Hayao Miyazaki

A sweet, soft-hearted and imaginative film. The fantastical elements are pure perfection, the attention to detail is simply stunning. It's a film that every kid should have the chance to experience.

It is great to see Miyazaki return to his former self after 15 years, Ponyo is certainly up there with the best of his work and is a good step up from Mononoke, Chihiro and Howl.

The Wind Rises is a more than worthy closing act. It's one of Miyazaki's very best films, a stunning ode to passion and perseverance in the face of a looming war.

Porco Rosso remains one of my favorite Miyazaki films. Personally, I prefer his softer, smaller films over his big epics, as they are more aimed at atmosphere and less at getting a message across

Howl's Moving Castle is high fantasy. That's not really my preferred Miyazaki material, but the level of execution is so perfect here that it hardly bothered me at all. The animation is superb, the characters are charming and the pacing is exactly right. Not his best film, I prefer his more modest narratives, but great fun nonetheless and a must for animation fans.

A sprawling adventure from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki. Laputa hasn't lost much of its charm over the years. The flying islands, mystical robots and bickering pirates are still as fun to discover as the first time I watched Laputa. Combined with top-notch animation, a slightly darker edge and perfect pacing, it makes for a lovely film.

Hayao Miyazaki's most popular film. Not my personal favorite, I still feel there are some pacing issues at the start, I also think Miyazaki fares better when he favors subtlety over grandeur, but there are definitely moments of genius here and by the end it does feel as if you just witnessed something epic. One for the ages.

Miyazaki's second farewell movie. While I was happy to get a new Miyazaki film, I must admit that The Wind Rises was more suitable as a career finale. The Boy and the Heron feels like an amalgam of Miyazaki's oeuvre, taking cues from many of his previous films. While interesting in its own right, it also makes it one of his most redundant films, as it doesn't add anything substantial to Miyazaki's existing oeuvre. The animation is sublime, the fantasy elements are wondrous and the film is extremely polished, but in the end, it's quintessential Miyazaki. Word is he's already considering a new film, so maybe he'll surprise us with a second encore.

Not Miyazaki's most memorable film, also not his most accomplished one, and yet it's almost impossible to call out any flaws. It's quintessential Miyazaki, with an idyllic European setting, a simple but loving coming of age story about a young witch and her cat, lushly crafted environments and an overwhelming sense of warmth that makes every scene a joy to behold. A film that has a tendency to slowly fade away over time, but never fails to amaze whenever I watch it again. A true Ghibli classic.

Made in the same year as Nausicaa, this compact Conan the Future Boy film signaled the talent that was about to blossom. Miyazaki wasn't quite there though. While a fun and amusing little film, the animation, his usual eye for detail and the pacing weren't up to par with his later work.