For all of you Miyazaki buffs...

Spirited Away and Totoro stand apart.

For the remaining three, you can pick at random, they are all good. Say:
Porco Rosso
Mononoke
Howl's moving castle

In no particular order:

Spirited Away
Nausicaa
Princess Mononoke
Porco Rosso
My Neighbor Totoro

Seize the moment, 'cause tomorrow you might be dead.

Porco Rosso
Totoro
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
Kiki's delivery service

1. Princess Mononoke (1997)
2. Castle in the Sky (1986)
3. My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
4. Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
5. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

They’re all fantastic!

Spirited Away is a superlative film in almost all ways. The characters, fantastic story, imaginative world, layers of meaning - everything about it is wonderful and transporting.

Princess Mononoke features my favourite Miyazaki character (Lady Eboshi), and a complex aproach to the relationship mankind has to nature. Ashitaka is a bit too "perfect" to be a truly complex hero, but that doesn't hold the film back from anything but the top spot.

Howl's Moving Castle manages to synthesize a lot of Miyazaki's themes and aesthetics while telling its own, beautiful story. Sophie might be one of his best protagonists, too.

My Neighbour Totoro is next for me. It's so charming and gentle, and manages to be completely engrossing without really having much of a plot at all. The look at childhood is handled with panache and magic and humour and it's just so terrific.

Castle in the Sky can take spot five, but this is a tough list to make. Laputa takes the win, though, partly for the Dola gang, and partly because I think it gives us Miyazaki's finest flights. The sky is one of Miyazaki's best locations and we get a lot of it here. Although, like Mononoke, the villain could use a couple of extra layers to make him really pop.

Of course, I could have swapped in several other films. Miyazaki not only gets top marks, they're very consistent.

Porco Rosso and Kiki's Delivery Service are fantastic and I really, really carefully considered each before omitting them. I think Porco has some of the most understated, complex relationships in Miyazaki's films, and some of his most interesting commentary on war. Kiki is a bold fantasy film with very little "action" and an emphasis entirely on the pains and triumphs of growing up.

The Wind Rises is a very different film for Miyazaki, but it's an excellent drama.