One of the best animated films of all times

Rating: 10/10 (13 May 2014)

I've heard so much about this film for years but never had the time too. However I bought myself the DVD, along with a Blu-Ray version of 'Howl's Moving Castle', another of Miyazaki's great work. And with its fantastic storytelling and 2D animation I was fascinated by its work. The characters are memorable, the music brings out some emotion and the story was nice and simple and is not like the many kids films were it needs to have a hero, a villain etc. it's just a story of two little girls who have an imagination of a bear character known as Totoro. As kids films do have a message, like most of the director's great work, it's hard to underly what the message is of the film, most idiots may 'think' that Totoro is the symbol of death, when really he isn't as the mother in the hospital was OK, look at the end credits, and that the shoe that was found in the pond was not Mei's at all. To me I think there is no message, it's just a fun film to escape the depths of reality.
As of the voice acting for the US audience I prefer the Disney version. I never grew up with the Fox one but I've seen it and the voice acting is just stiff, loud and awful, I'm sorry if I've offended fans of the 1993 dub, but not everyone is a nostalgic hipster and are not blinded by the rose coloured glasses of nostalgia. The Disney's version, before anyone asks Disney is the distributor and dubbing work of the Ghibli films for the English audience. The latter version is better as the voice actors were better. Their voices are more relaxed, realistic and great, especially the fanning sisters.
I think Totoro is one of the greatest animated films of all time and probably one of the greatest movies of all time. It's a very inspiring piece of work that it fuels up my dream of becoming an animator and writer. If you have the chance to see the movie with your kids or if you're a big Miayzaki or Studio Ghibli fan I recommend buying this DVD.