My Neighbor Totoro turned me into a little squish-ball, and I mean that as a compliment

Rating: 10/10 (11 June 2006)

That one line summary refers to, basically, what it feels like to be a kid and get delighted by a story and characters that are (to use an overused word) enchanting. In fact, this film to me represents the kind of enjoyment I had as a very young tot watching the Winnie the Pooh films. It is so in touch with the innocence and escapism of children that it actually works for the adults too. As a man already in his twenties, I was really taken aback by how adorable all of the little woodland creatures are- the "King" Totoro, the Cat bus, the other little creatures alongside him- and how it wasn't annoying or nearing that. This is the kind of Japanese-export that puts an entertainment like Pokemon, which is all about conflict and defeat and trying to save the end of everything from some super-chu or whatever, as the fun if shallow stuff that it is. Here is a story that works much more like a fairy tale, where there is almost no real conflicts that are impending or spelling deep trouble, only the exaggerated thoughts and occasionally distraught emotions of kids 4-10 years old. Hayao Miyazaki is really, truly in touch with these feelings that go about with kids like these.
If anything might be lacking in the film it's a 'plot' or sorts, as there really isn't any- a story it does have, however loose with what goes on. It's a pure kind of feel-good story about two young girls who have moved into a new house with their father so they can be closer to their mother who's at a hospital. After finding their house might be haunted, the younger of the two Mei searches around a gigantic tree to find Totoro and his buddies, who help make things grow in nature and are generally just there to act like fuzz-balls. Aside from a bit of trouble that arises in the third act, which does hold some overall significance to the implicit message in the film, it's really got nothing on its agenda except to give the little kids a big smile and some laughs in some of the cuter, odder moments. If some American kids might not get it or latch on to it like the homegrown animation of late, it might still work for their parents probably watching it with them.
And this message I mentioned- which is also connected with Winnie the Pooh on some fundamental level- is that its essential to have this kind of lively dream-life for children, to have a section of the world just for them where nothing bad or upsetting can protrude through. But, like Miyazaki's other films, this isn't a message crammed down the kids throats. It's also for me (damned if I'll say it as a guy who's usually into more mature dramas and such) one of the most charming and cute pieces of animation to ever come out of Japan, and I would give it such a recommendation that the Pooh movies meant for me- as a first movie for a little one to see and maybe get addicted to.