Favourite Miyazaki Movie

Noah asked (back on Ask an Atheist day), "What is your favourite Miyazaki movie?"



I should point out that I haven't seen all of his films. In fact, I haven't seen some of his must-see films. Notably, Nausicaä and Princess Mononoke.

Here's what I have seen, with some general thoughts:

The Castle of Cagliostro: My first Miyazaki movie. I'd seen scenes of it long back in high school thanks to the Cliff Hanger game. When I watched the movie, it was shocking how familiar it was. That said, of the movies on this list that I want to see a live action remake of, it's this one. It's just a good solid caper movie.

Castle in the Sky: I think I saw a bootleg copy of this movie back in the heyday of the Holt. There was no sub-titles and no dubbing, and since I don't speak Japanese, it was a little hard to follow (seriously, try to imagine getting from the start of this movie to the end without any exposition). But damn did it look like a lot of fun. I watched it again when Disney was rereleasing the Studio Ghibli films ten years ago.

My Neighbor Totoro: A quiet little kids film, despite some fairly adult topics. Fun, and spawned a wholly-invented creature to Japanese mythology. How powerful an image is Totoro in pop culture? If any other movie had introduced the Cat Bus, it would be beloved on that alone. This is one of the films you introduce the kids to.

Kiki's Delivery Service: Plot-wise this is probably the strongest of his movies. I also love the setting, characters, basically everything about it. I kinda want to live in this world.

Porco Rosso: He's an anti-fascist fighter pilot who's been magically turned into a pig. And he has adventures!

Spirited Away: Our heroine is a little hard to take, as most ten year olds are, but she sure grows on you. Another movie dense with characters and action.

Howl's Moving Castle: I need to rewatch this one. I saw it once and it didn't really grab me the way his other movies did.

Ponyo: Pure kid's movie.

The Secret World of Arrietty: Fascinating story of the borrowers, tiny people who live in your house, "borrowing" your lost stuff.

The Wind Rises: Probably Miyazaki's most adult feature. A quiet thoughtful piece on the impermanence of creation.

The films fall into three four categories for me: Films I haven't seen (The aforementioned Nausicaa, and Mononoke). Films that were OK (largely because they're aimed at children, like Ponyo, and The Cat Returns). Really good films (Castle in the Sky, Porco Rosso, Arriety, Howl's). Personal favourites (Totoro, Kiki, Spirited Away, Wind Rises, Cagliostro).

Of the favourites, I'm going to immediately take away Spirited Away. While it does have a lot going for it, the whole river-dragon subplot seemed out of left field to me. Possibly that's because I don't have a foundation of Japanese culture baked into me, and native Japanese people would have gotten it better.

Next out is Totoro. While it's full of whimsey, I find it doesn't keep my attention the way it used to.

The Castle of Cagliostro is a little dated and trope-y these days. I still want to see a live-action remake (I imagine something like the recent Man From UNCLE movie), but I'd really want a lot of changes were they to do so. It's out.

That leaves The Wind Rises and Kiki's Delivery Service. I'm more likely to identify with a male engineer than I am to a tweenage witch, but I just really like the world that Kiki inhabits, and the people she meets. I like the idea of a world without the world wars, instead of a world in the midst of a world war. I'm going to have to go with Kiki's Delivery Service as my favourite Miyazaki movie.

But I might change my mind.