A miracle - and worth making babies for...

Rating: 10/10 (23 January 2002)

Totoro joins a very small group of children's films which leave no nagging doubts that they might be bad for your kids to view repeatedly. Disney features constantly equate physical deformity with evil; Power Rangers teach that ugly people are evil AND need a good kicking; Pokemon considers that your kids have no attention span and need to be electro-shocked with constant stroboscopic, primary-coloured violence. Totoro preserves a magical simplicity which allows both the wonderment of child-like innocence and imaginary friends, and the doting of parents touched by such carefree marvelling. Everything in this film can be viewed through the eyes of the children or their parents, and such thematised appreciation of multiple audiences makes Disney's formula of anthropomorphised cuddly things throwing occasionally suggestive remarks at the older viewer seem cynically contrived. The Disney approach divides the audience in young and old, sneaking mild innuendo over the kids' heads and allowing the adults a sneaky smirk every now and then - Totoro is a joint viewing experience for parent and child, and has a message for both. I'm glad its been so well received in America and in the few places it has been seen in the UK. I was worried at first that it might be too slow for some children, and Totoro's appearances are few and fleeting. This is amongst the finest family films ever made, and I want to make babies just so they can see it. A little help, anyone?