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Miyazaki is a real master. I still like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away most. Best animations ever made, so much detail, so many things going on, so much beauty, so much fun, so much to think of (especially in Princess Mononoke). Howl's Moving Castle was great as well, but I found it a bit too dark sometimes. I recently went back in time and watched the restored (=longer) version of his older movie from the 80s: Nausica. Though it has some cheesy music (a la Captain Future) and a quite too obvious ecological message, it was still nice.
Then there were some movie by other guys from Japan recently: Tokyo Godfathers (that sucked) and Steamboy (really nice one, from the creator of Akira). And then there's Ghost In The Shell. Wow. Still have to watch the sequel.

These guys all went a long way from old 70's serials like Heidi, Kimba the White Lion or Captain Future to their later movies, and showed so much development. Really impressing.

I think the big difference between Ghost In The Shell and the Miyazaki movies is that I perceive Ghost In The Shell in a more distant, technical way, thinking "yes, this is well done", whereas Miyazaki movies really grab my attention because of the story and the beauty. One can really lose oneself in his movies.

Brian, you should definitely try Princess Mononoke, if you haven't done already. It's a masterpiece. The scene when all the tiny little white ghosts in the forest have fun while the wind blows through the treetops has so much atmosphere, it's unbelievable.