My Neighbor Totoro

My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ, Tonari no Totoro) is a 1988 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. It follows the story of two young daughters of a professor and their interactions with friendly wood spirits in postwar rural Japan. Films has World Premiere on Japan 16 July 1988 same day as Grave of the Fireflies. The Disney dubbing was released on 23 October 2005 and later Cinema by GKIDS during 2017.
== Plot ==
In 1958 Japan, university professor Tatsuo Kusakabe and his two daughters, Satsuki and Mei, move into an old house to be closer to the hospital where their mother Yasuko is recovering from a long-term illness. Satsuki and Mei find that the house is inhabited by tiny animated dust creatures called Sootballs - small, dark, dust-like house spirits seen when moving from light to dark places. When the girls become comfortable in their new house and laugh with their father, the soot spirits leave the house to drift away on the wind. It is implied that they are going to find another empty house- their natural habitat.
One day, Mei sees two white, rabbit-like ears in the grass and follows the ears under the house. She discovers two small magical creatures who lead her through a briar patch and into the hollow of a large camphor tree. She meets and befriends a larger version of the same kind of spirit, which identifies itself by a series of roars that she interprets as Totoro. She falls asleep atop the large totoro, but when Satsuki finds her, she is on the ground in a dense briar clearing. Despite her many attempts, Mei is unable to show her family Totoro's tree. Her father comforts her by telling her that this is the keeper of the forest, and that Totoro will reveal himself when he wants to.
One rainy day, the girls are waiting for father's bus and grow worried when he does not arrive on the bus they expect him on. As they wait, Mei eventually falls asleep on Satsuki's back and Totoro appears beside them, allowing Satsuki to see him for the first time. He only has a leaf on his head for protection against the rain, so Satsuki offers him the umbrella she had taken along for the father. Totoro is delighted as both the shelter and the sounds made upon it by falling raindrops. In return, he gives her a bundle of nuts and seeds. A bus-shaped giant cat halts at the stop, and Totoro boards it, taking the umbrella. Shortly after, their father's bus arrives.
The girls plant the seeds. A few days later, they awaken at midnight to find Totoro and his two miniature colleagues engaged in a ceremonial dance around the planted nuts and seeds. The girls join in, whereupon the seeds sprout and then grow and combine into an enormous tree. Totoro takes his colleagues and the girls for a ride on a magical flying top. In the morning, the tree is gone, but the seeds have indeed sprouted.
The girls find out that a planned visit by Yasuko has to be postponed because of a setback in her treatment. Satsuki' disappointed and worries tells Mei the bad news, which Mei does not take well. This leads into an argument between the two, ending in Satsuki angrily yelling at Mei and stomping off. Mei decides to walk to the hospital to bring some fresh corn to her mother.
Mei's disappearance prompts Satsuki and the neighbors to search for her. Eventually, Satsuki returns in desperation to the camphor tree and pleads for Totoro's help. Delighted to be of assistance, he summons the Catbus, which carries her to where the lost Mei sits. Having rescued her, the Catbus then whisks her and Satsuki over the countryside to see their mother in the hospital. The girls perch in a tree outside of the hospital, overhearing a conversation between their parents and discovering that she has been kept in hospital by a minor cold and is otherwise doing well. They secretly leave the ear of corn on the windowsill, where it is discovered by the parents, and return home on the Catbus. When the Catbus departs, it disappears from the girls' sight
In the end credits, Mei and Satsuki's mother returns home, and the sisters play with other children, with Totoro and his friends as unseen observers.
==Cast==
See full /Credits/
Character name 	Japanese voice actor	English voice actor(Tokuma/Streamline, 1990/1993)	English voice actor(Disney/GKIDS, 2005)
Satsuki Kusakabe	Noriko Hidaka 	Lisa Michelson 	Dakota Fanning
Mei Kusakabe 	Chika Sakamoto 	Cheryl Chase 	Elle Fanning
Tatsuo Kusakabe 	Shigesato Itoi 	Greg Snegoff 	Tim Daly
Yasuko Kusakabe 	Sumi Shimamoto 	Alexandra Kenworthy 	Lea Salonga
Totoro 	Hitoshi Takagi 	Unknown 	Frank Welker
Catbus 	Naoki Tatsuta 	Carl Macek (uncredited) 	Frank Welker
Granny/Nanny 	Tanie Kitabayashi 	Natalie Core 	Pat Carroll
Kanta Okagi 	Toshiyuki Amagasa 	Kenneth Hartman 	Paul Butcher
Michiko 	Chie Kojiro 	Brianne Siddall (uncredited) 	Ashley Rose Orr
Kanta's Mother 	Yuko Maruyama 	Melanie MacQueen 	Kath Soucie
Kanta's Father 	Masashi Hirose 	Steve Kramer 	David Midthunder
Otoko 	Daiki Nakamura 	Kerrigan Mahan (uncredited) 	Matt Adler
Ryōko 	Yuko Mizutani 	Lara Cody 	Bridget Hoffman
Miss Hara 	Machiko Washio 	Edie Mirman (uncredited) 	Tress MacNeille (uncredited)
Kanta's Aunt 	Reiko Suzuki 	Edie Mirman (uncredited) 	Russi Taylor
===Additional Voices===
*Streamline: Gregory Snegoff
*Disney: Newell Alexander, Kristin Klabunde, J.P. Manoux, Evan Sabara, Yvonne Russo, Peter Renaday, Robert Clotworthy, Kimberly Guerrero
==Sequel==
Mei and the Kittenbus (Mei to Konekobasu) is a thirteen minute sequel to My Neighbor Totoro which is shown exclusively at the Ghibli Museum. It focuses on Mei and her adventure with the Kittenbus.
==Animation Book==
*The Art of My Neighbor Totoro
==Release==
*16 April 1988 Original is released in Japanese theatres alongside with Grave of the Fireflies
*3 August 1988 Original VHS release
*Winter 1990 The English dub from Streamline Pictures is released in theatres.
*Spring 1993/Summer 1994 The Streamline Pictures dub is released on VHS by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
*27 June 1997 Newer VHS release
*Autumn 2001 DVD release
*2002 The Streamline Pictures dub is released on DVD by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
*2005 Fox's rights to the English dub expire, with Disney taking the rights.
*2006 The Disney dub is released on DVD.
*2013 The Disney Dub is released on Blu-ray.
*Summer 2014 DVD release by Japan
== Media ==
*See /Media/
== Soundtrack ==
*See /Soundtrack/
==Trivia==
* My Neighbor Totoro was released in cinema on the same day as Grave of the Fireflies.
* Greg Snegnoff, who provided the voice of the Professor in the Streamline dub, was married to Lisa Michelson (Satsuki).
*Additionally, Snegoff is actually the son of Alexandra Kenworthy (Mrs. Kusakabe). Kenworthy had been temporarily married twice; her first husband, Mark Snegoff, had passed away when Greg was a teenager, and she is divorced from her second husband, from whom Kenworthy had gotten that surname.
* In the Disney dub, the sisters, Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning were voiced by real-life sisters.
* This is the only Studio Ghibli film that used Hanna-Barbera sound effects. This was mainly used for the actions of Totoro and his servants.
== External Links ==
* Official Website
*
* on IMDb 
* on Disney
* on GKIDS
* on Rotten Tomatoes
it: Il mio vicino Totoro
Category:Films
Category:My Neighbor Totoro
Category:Films directed by Hayao Miyazaki