The films of animation whiz Hayao Miyazaki

Japanese animation maestro Hayao Miyazaki's new film, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, is released in the US on 14 August (UK film lovers will have to wait until February next year). To celebrate, we revisit some of Miyazaki's unforgettable creations
  
  


Hayao Miyazaki: A still from the film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea.
Hayao Miyazaki's latest animation, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, gets a limited release in the US on 14 August. The new film from the world-famous Studio Ghibli is inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid but retooled to include Miyazaki's trademark message of environmental degradation and renewal Photograph: PR
Hayao Miyazaki: A still from Hayao Miyazaki's latest film Gake no ue no Ponyo
Ponyo on Cliff by the Sea, or Gake no ue no Ponyo, is about a goldfish princess who falls in love with a human boy and strives to become human herself. But when she magically becomes a human girl, her transformation triggers powerful forces that threaten to upset the world's natural balance Photograph: PR
Hayao Miyazaki: Directors Hayao Miyazaki, left, and John Lasseter at a screening of Ponyo
Ponyo, along with most Studio Ghibli productions, is distributed worldwide by the Walt Disney Company. Miyazaki's (left) old-style, hand-drawn animation techniques contrast nicely with the computer-generated oeuvre of Disney chief creative officer and Pixar whiz John Lasseter (right) Photograph: David Livingston/Getty Images North America
Hayao Miyazaki: Castle In The Sky (1986) directed By Hayao Miyazaki
Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986), about a mining apprentice who teams up with a girl whose magical pendant leads them to a legendary floating castle, was the first film created and released by Studio Ghibli Photograph: Buena Vista/Allstar
Hayao Miyazaki: Still from My Neighbour Totoro, 1988
In the whimsical My Neighbour Totoro, which won of the Animage Anime grand prix award in 1988, two sisters who move to the countryside are befriended by Totoro, a friendly wood spirit who introduces them to a menagerie of extraordinary characters, including a cat that doubles as a bus Photograph: The Ronald Grant Archive
Hayao Miyazaki: Still from Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
In Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), the enterprising young Kiki uses her witchy powers to start a delivery service with a difference. Miyazaki has said the story is set in the 1950s in an alternative universe in which both world wars never took place Photograph: The Ronald Grant Archive
Hayao Miyazaki: Princess Mononoke (1997) directed By Hayao Miyazaki
Princess Mononoke (1997) tells the tale of a young warrior, afflicted by a deadly curse, who travels to the forests of the west in search of a cure. There, he becomes entangled in the bitter battle between a clan of humans against the forest's animal gods, led by a young woman raised by wolves Photograph: Cinetext/Miramax Films/Allstar
Hayao Miyazaki: Still from the film Spirited Away, 2002, directed By Hayao Miyazaki
Spirited Away (2001) became the first anime film to win an Academy Award, the first (and so far only) non-English-language animation to win the best animated feature Oscar. The film chronicles a 10-year-old girl's perilous efforts to free herself and her family from a fantasy world within an abandoned theme park Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext/Disney
Hayao Miyazaki: A still from the film Spirited Away, directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Spirited Away featured the typical Miyazaki flourishes: a resourceful young female protagonist who is helped or hindered by an assortment of bizarre creatures in a hallucinatory yet child-friendly landscape Photograph: PR
Hayao Miyazaki: A still from Howl's Moving Castle directed by Hayao Miyazaki
The Oscar-nominated Howl's Moving Castle – about a girl turned by a spiteful witch into an old woman who throws in her lot with a self-indulgent young wizard and his legged walking home – is one of the most financially successful Japanese films in history Photograph: PR
Hayao Miyazaki: Still from Howl's Moving Castle
Howl's Moving Castle was based on the prize-winning fantasy novel by Diana Wynne Jones Photograph: Buena Vista/Everett/Rex Features
Hayao Miyazaki: Director Hayao Miyazaki receives the Golden Lion prize at Venice
Hayao Miyazaki receives the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement prize at the Venice film festival in 2005 Photograph: Domenico Stinellis/AP
 

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