![]() ![]() This being Takahata, you shouldn't count on Pom Poko having a cheerful ending, especially given that the film is based around a real residential development around Tokyo that already existed by the time the film was released. Defending nature is a group of tanuki (or raccoon dogs) who aren't afraid of haunting nearby construction sites to put the fear of god into people by using their huge scrotums to shapeshift. Though Grave of the Firefliesis Isao Takahata's rawest and darkest film, this is his version of Princess Mononoke - a furiously angry dark comedy about nature striking back against suburban development. ![]() Studio Ghibli has a lot of weird films, but there's no film as balls-to-the-wall weird as the one with the giant magical tanuki scrotums. RELATED: Studio Ghibli Just Released 400 Free Images From Their Beautiful Anime Movies Of course, Miyazaki is not going to just give us an adventure movie, because he also takes the opportunity to comment on the rise of fascism in Italy during the 1930s, with Mussolini's face a constant presence in the background, talk of secret police becoming more prominent, a flashback scene that walks the line between fantastical and super grounded in reality, all leading to a rallying cry that feels all the more powerful today: "I'd rather be a pig than a fascist." Porco is one of Ghibli's most memorable characters, a classic hotshot, chauvinistic adventure-movie star you could totally see Humphrey Bogart play if it was made in the 1940s. This is a love letter to WWII-era epics like Casablanca, following an Italian flying ace in the 1930s hunting air pirates in the Adriatic Sea, only he also has the face of a pig. Though it may feel a bit redundant if you watch Mononoke beforehand, the worldbuilding, creature design, and more optimistic ending to Nausicaa make this a film worth seeking out.Ī great movie made infinitely better by having Michael Keaton voice the titular character in the US dub, Porco Rosso is Ghibli's most straightforward action/adventure film. The titular Nausicaä is a princess who sets out to stop a militaristic faction from resurrecting an ancient living weapon to reinforce humanity's dominance over nature. The film is set in the far future, where the air has become so toxic that humans are forced to wear face masks and live in isolated cities to protect themselves from giant mutant insects. What differentiates Nausicaa is that it doesn't offer the same nuance approach to villains that Mononoke has, because it doesn't extend them any sympathy. It's a less graphic version of Princess Mononoke that nevertheless shares its anger at the way humans treat nature. Though it was made before the actual founding of Studio Ghibli, Nausicäa of the Valley of the Wind gives viewers a glimpse into much of what would make Studio Ghibli the powerhouse it'd become. Without further ado, here are the best Studio Ghibli movies, ranked. Before we start, however, it must be noted that we are counting Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind because it's the film that directly led to the foundation of Studio Ghibli, and had most of its creative team join Ghibli right afterward. ![]() In short, nearly all the Ghibli films are worth your time, but everyone likes to organize things, so we'll try to provide a totally objective, definitive, and universal ranking of the Studio Ghibli films. Where any other studio or filmmaker would focus on the feeling of wanting to get away from home to live an extraordinary life, Ghibli films understand that there is magic in day-to-day life too. More than anything, the works of Studio Ghibli do a great job romanticizing the ordinary. This makes ranking their 23 feature films a nearly impossible task, given how different a whimsical movie about a young witch is from a drama about a WWII airplane designer, from a movie about shapeshifting raccoon dogs fighting urbanization. Everyone from Guillermo del Toro, to Wes Anderson, to the animators at Cartoon Saloon, have been influenced by the works of Studio Ghibli. It's no wonder, then, to see how influential the work initiated by friends and longtime collaborators Hayao Miyazakiand Isao Takahata has been on the industry. The studio has given us unforgettable classic fairytale-like movies aimed at kids, complex and mature fantasy epics, and tragic and beautiful dramas in a relatively short period of time. What's most remarkable about Ghibli is just how varied their output has been. ![]()
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