's life and what he did, but I don't feel like I've gained much insight into why he did those things, or what he was like as a person. However, it is exceedingly beautiful, so many amazing skyscapes with clouds living a life of their own.

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

I thought it was a slight bit boring and overall just lacking in any drive or point. The animation, music etc. is nice in itself but doesn't come together to bolster any theme or narrative. Then she escapes, and it's magnificent. It returns to the same thing quickly, but these brief interludes of striking movement and energy elevates it a great deal.

The overarching story and ending don't do much for me, a life ruined by her vain and trashy father that still could've gone places if it wasn't for a momentary wish to leave Earth that she can't take back. I've only read a summary but the original 10th century tale seems to work better? Regardless, it's another case of visuals carrying a weak plot through a delightful visual style and rich atmosphere.

When Marnie Was There

In Yonebayashi's second and final feature for Ghibli, and the last film from the studio in a while, Arrietty's imitative floundering is washed away by a delightfully mysterious tale. It answers all questions in the end a bit too satisfyingly, leaving it feeling distinctly non-magical, but the story delivers on a broad scale and it's heartwarming seeing Anna learning the importance of having someone to trust and love.

While the execution is largely straight forward (and beautiful as always), I particularly liked how the scenes of the couple were constructed. It defaults to a leisurely, casual pace as they light-heartedly converse, open up about serious issues, and express love and sadness over personal history and struggles. Then it breaks it up with moments of excitement, fright and loneliness, as they disappear for each other and it transitions between dream and reality. An imaginary friend you leave behind to grow up is effective but nothing new in these kinds of stories, so it hits extra hard when Marnie leaves Anna behind in the silo, her imagination thrusting her back into the world and denying the comforting escapism of indulging in others' worries.

The Boy and the Heron

First, the dub. I never watch dubs so can't really compare, but this time for various reasons I did. Superficial storytelling, my investment in the characters, each world's allure, all were undoubtably affected by watching kind of a butchered version. Idk if there's a milder adjective for that, it's not that huge a deal (I wasn't expecting it to matter much at all), but it very much feels to me like a version tampered with and not fully representative of the work that went into the project. It was so distinct and distracting for the first half that I thought I'd have to omit writing anything like this until a rewatch.

To compare in storytelling to the rest of their catalogue and cover expectations: Miyazaki has often been the studio at its most understated and superficially effective. Totoro, Kiki, Castle in the Sky do not have complex storylines nor significant arcs for characters. Howl's Moving Castle has a bit of a messy overt story but still sticks the landing on that surface, Porco Rosso similar, The Wind Rises a bit of an exception as a biopic but that would be the worst I'd expect, something a bit dry. Their smaller directors like Yonebayashi and Goro try to capture that style, but tend to feel more immature and unpolished. Hence why I was surprised by Marnie being Yonebayashi because it worked so well, and this is the other way around. Maybe a deeper symbolic side of the storyline went over my head, but in terms of immediate appeal and the larger story I walked away disappointed without fully feeling I had just seen a Miyazaki film.

I don't mind the slow start, but outside of grieving for his mother and being drawn to this tower, there's not a lot to the main character. When he eventually gets into the other world, it is with a clear practical excuse, and he never loses sight of that, never gets tempted by staying there with his living mother (the recognition of whom doesn't seem to shake or affect him at all), doesn't seem to care about escaping from the pressures of the real world. So when the climax, as far as I could tell, was about him rescinding on the invitation to rule and take responsibility for this dream land, I didn't give a shit. Why would he do that? There's some animals, some unborn souls, some dead drifters, and a few humans temporally misplaced from him - how would he ever feel this a comfortable home, to have any draw? He has been a fleeting visitor (if that, given the poor hospitality) from when he first stepped foot to when it all comes tumbling down. The idea behind it is pretty simple but one I tend to like, whether the escapism is a grand character flaw (The Lion King) or an explicit plot point (Narnia, and the 2020 comic Die), but I feel like the execution just sucks here.

The artistry remains as the draw and it is amazing, yet also disappointing. Certain moments, like when he wakes up Natsuko in the forbidden room, she look straight up 3D animated (supposedly not used at all, so probably a combination of smoothness and hyperreal movement). A lot of fields of grass are animated fully at a smaller scope but when it zooms out too far, it becomes a messy smudge of motion instead of simply not animating it at that level of detail - decades of animation have not just gotten by but looked stunning while stylising larger fields of individual motion or having token animated bits among mostly static painting. This film uses some clunky special effects, motion blur, 3D etc., so I'm not sure if the grass is a distortion filter over the background, or fully CG animated, or actually hand-animated in a waste of time and effort. Anyway, lots of pretty natural backdrops as the standard for its presentation, with breathtaking pieces of imagery and dynamic color standing out frequently like in the paradisial garden.