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“Totoro” is, unreservedly, the best movie for kids (and among the best for adults) that I have ever seen. The cornerstone of it’s success, in my mind, is respect. Respect for adults, for children, for nature and for the mystery of living. “My Neighbor Totoro” demonstrates that respect can be entertaining – something you’d never discover in American movies.

I used to recommend “Totoro” pretty routinely to just about every customer at the video store I worked at in the early 90s and the movie enchanted each of them – many of whom didn’t have kids. But they loved this “kids” movie. (It actually became a fairly popular date movie for college students.)

An absolutely charming animation from Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. A university professor and his two young daughters move into an old house in the country. Left to her own devices while her father is at work, her mother is recovering from an illness in hospital and her elder sister is at school, Mei, the younger girl, explores her new surroundings, stumbling upon (literally) the local forest spirit, whom she names ‘Totoro’. Such is the loving care that Miyazaki takes to craft a realistic setting for his magical tale to unfold in, the background detail is frequently at least as compelling as the story itself. There are some fascinating glimpses into the Japanese rural way of life, such as the kids being let out of school to go and work in the rice fields. A virtuoso balancing act, My Neighbor Totoro is sweet but never sickly and manages to convey some powerful ideas about ecological and communal harmony without being the least bit preachy. I also love the way that, though he is most likely only humouring the girls and feeding their imaginations, the father’s explanations of the phenomena his daughters are witnessing invariably turn out to be true. Beautiful.

Japanese master-animator Hayao Miyazaki (“Castle in the Sky” & “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind”) turns inward for his sophomore feature at the then newly established Studio Ghibli with a cute little family film, which won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize and the Mainichi Film Award for Best Film in 1988.

Satsuki and Mei Kusakabe (Dakota and Elle Fanning) are the daughters of an archaeology professor who move to a mysterious house in the country, while their ailing mother recovers in a nearby hospital, where they befriend a giant wood spirit in this deeply personal tale drawn from the writer-director’s own experience in post-war Japan.

All the characters are beautifully rendered and Dakota and Elle Fanning do a wonderful job of breathing life into the lead roles in the Disney English dub with Daly heading up a supporting cast that includes the veteran Carroll, the silky tones of Salonga and some expressive snores and roars from Welker.

The director’s tall tale may have lacked the powerful impact of either hisown previous work or that of Isao Takahata’s “Grave of the Fireflies” with which it was released as a double bill, but it established many of the themes the director would later explore and gave the fledgling animation studio its mascot.

The highly imaginative and occasionally bewildering story-telling is powerfully reinforced by art director Kazuo Oga’s sumptuous backdrops that recreate 1950’s satoyama and Sonya Isaacs’ beautifully rendered songs to create a deeply moving family tale that rocks almost as much as the Catbus.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

when i was 8th, my best friend Tania took me to her house and do our stuffs. Suprisingly, her parents rent her few laserdiscs and one of them is My Neighbor is Totoro. I was living in a small town in sulawesi that time, and never heard about this movie. She decided to play the Totoro’s disc, and she convinced me that my neighbor totoro is very good. At first i was pretty doubt, because i honestly wished to watch richie rich. Then finally we watched My Neighbor Totoro together. And you know what..this movie totally suprised me, enchant me and suddenly became one of my favorite. I would never forget that day, when i visited my best friend’s house, Tania, and the experience was the best gift that she ever gave to me.

well, forgive me guys for giving you a feeling review instead of the real movie review. But i think this is the best way i can do to describe how good this movie was. Kinda my style…writing through feelings. hehehe
(^.^)v