Kiki is a witch. Her mother was a witch, and this kind of thing runs in families, so when the time comes for Kiki to join the tradition, she knows she has pass the test: to leave home, find a town that needs her help, settle down with her cat Jiji, and stay for a whole year. It’s a lot to ask of a young girl, and she’s scared, and shy, but determined to give it her best. That’s the reason why she’s such a wonderful character – she meets challenges head on and inspires us to do the same. The amount of optimism that can be drawn into one tilt of the chin is quite incredible, but then, we’d expect nothing less from Hayao Miyazaki. Kiki’s Delivery Service is perfection.

7. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

Ofelia lives with her mother and cruel stepfather, an Army Captain, in an old mill during Franco’s fascist regime. All the company she has is in the form of her imagination, and it takes her to very dark places. Is it purely her daydreaming, or is she really seeing a faun, fairies, and truly terrifying creations such as the Pale Man? Guillermo del Toro leaves that up to the viewer to decide.

Pan’s Labyrinth fits together reality and fantasy in such a natural way that it’s astounding. The fantasy world is no relief; it matches the real world for pain and brutality – Ophelia’s imagination is not offering her an escape. Perhaps the best it can offer is a way to deal with the horror she must live with. It’s a beautiful, grotesque film. It makes you shudder, but, uniquely, it never feels like anything other than a child’s vision.

8. Trollhunter (2010)

Goblins, dragons, ogres, wizards, elves and dwarves living in enormous forests together in a place that looks suspiciously like New Zealand – these have become the high fantasy tropes that do great box office recently, and who can blame viewers for wanting a bit of hairy-footed escapism? But I have to say I’m glad that director André Øvredal has taken back the troll to the cold, white setting of Norway and given us, in the forms of Ringelfinches and Tusseladds, a potent symbol of man’s attitude to the natural world.

A group of students suspect that wild bears are being illegally killed, and start following the mysterious figure of Hans (Otto Jespersen), hoping to catch his activities on camera. It wouldn’t be ruining any surprises to tell you that he’s not a bear hunter at all. The trolls are brilliantly scary and enormous and real in the forests and caves through which Hans tracks them. A lot of the time you find yourself holding your breath. These are dangerous animals and the job of killing them is hard and horrible. Jespersen plays the role with a weary disgust that means we don’t ever think of him as the bad guy; it’s the bureaucracy of the Norwegian Wildlife Board that is the enemy here, and the lack of understanding for the importance of the natural world in the face of government quotas.