My Neighbors Totoro
I really have to give credit to Disney for some smarts and taste for their purchase of the rights to My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service, both by Hayao Miyazaki. My Neighbor Totoro is a perfect example of an animation appropriate;for family viewing in the truest sense of thedescription. The story is a family bonding story that actuallyhas some sophistication to it. I know some of you might find thathard to believe, a Disney film about family bonding that won'tmake even stupider than you were before you watched it, but Iswear, I'm telling the truth.Set in an almost idyllic Postwar Japanese country village, a father and his two daughters,Satuskiand Mei, are moving into their new home. The daughters discover both natural and supernatural delights (including"totoro's") in the fields and woods. Their pleasures are dampened by their worries for the mother of the family. She is away recovering from an unspecified illness. The tensions the children feel are handled delicately and realistically avoiding over-dramatizing.
Mei, the youngest daughter at about five years old, is the primary explorer tumbling throughthe rural countryside seeing things growups just can't see.Satuski is not even a teenager yet, but is doing her best towatch over Mei without mother around. She also gets to deal with a very shy boy's fondness for her.
The artwork is sometimes verging on photorealistic. The character design is excellent for both the children and adults.
It's about time Disney invested in something with this much class.There are plenty of good web sites devoted to this film. Here is one to get you started: a page by Wing See filled with other Hayao Miyazaki delights as well.