“The Secret World of Studio Ghibli”

Steven D. Greydanus has penned a nice essay on the celebrated films of Studio Ghibli to commemorate the recent DVD/Blu-ray release of The Secret World of Arrietty.

It’s still one of the better-kept secrets of family entertainment that the most imaginatively daring and influential animation house in the world isn’t Pixar, but Japan’s Studio Ghibli, best known for co-founder and animation virtuoso Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki is revered in animation circles, but Ghibli films haven’t yet become the phenomenon in the States that they are in Japan and around the globe.