released 08 feb 05 / last mod 01 jun 07 / greg goebel / public domain
* In Hayao Miyazaki's animated movie MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, two girls, Satsuki and her little sister Mei, move to the countryside with their father, their mother being in a hospital with a long-term illness. The two girls are very free-spirited and find the unconstrained life in the open country very enjoyable, all the more so when they begin to see strange little creatures that come and go.
A kindly old woman tells the girls that they are seeing forest spirits, or "kami", and that she herself could see them when she was little. Soon the girls meet the King of the Forest, who they call "Totoro", and have many adventures with him.
That's about as much as needs to be said about the plot of MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, but somehow it doesn't quite do the artistry and charm of this movie justice. To be sure, it's a movie for kids, with no violence and not even that much tension, but it's such a good movie for kids that almost anyone would like. Adults will also find its Shinto-infused cultural references fascinating: in a sense, this is a religious movie, but not one that is much like any Western concept of the matter. Although this is a mild bit of work, it is also capable of producing a strong mystical mood, most significantly in a scene at a bus stop in the woods in the rain -- one of the most famous items in Japanese animation.
While MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO's artwork and production values aren't in a league with Miyazaki's later movies like PRINCESS MONONOKE or SPIRITED AWAY, they are first-class for their time and display Miyazaki's unique sense of character design; one of the little things I like is the little tip-tap way the girls run. In sum, I can say that MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, like most of Miyazaki's movies, can be recommended without reservation.
