Favorite Film by Studio Ghibli

What is/are your favorite Studio Ghibli movie(s)? Mine would have to be Hayao Miyazaki's Laputa: The Castle in the Sky. My goodness, what a wonderful film. When I first saw it, I watched it every night for over a week afterwards.

I'll have to go with Princess Mononoke. I saw it the same day I saw Metropolis for the first time. I'd seen the silent film Metropolis and was really excited to see the animated version. I thought it was great but afterwards I watched Mononke not really expecting anything (I'd never seen a Ghibli film before).
...Needless to say I was completely blown away. The animation, the angst, the incredible story! I've seen Kiki's Delivery Service and Spirited Away since then but still none compare. Not only my absolute favorite Ghibli film but somewhere in my top five animated films of all time.

That's a toughie, since I've seen almost all the long films:

Nausicaa
Castle Cagliostro
Totoro
Laputa
Kiki's Delivery Service
Porco Rosso
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away

Each has something about it I admire. If I were to choose just one, I would go with Porco Rosso. I like the whole "end of an era" feel to the movie, including the aging sky pirates, the bounty hunter, and the kid looking to knock off the champion to make his reputation. I also like Fio and Gina, the two women in the movie, very much.

Pygmalion

Kiki's and Spirited Away aare my faves.

KiKi's Dilvery Service (sorry my spelling sucks)

Mononoke-Hime (Princess Mononoke)

Sen to Chiihirro (Spirited Away)

My Neighbor Totoro

Castle of Cagliostro

My favorites include Princess Mononoke and Kiki's Delivery Service. Although it's been a very long time since I've seen Kiki and Mononoke, these were the best, and only movies I've seen of Studio Ghibli.

Later,
Trisa

I'll have to agree with Pyg on this one. They're all of such admirable quality that its hard for one great piece to stand out amongst the others...

There was something about PR that felt different to me. So it gets my vote.

quote:

Originally posted by Trisa My favorites include Princess Mononoke and Kiki's Delivery Service. Although it's been a very long time since I've seen Kiki and Mononoke, these were the best, and only movies I've seen of Studio Ghibli. Later, Trisa

Someone needs to head over to Best Buy right now

Right now I'd say Spirited Away (if only the John Lasseter intro were skippable ),

but it is so difficult...ask me tomorrow and it might be Kiki, or Mononoke, or Pom Poko. And how can you not love totoro?

Hmm. It's very hard to put one above the other. I can not help but admire the meticulousness of the worlds created in Nausicaa and Laputa, but honestly I love Totoro and Spirited Away the most because they appear to be the closest to our reality.

I probalby like Mononoke-hime the least as I feel it echoes themes from Nausicaa and is a bit heavy-handed.

And what about the other TAkahata films? You didn't mention those but if we're going to evaluate Grave of the Fireflies , The Cat Returns, or Whisper of the Heart... it becomes much more difficult to really think about what is truly a favorite.

Takahata is even better at placing his films in the real world, and his GotF just killed me. I remember just bawling and bawling and feeling so heavy hearted for an entire day and evening after watching it.

It is probably the most significant work from Ghibli, but in terms of rewatchability it is not rewatchable. :-/ Not unless you want to feel depressed all over again.

Whisper of the heart rocked. But The Cat Returns... that is just crazy! I still loved it though.

quote:

Originally posted by s-girl Takahata is even better at placing his films in the real world, and his GotF just killed me. I remember just bawling and bawling and feeling so heavy hearted for an entire day and evening after watching it. It is probably the most significant work from Ghibli, but in terms of rewatchability it is not rewatchable. :-/ Not unless you want to feel depressed all over again.

I agree, Grave of the Fireflies was a real shocker. Great goodness, what a depressing film!

This is the type of movie that makes you cross your fingers for a happy ending, but unfortunately there isn't. However, Grave of the Fireflies does demonstrate the horrors of war and it's true effects on innocent people. I strongly recommend only renting this movie, and give it some thought before watching it if you're the emotional type.

