Every Studio Ghibli Animated Film, Ranked Worst to Best
Updated February 1, 2021 to add Earwig and the Witch.
There has never been a better time to revisit the Studio Ghibli catalog. Founded in the mid-1980s by a group of animators led by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, the Japanese studio is almost without peer in the world of animation, releasing 20 critically acclaimed features (and just one dud) over three decades. Recently, the entire Ghibli catalog was added to a variety of digital services (like Amazon, YouTube, and iTunes) for the first time ever (in both their subtitled Japanese original versions and Disney-produced English-language dubs), and all of the films will be available to stream for free to subscribers on day one when HBO Max launches at the end of May.
Wondering where to start? In the gallery above, we rank every Studio Ghibli release from worst to absolute best, according to their Metascores (which measure the opinions of top professional film critics).
Photo credits: Studio Ghibli, Toei (slide 18)
The first full Studio Ghibli production in six years (and director Gorō Miyazaki's first film since 2011), this coming-of-age fantasy set in 1990s England is based on the novel by Diana Wynne Jones. Released on Japanese television at the end of 2020 (and on HBO Max in February 2021), it is the first all-CGI film in Studio Ghibli history—and the result is lacking the distinctiveness and charm found elsewhere in the storied studio's filmography.
“Something’s clearly missing, and the most obvious answer is magic, both on-screen and in the project’s conception.” —Peter Debruge, Variety
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