My Neighbor Totoro

**My Neighbor Totoro** is a 1988 anime film.  It was written and directed and written by Hayao Miyazaki, musically

   composed by Joe Hisaishi, cinematography by Hisao Shirai, distributed by Toho, and produced by Toru Hara and Studio Ghibli.

## 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 the girls' mother, Yasuko, is recovering from a long-term illness. Satsuki and Mei find that the house is inhabited by tiny creatures called *susuwatari*—small, dark, dust-like house spirits seen when moving from light to dark places.[note 1] When the girls become comfortable in their new house and laugh with Tatsuo, 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 spirits 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. Tatsuo 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 night, the girls are waiting for Tatsuo's bus and grow worried when he doesn't 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 has only a leaf on his head for protection against the rain, so Satsuki offers him the umbrella she had taken along for her father. Totoro is delighted at both the shelter and the sounds made upon it by falling raindrops. In return, he gives her a bundle of nuts and seeds. A giant, bus-shaped cat halts at the stop, and Totoro boards it, taking the umbrella. Shortly after, Tatsuo'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; it is left unclear whether or not the girls were dreaming.

The girls find out that a planned visit by Yasuko has to be postponed because of a setback in her treatment. Satsuki, disappointed and worried, tells Mei the bad news, which Mei does not take well. This leads to an argument between the two, ending in Satsuki yelling at Mei and stomping off. Mei decides to walk to the hospital to bring some fresh corn to Yasuko.

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 Yasuko 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, but 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.

Eventually, Mei and Satsuki's mother returns home, and the sisters play with other children, while Totoro and his friends watch them from afar.

## Why It Rocks

1. It's a heartwarming, sentimental masterpiece that captures the simple grace of childhood.
2. Incredible animation.
3. The movie's based on experience, situation and exploration—not on conflict and threat.
4. Excellent soundtrack.
5. It demonstrated impressive television technical craft.
6. Unbelievably charming when dispensing enchantment.
7. Very appealing art style and character designs.

## Reception

*My Neighbor Totoro* has received widespread acclaim from film critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 94% of critics gave positive reviews, with an average rating of 8.4/10 based on 47 reviews, stating "My Neighbor Totoro is a heartwarming, sentimental masterpiece that captures the simple grace of childhood."[15]

Film critic Roger Ebert of the *Chicago Sun-Times* identified *My Neighbor Totoro* as one of his "Great Movies", calling it "one of the lovingly hand-crafted works of Hayao Miyazaki". In his review, Ebert declared "*My Neighbor Totoro* is based on experience, situation and exploration—not on conflict and threat", and described its appeal:
... it would never have won its worldwide audience just because of its warm heart. It is also rich with human comedy in the way it observes the two remarkably convincing, lifelike little girls.... It is a little sad, a little scary, a little surprising and a little informative, just like life itself. It depends on a situation instead of a plot, and suggests that the wonder of life and the resources of imagination supply all the adventure you need.[16]
The 1993 translation was not as well received as the 2006 translation. Leonard Klady of the entertainment trade newspaper *Variety* wrote of the 1993 translation, that *My Neighbor Totoro* demonstrated "adequate television technical craft" that was characterized by "muted pastels, homogenized pictorial style and [a] vapid storyline". Klady described the film's environment, "Obviously aimed at an international audience, the film evinces a disorienting combination of cultures that produces a nowhere land more confused than fascinating."[17] Stephen Holden of *The New York Times* described the 1993 translation as "very visually handsome", and believed that the film was "very charming" when "dispensing enchantment". Despite the highlights, Holden wrote, "Too much of the film, however, is taken up with stiff, mechanical chitchat."[18]

Matthew Leyland of *Sight & Sound* reviewed the DVD released in 2006, "Miyazaki's family fable is remarkably light on tension, conflict and plot twists, yet it beguiles from beginning to end... what sticks with the viewer is the every-kid credibility of the girls' actions as they work, play and settle into their new surroundings." Leyland praised the DVD transfer of the film, but noted that the disc lacked a look at the film's production, instead being overabundant with storyboards.[19]

Phillip E. Wegner makes a case for the film being an example of alternative history citing the utopian-like setting of the anime.[20]