My Neighbour Totoro

Name: My Neighbour Totoro
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Released: 1988
Duration: 1 h 22 min
Cast: Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning

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Animation
Adventure

1988
Hayao Miyazaki
82 mins
U

Summary

Animated fantasy adventure from the director of Howl's Moving Castle and Princess Mononoke. Sisters Satsuki and Mei move to the country with their professor father and soon encounter a mysterious forest sprite named Totoro, with whom the girls share a multitude of magical experiences.

IMDB

Review

A star rating of 5 out of 5.

Calum Baker

The fourth feature from the seminal Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki is a small masterpiece, and one of the best films made about childhood. In the 1950s, 10-year-old Satsuki and her younger sister, Mei, move out to the countryside with their father while their mother convalesces in a local hospital. The girls interact with various supernatural spirits around their new house and the nearby forest, including the gigantic fluffy figure of the title. That's about it for plot, but Miyazaki uses his simple framework to delicately tease out weightier ideas and deep emotions, crafting a gentle but compelling 80-odd minutes. The design and animation are, as ever with Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli, impeccable, with as much loving, painterly detail invested in the bright rural setting as in the magical critters that populate it (including its famous "cat bus"). Joe Hisaishi, meanwhile, contributes a well-judged musical score to complement the film's visual style. Ultimately, its peculiar beauty and lasting effect lie not just in its images, memorable though they are, but in its distinctive tone: the calm, often soothing way it presents its charming slips into fantasy.

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8.1/10