Good for small kids and parents alike

Rating: 7/10 (27 May 2005)

The respectively 4 and 8 year old Mei and Satsuki move with their father to the countryside of Saitama while the mother is in hospital. They find out that they live nearby a giant totoro.
Its so great to see that this type of anime gets recognition in the west in the flood of violent ones. This is peaceful, humane and depicts real people instead of the Disney variety of sugarcoated tales. Hayao Miyazaki has made some terrific anime for kids that would not offend a grown up either. I discovered it just a few years ago and I thoroughly enjoy 'Future Boy Conan' and 'Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi' for instance.
This is also nice, the imagination to come up with nekobus (cat-bus) and the totoro is childlike in a good way. It doesn't have a real story to tell however and that takes it a bit down.
And to bathe with your children help give them a natural relationship with their bodies when they grow up and if thats offensive to you, stick with Disney.