Is Japanese film-maker Hayao Miyazaki “the greatest family entertainer of our time”? That was the conclusion I reached about the writer-director behind such animated wonders as Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989), Spirited Away (2001) and Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) when reviewing Miyazaki’s 2008 charmer Ponyo in this paper. A few years later, while compiling a list of the 25 best films for children – a list that ranged from Chaplin’s 1921 classic The Kid to Nora Twomey’s 2017 beauty The Breadwinner – I wrote that “it’s hard to decide which of Hayao Miyazaki’s matchless animations to include in this list”.
Born in Tokyo in 1941, Miyazaki joined Toei Animation in 1963 and co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985, creating a stream of world-beating animations, any one of which would have been a worthy contender. In the end I plumped for My Neighbour Totoro (1988), the beloved Studio Ghibli gem about youngsters befriending forest spirits that retains a special place in viewers’ hearts, not least because it perfectly embodies the pan-generational appeal of Miyazaki’s finest work.
