"Pom Poko," Directed by Isao Takahata "Pom Poko" - one of the final offerings in the welcome Studio Ghibli retrospective at the IFC Center - wasn't directed by the studio's master animator, Hayao Miyazaki, but certainly bears his influence. Directed by Mr. Miyazaki's frequent collaborator Isao Takahata, the film, from 1994, credits Mr. Miyazaki with "planning," and it's easy to see: its ecological concerns, nuance and occasional lyricism place it squarely within the Ghibli oeuvre but not among its masterpieces. The plot involves an enclave of tanuki (raccoonlike creatures from Japanese folklore) threatened by encroaching urban development who commence a campaign of trickery at construction sites, thanks to their power to change shape (an ability, we're told, shared with foxes and "some old cats"). In preparation, a feisty grandmother trains the unskilled how to transform with a standing backflip; an expedition seeks out three distant, wizened, expert shape-shifters; and some tanuki go undercover on city streets. Meanwhile, a couple court and reproduce. With so many characters and diffuse subplots and a busy rhythm, focus can be elusive. Adding to the sprawl is a visual style vacillating between poetic realism and comic cartoonishness; dramatic renderings alternate with wide-eyed slapstick, a contrast suggesting the naturalism of Mr. Miyazaki's "Princess Mononoke" coupled with his earlier antic "Castle of Cagliostro." Many passages are arresting. Some - like tanuki roadkill in a bloody puddle - will be disturbing to very young viewers. As in the best Miyazaki films, there is no pat resolution. But the crowning act of resistance is a glorious pageant of mystical figures through the city: one last stand for endangered animals and for the pleasures of enchantment against a bloodless industrial world.