Every Studio Ghibli Movie Ranked From Worst To Best

Just as Pixar have an unnerving ability to make you care about inanimate objects, Studio Ghibli are the champions of connecting the audience with cartoonish fantastical characters and then side-swiping them with emotional one-twos that come entirely unexpectedly.

Such is the case with Pom Poko, the tale of a group of magical raccoons with transformative abilities fighting for their life against destructive human over-development. It bears all the hallmarks of an environmentalist PSA cartoon, turning humans into villains, but there's also a comment on humanist conflict and the power of unity that comes bundled into the critters' story.

It's nostalgic to the point of tweeness (particularly when the raccoons conjure an image of the idyllic past as a warning against the dangers of the future), but the emotional element is so successful that it's completely forgivable. And while it is a little flabby in places, the core is so strong that it remains one of Ghibli's best.