A scant few movies actually contain a bit of "real" magic.

Rating: Null/10 (10 May 2000)

A scant few movies actually contain a bit of "real" magic. Not silly TV witch magic, but the magic that children know: The magic and wonder of our world as seen by a child.
There's more "magic" in one of Totoro's little seed pouches than all of Disney's films combined.
A brash remark? Or is this film really that good? Akira Kurosawa once rated this as one of the best movies of all time. And most of his selected movies weren't Japanese and NONE of others were animated.
Siskel and Ebert apparently argued about this movie over the course of two shows, ending with Siskel watching the movie again and changing his "thumb down" to "thumb up".
This movie works brilliantly on all levels. And while there ARE better movies than this one (none of them animated), I can count them easily on my fingers.
Totoro can work his magic on anyone from ages 2 to 92 (I tried these both, so I know). But, in order for him to do that, you have to ignore the ludicrously lame front cover (shame on Fox).