Noriko Hidaka

Chika Sakamoto

Hitoshi Takagi

Shigesato Itoi

Sumi Shimamoto

Tanie Kitabayashi

Toshiyuki Amagasa

Yuko Maruyama

Masashi Hirose

Reiko Suzuki

Machiko Washio

Naoki Tatsuta

Tomohiro Nishimura

Chie Koujiro

Yuko Mizutani

Shigeru Chiba

TARAKO

Mitsuko Ishida

Daiki Nakamura

Akiko Hiramatsu

Ikue Otani

Joe Hisaishi

Hayao Miyazaki

Eiko Tanaka

Takeshi Seyama

Yasuyoshi Tokuma

Tooru Hara

Kazuo Oga

Masaki Kudo

Hiroomi Yamakawa

Shinji Otsuka

Tsuyoshi Matsumuro

Yuko Matsuura

Yoshiharu Sato

Junko Ina

Katsuya Kondo

Toshiro Nozaki

Kiyoko Sugawara

Komasa

Makiko Futaki

Hitomi Tateno

Masako Shinohara

Yasuko Tachiki

Kiyomi Ota

Keiko Tamura

Yoshinori Kanada

Tensai Okamura

Masaki Yoshizaki

Satoshi Matsuoka

Sadahiko Tanaka

Shinji Kimura

Masaaki Endou

Nobuhiro Otsuka

Yoji Takeshige

Makoto Shiraishi

Hidetoshi Kaneko

Toshio Kawaguchi

Makoto Tanaka

Tsukasa Tannai

Hideko Tagawa

Takashi Watanabe

Hisao Shirai

Tetsuya Endo

Michiyo Yasuda

Toshio Suzuki

Akira Yamakawa

Fantasy

Animation

Family

となりのトトロ

Studio Ghibli

Nibariki

Tokuma Shoten

Japan

日本語

My Neighbor Totoro

mother

sibling relationship

village

leave

rural area

hospital

new neighbor

new home

super power

magical creature

anime

wonder

admiring

**"Childhood" in a movie.** 

This is just perfection - a perfect way to while away time and reconnect with your youth.  
Everything is outstanding in this film, but especially the way it can emote your sense of wonder and imagination.

I wish I could have watched this as a child, I would have wanted to find Totoro and the Catbus, roar like Totoro, or sleep on his belly.  Oh well...I will just have to imagine it.

Its interesting to note this was released with Grave of the Fireflies, another Ghibli masterpiece, which I have summed up as being about innocence lost.  **This movie is innocence maintained.**

(SPOILER ALERT)

I was delighted to see this subtle/multi-layered tale unfold, which seemed to play well to both a childhood audience, keen on likable characters/compelling imagination, and adults with a deeper appreciation for the symbolic backstory.  

Like most of Miyazaki's films, there was an enormous focus on the power of the natural world. Whenever man perverts the natural world, the natural world seems to pushback. It appears as though the seldom seen Mother in the story is sick due to some mental/physical disconnect that she has likely had with the natural world. 

Through the unique power of children to tap into their imagination, especially children living outside the city and amongst nature, Miyazaki demonstrates the unique gift that children have to re-establish the lost bond between unhealthy adults and the healing power of the natural world. I was thoroughly impressed with how delicately Miyazaki established this bond between the two children, their imagination, and the natural world. Totoro, the lovable silent giant, is a great and unexpected metaphor for the healing power of the natural world and childhood imagination :)

Aggressively cute.

<em>'My Neighbor Totoro'</em> holds an extremely hearty story, one told via impeccably beautiful animation. Noriko Hidaka and Chika Sakamoto standout as Satsuki and Mei, the relationship between those two characters is so sweet. They do get a bit shouty in parts which ever so slightly irritates, but that's definitely one to file under 'nit-picking'.

A simple movie, one which displays the imagination of children perfectly. Big fan of the Catbus. 🐱

CinemaSerf

Though maybe the story here is a bit on the thin side, this is still glorious mix of family and fantasy from the hand-drawn animation of the gifted Hayao Miyazaki. It's all about two sisters - "Mei" and "Satsuki" who travel with their father to a new, rather rustic, home. It's all a grand adventure for the girls though and they are barely through the door before realising that the house has some extra special occupants. Things is - are they benign or not! Luckily, an old lady from the house nearby sets their mind at rest and soon "Granny" is looking after them from time to time in between school and visits to their ailing mother in a nearby hospital. As they explore the grounds, they discover that the place is alive with creatures both natural and supernatural - and it's the eponymous beast - a sort of hybrid between a cat and a panda - that soon becomes an integral part of their adventures as they eagerly anticipate their mother coming home. It's its simplicity that really worked well for me, here. A close-knit family with some bubbling trauma provides for a setting for their situation, but it doesn't dominate the children at play. They know sadness, sure, but they also know joy and love; there's a magical eight-legged moggy-bus (or maybe that's ten legs?) and they have their shy neighbour who's terrified of the very thought of the girls! It's a delightful combination of fantasy, community and family that you're bound to enjoy. Take a brolly, though!

My Neighbor Totoro( 1988)

He's your friendly neighbourhood forest spirit!

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A review by sykobanana

Written by sykobanana on Sun May 17 2020

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