One of the sweeter anime films of the 1990s, Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro is a truly unique viewing experience. As the audience soon learns, this is a film which perfectly captures the naivite of childhood, a time when one can wholeheartedly believe in magical imaginary friends. Watching this film, it is impossible not to realise how much of our imaginations we have lost as we matured, and we may end up watching the way our own children play with a little more interest.
The entire film reflects the wide-eyed, innocent, and often joyously optimistic world that children live in. Mei and Sezuki are two sisters who, with their father, have relocated outside Tokyo in a largely rural area of Japan. This new environment could be lonely for them, for not only are they new in town but their mother is in the hospital with an unspecified illness. The children befriend a series of Totoro, which are furry animals that look like a cross between an owl and a rabbit. The Totoro (chiefly the largest Totoro, who roars like a lion), occassionally come to the aid of the children and allow them to ride a bizarre vehicle which is part cat, part bus. The children also interact with their neighbors, particularly an older farm woman who looks after them while their father is teaching at the University.
Miyazaki's pacing accurately reflects the lazy, drawnout, somewhat ponderous feeling of late summertime and early fall. This is a film that moves at a very slow speed, allowing the viewer to reflect on the actions of the lead characters. At times even the background music fades entirely and we can watch snails and butterflies move across the screen. Miyazaki's respect for the imagination of children comes through in his portrayal of Mei and Sezuki's imaginary friends. Rather than carefully box off the fantasy sequences as purely imaginary and inconsequential (as in Alice in Wonderland for example), Miyazaki treats the fantasies as real, but is careful to end the film with scenes of the children and Totoro going separate ways, as the children grow more mature.
It's difficult finding any flaws in this film. The characters are well defined. No one's emotions are trivialized. All fantasy is nonviolent. Even Carl Maeck's dubbing is good, which is nothing short of a miracle. Furthermore, the beauty of Miyazaki's vision does not fade with repeated viewings; rather, it grows richer and more precious.
Watch this film with your family, again and again.
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