Mmmmmm.....this is a hard question. It would either have to be My Nieghbor Totoru. (sp) or KiKi's Deilvery Service. When I first saw KDS on Disney I just wanted to see it over and over again. I like JiJi's vocie.

Just so you know I like all of the movies.

I like PORCO ROSSO the best, though I like all of Miyazaki's films. I've seen most of them a zillion times.

CASTEL IN THE SKY!! AW! So good!!I LOVED THAT ONE!! Hmm I am also in live with Kiki's Delivery Servicce, Spirited Away, Monoke, hmm... HEHEH ! Oh! Totro too! ^_^"" I am probably in love with those filsm ans others of hs too! ^_^"""

quote:

Originally posted by Avenir quote: Originally posted by s-girlTakahata is even better at placing his films in the real world, and his GotF just killed me. I remember just bawling and bawling and feeling so heavy hearted for an entire day and evening after watching it. It is probably the most significant work from Ghibli, but in terms of rewatchability it is not rewatchable. :-/ Not unless you want to feel depressed all over again. I agree, Grave of the Fireflies was a real shocker. Great goodness, what a depressing film! This is the type of movie that makes you cross your fingers for a happy ending, but unfortunately there isn't. However, Grave of the Fireflies does demonstrate the horrors of war and it's true effects on innocent people. I strongly recommend only renting this movie, and give it some thought before watching it if you're the emotional type.

I agree. We have a VHS tape of Totoro and GotF, and it still astounds us that anyone would consider putting two such disparate films on the same tape.

Pygmalion

This is a very hard choice, but of the one's I've seen so far, which have all been great, my favorites have to be either Kiki's Delivery Service, Spirited Away, or My Neighbor Totoro. Princess Mononoke was also great as it was about the second ghibli film I'd seen. Castle of Cagliostro was also great, although it technically wasn't made by ghibli, but was directed by miyazaki. Make no mistake, Grave of the Fireflies is a great film, anime or otherwise and will probably become a classic, but that being said, it's still not one of my favorites. I don't know even now, years after seeing it, if I can ever see it again. It's that kind of film that you can't really watch too much cuz it's pretty powerful and sad stuff. Though I hope to see them all eventually, if Disney ever finishes releasing the rest of the movies domestically here in North America. I still have yet to see Porco rosso, Castle in the Sky, and Nausicaa. Though I own Kiki's delivery service(vhs version), Castle in the sky, Spirited Away, and My Neighbor totoro. I also can't wait to see "My Neighbors the Yamada's" which is another Ghibli film that I heard was good, although not my Miyazaki.

Princess Mononoke was my first ghibli film. It was great, even though I missed the first third of the movie. To this day, I still love it. Most of the ghibli films I've seen were from Hayao Miyazaki. The only exception to this is Grave of the fireflies. I saw it twice, and I can still recall the sadness of it all.

Kiki's the only studio Ghibli move i've ever seen and it was relly good. so yeah.

So far I would say Spirited Away but I’ve only seen 3 of them. I also like Castle of Cagliostro a lot, but that’s pre Ghibli Miazaki.

Turner Classic Movies will be showing Studio Ghibli's movies on Thursdays in January:

Thursday Jan 5
8pm Spirited Away
10:15pm Princess Mononoke
1am (Friday) Spirited Away
3:15am (Friday) Princess Mononoke

Thursday Jan 12
8pm Nausicaa
10pm Castle in the Sky
12:15am (Friday) Nausicaa
2:15 am (Friday) Castle in the Sky

Thursday Jan 19
8pm My Neighbor Totoro (new Disney dub)
9:30pm Porco Rosso
11:15pm Whisper of the Heart (first wide showing of English dub)
1:15am (Friday) My Neighbor Totoro
2:45am (Friday) Porco Rosso
4:30am (Friday) Whisper of the Heart

Thursday Jan 26
8pm Only Yesterday (subtitled)
10:15pm Pom Poko
12:30am (Friday) Only Yesterday (subtitled)
2:45am (Friday) Pom Poko

Thanks to Christopher See and nausicaa.net for the news!

Pygmalion