The 5 Best Studio Ghibli Films, Ranked According to IMDb
In honor of Japanese animation master’s Hayao Miyazaki‘s recent 80th birthday, we are honoring some of the finest Studio Ghibli films. Which five movies from the Studio Ghibli collection did IMDb users rank the as the best?
The best Studio Ghibli films, ranked according to IMDb
Of all the Studio Ghibli movies, the Oscar-winning film Spirited Away sits in a non-surprising 1st place, in the eyes of IMDb. The sometimes-terrifying, sometimes-endearing movie from 2001 about a girl stuck in a spirit bathhouse received the highest score of any of Miyazaki’s acclaimed films, with 8.6/10, after 646,011 users voted.
1997’s Princess Mononoke is in a strong 2nd place, with a score of 8.4/10, and 340,647 voting. The English version of the movie has an amazing voice-cast, including Gillian Anderson (playing a wolf!), Claire Danes, Minnie Driver, Billy Bob Thornton, and Billy Crudup.
The popular 1988 film My Neighbor Totoro is tied for 3rd, at 8.2/10 and 288,512 users, with 2004’s Howl’s Moving Castle — which received 8.2/10 after 330,889 people chimed in.
Totoro is a movie about two young sisters (voiced by Dakota and Elle Fanning in the English-language version) who move into a new house while their mom is ill in the hospital. The movie spun off countless products of merchandise in honor of the large, loud, fuzzy creature Totoro, and his preferred mode of transportation: the Cat Bus.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind rounds out the top 5 of the Studio Ghibli films with 8.1/10, after 149,723 people voted.
“Warrior and pacifist Princess Nausicaä desperately struggles to prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and their dying planet,” the IMDb synopsis reads. Uma Thurman, Shia LeBeouf, and Patrick Stewart all served as voice actors in 1984’s Nausicaä.
Which of Hayao Miyazaki’s other movie characters make the top 10?
The next 2 top-rated Studio Ghibli movies are also tied. Castle in the Sky got 8.0/10 with 149,148 IMDb users voting, as did the 2013 The Tale of The Princess Kaguya 8.0 — however, with only 38,241 votes in.
Anna Paquin and James Van Der Beek voice the English version of the widely-beloved 1986 movie Castle in The Sky, playing two children fighting pirates and other adventures on a quest for a floating castle.
It’s a shock to see Kiki’s Delivery Service so low on this list, essentially in 8th place. (Especially because the movie has a near-perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes). The 1989 movie about a young witch (played by Kirsten Dunst in the English version) received an IMDb rating of only 7.8/10, after 122,192 people voted.
1995’s Whisper of the Heart, the romantic film about an aspiring young songwriter, comes in 9th, at 7.9/10, after 51,337 users voted.
The Wind Rises is the 10th on the list — but by no means the worst of Miyazaki’s movies. The 2013 film based on the real-life story of an aircraft designer got 7.8/10 from IMDb users, 72,942 of whom expressed their opinion.
What’s your favorite Studio Ghibli movie — and did it make IMDb’s top 10?
The Studio Ghibli movies aren’t on Netflix: where you can find them streaming
21 of the Studio Ghibli films are now available on HBO’s streaming platform, HBO Max. (Which is basically all of them, except for one: the 2016 animated feature The Red Turtle).
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