Tezuka In English Discussion Forums

OOOH YEAH the City in the Clouds.

That wasn't my favorite story but it was fun ^_^

Nausicaa, Porco Rosso and Princess Mononoke are true masterpieces.
Chihiro, Laputa and Cagliostro are good films.
Now things like his last movie Walking Castle are indeed overrated.

I think he never did better than Nausicaa in his career.

I'd put Castle in the Sky: Laputa in the first group. It's an amazing film as far as I'm concerned. Just the right blend of action, and story... and who DOESN'T want to find out they're the last of a ancient race of people who fly around in a castle in the sky. Especially with those robots...

I'll agree that Howl's Moving Castle wasn't great, but I thought Spirited Away was good (but perhaps not as good as Nausicaa, Porco Rosso and Caslte in the Sky). For me his movies are ranked something like this:

Castle in the Sky: Laputa
Nausicaa
Porco Rosso
My Neighbour Totoro
Princess Monokoke
Kiki's Delivery Service
Spirited Away
Howl's Moving Castle.

Now, if we're talking about the Nausicaa manga... that's a whole different story. THAT is a true masterpeice of storytelling that blows all the rest of what he did after away. That's one thing that's always bothered me about the Nausicaa anime... it's just so much less than the manga. I would've liked to seem them do a series of OAV to do the whole story justice.

I don't really count Lupin: Castle of Cagliostro among "Miyazaki movies". True he did it, but he didn't write the story (or invent the character of Lupin III).

Well, I'll actually concur with Metro on Kiki's but not because Metro is right, rather because I am probably the wrong gender to truly and deeply appreciate Kiki's. For me, Kiki's is too long, too sentimental at times, yet also at all times it is executed with the greatest care. So to say it is his worst film--certainly not on an artistic level, I just don't care for it the way others do.

Funny enough, I also REALLY like howl's moving castle (a fan's dis-favorite). For me, I really enjoy the pacing, and once I have accepted that this is a children's story for little girls (again the gender problem), I am very happy with it.

My favorites are Totoro and Mononoke (for understandable reasons there is a mononoke lash-back, but not for me!) Honestly, all his films are great though (how can one possible be over-rated in these circumstances?)

Huge props by the way to Whisper of the heart (this film is really, superbly good, I can't quite explain why), and its pseudo sequel 'the cat returns' (good for totally different reasons.) Neither are Miyazaki films but produced by Ghibli studios. I've found nothing from this studio to be short of the highest quality, even if I don't love every film.

Edit: I also love Castle of Cagliostro...a great anime that does make Lupin something more than the slapstick he'd been before.