Succeeds as an adventure fueled by the innocence and wonder of a little girl.

Rating: 9/10 (21 October 2010)

This is a difficult film to pigeonhole. It is apparently simple, made up of the tiny, everyday events in a child's life, but unlike many films for and about children, it doesn't ignore the huge shadows those events cast in the imagination. Some critics have said that not much happens in My Neighbor Totoro, but discovering a new world, learning the cycle of nature, and facing up to the fear of death is more than enough action to sustain a film, especially in director Hayao Miyazaki's hands. The film is, of course, breathtakingly beautiful. The action may be small-scale but the vistas are incredible. Joe Hisaishi creates what may well be his greatest ever score, another miracle of seeming simplicity. In terms of story, design, animation, and music, this film achieves its aims so perfectly that it's almost absurd to give it a rating. Miyazaki set the film in the remembered landscape of his own childhood. Never sentimental, never dishonest, never preaching, and never failing to acknowledge the realities of life, he has made a film with more magic in it than any number of wizards and superheroes could create. The film became so popular that Studio Ghibli adopted Totoro as the company mascot.