Every Studio Ghibli Movie Ranked From Worst To Best

Officially speaking, Nausicaa isn't really a Studio Ghibli film, since it came before the studio's inception, but it is important nonetheless, as it offers the model for everything that Miyazaki did afterwards. It is a fantastical cautionary tale tinged by optimism that is pregnant with ecological warnings (which were actually butchered on the film's initial release in America). Released under an entirely different title and stripped of 20 key minutes it was initially unrecognisable (and poor), but the original cut is vastly superior,

This is arguably Miyazaki in his most spirited mood, taking an almost Jim Henson-like approach to mixing darkness and fantasy and an agenda to legitimately creep you out. Almost everything in there - from a fascination with flight, a pacifist spirit and envirnonmentalism - is what we'd later come to expect from all of the director's works, and for only a second feature, it is stunningly assured and confident.

It just perhaps over-reaches a little, becoming a little overawed by its own complexity at times, but at least its aspirations are to be admired.