![]() The film was re-released by Disney on Octoat the 2005 Hollywood Film Festival and later on DVD in March 7, 2006. The first English-dubbed version was released on by Streamline Pictures. It was originally released in Japan on April 16, 1988. The film won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize and the Mainichi Film Award for Best Film in 1988. Add in the animation of snot and tears running down her face, accentuated by Chika Sakamoto's earsplitting voice acting, and you've got an all-too-real portrayal of juvenile grief.My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ) is a Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. When Mei breaks down crying when she thinks her mom might die, her mouth opens cartoonishly wide - but that exaggeration conveys a deeper emotional truth. This honesty also applies to the portrayal of childhood's painful realities. Totoro captures that with unique honesty. Kids are goofy, strange, curious, and odd. Then there's the way Satsuki turns looking for the stairs into a game, proudly announcing, "It isn't in here!" over and over again, while Mei runs behind her and does the same thing. If an adult fell down a rock chute and landed on the stomach of a 10-foot-tall behemoth, they'd run screaming for the hills. Kids, for example, don't get the same thrill of recognition adults do from scenes like Mei meeting Totoro for the first time. This is the kind of thing you can only see in children once you're an adult. The English dubbed version features real-life sisters Dakota and Elle Fanning as the voices of sisters Satsuki and Mei, who uncover a world of forest spirits. These are the artistic accomplishments, dark undercurrents, and deeper meanings we found looking at Totoro through adult eyes. Indeed, even a grown-up can find something new in Totoro every time they rewatch it. There are depths within this movie that take adult experience to reach. Totoro is the perfect movie for kids, but that doesn't mean it's just for them. Master director Hayao Miyazaki made a masterpiece here - and that's saying something, considering he went on to direct Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Ponyo, and many more classics than we have the space to list here. He's both a loving, protective father figure and kind of a big kid himself, full of curiosity and wonder.Ĭritics love to describe movies as "feel-good," but few of them wrap you up in warmth and contentment quite like My Neighbor Totoro. He's a huge, fluffy creature, somewhere between a bear, an owl, and a big shaggy dog. But none of them are quite as memorable as Totoro himself. ![]() ![]() The basics of the story are familiar: Two little girls, Mei and Satsuki, move into a new house and discover a magical world in the nearby forest full of strange spirits. My Neighbor Totoro is something unique in the world of children's movies - or maybe it just takes what all children's movies are trying to do and does it better. ![]()
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