6. Hayao Miyazaki
Filmography:
The Castle of Cagliostro, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo. To call Hayao Miyazaki the Japanese Walt Disney is a great injustice to the great director's talent. He, through his Studio Ghibli has crafted some of the most astounding animated works ever seen. His films often feature young women in adult situations and his films - more so in the west - are enjoyed more by adults than children. Themes such as feminism, progression into adulthood and environmentalism are frequent in his work and Miyazaki is a noted critic of capitalism, so his films are naturally aimed towards a slightly older market. Miyazaki has never been the most prolific of filmmakers since his debut in 1979 with The Castle of Cagliostro. He has only made nine more films - in part due to a semi-retirement after Princess Mononoke in 1997. His imagination is what makes him unparalleled in the field of animation - the only person to really come close recently is the late great Satoshi Kon - who like Miyazaki has had a huge impact and influence on a variety of American filmmakers. Animation's emperor is now into his seventies but the great movies continue to come, with a new feature due out this year. If the rest of his filmography is anything to go by, it's going to be another revolutionary masterpiece.