Studio Ghibli Movies

We waited with baited breath for the arrival of Ponyo to our local movie rental store, and when it finally did I'm not sure who was more ecstatic--the kids--or me--but the woman behind the counter must have thought we'd lost our minds!

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese manga artist, a prominent film director and animator of a number of popular animae feature films.  Miyazaki has attained international acclaim partly due to his relationship with the Walt Disney corporation.  It wasn't until 1997, when Princess Mononoke was released in the West that his notoriety began to grow.

Laputa

Miyazaki's films usually incorporate the recurring theme of humanity's relationship with nature and technology, and the struggles involved in living a pacifist's lifestyle.  The heroes in his stories are often strong, independent girls or young women, and the villains tend to be morally ambiguous antagonists presented with redeeming qualities.  All themes that resonate strongly with me, and which I am glad to share with my children.

This is a list Hayao Miyazaki movies--the linked entries will take you to locations where you can watch the movie in its entirety free online:

• Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind(1984)
• Laputa: The Castle in the Sky(1986)
• My Neighbor Totoro(1988)
• Kiki's Delivery Service(1989)
• Porco Rosso(1992)
• Princess Mononoke(1997)
• Spirited Away(2001)
• Howl's Moving Castle(2004)



Howl's Moving Castle

• Ponyo(2008

I would recommend highly all of the Studio Ghibli movies, but if you're not so piqued about the animes, I strongly recommend watching at least Castle in the Sky, though I really love Howl's Moving Castle (who am I kidding?  I love them all!), and the kids especially like My Neighbor Totoro and Ponyo.  My husband liked Nausicaa and Princess Mononoke better than some of the others, but we all agree that Hayao Miyazaki'smovies are absolute favorites.

Be sure to look for english-dubbed versions, though I also like to watch them in Japanese, sometimes with subtitles, sometimes without.  Because the nature of the Japanese language injects so much oral inflection into the spoken word that it's really more moving?--powerful?--more evolved? to listen to the stories as Hayao Miyazaki wrote them.