Every Studio Ghibli Movie Ranked From Worst To Best

It was always going to take something incredibly special to beat out Princess Mononoke, but The Tale Of Princess Kaguya is a worthy, critically adored treasure that remains a joy to watch and which is one of the most beautiful looking animations ever released. The watercolour paint style is unique and idiosyncratic and almost too deft and delicate for this world.

This is Ghibli at its most expressive, with the medium and style reflecting the emotion and the maturity of the content: it sharpens as she grows older and more experienced, losing focus in times of emotional turmoil - a living work of art in a true sense that has never really been managed since Fantasia.

Once more, self-discovery is a chief story detail and emotion positively drips out of the animation, building to a mesmerizing finale that might be the finest work of the entire canon. And for a film that is so consciously, provocatively impressionist to carry such a real message at its heart is quite the achievement.

In short, it's a masterpiece.

How would you rank the top five Studio Ghibli films? Share your picks below in the comments thread.