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Winnie the Pooh. Mickey Mouse. Totoro. While the first two may be household names in just about any American family with small children, the last is a distinctly Japanese cultural phenomenon, albeit one that helped bring Japanese anime to audiences worldwide. The title character of Hayao Miyazaki’s 1988 film, My Neighbor Totoro, is a wonderful creation that should delight any child fortunate enough to encounter him.
The film follows two young girls—Satsuki and her younger sister, Mei—as they move with their father to a small house in the country while their mother is in the hospital with an unspecified illness. Exploring their new home and the surrounding forests, they begin to encounter a series of wonderful creatures, most impressively Totoro, a forest spirit who resembles a gigantic rabbit-like teddy bear with perhaps the world’s biggest smile—and who can fly by standing on a floating, spinning top.
It’s not an especially plot-driven film, preferring to spend its running time getting us acquainted with the girls and the magical world they’ve come to inhabit, all while maintaining a bittersweet undercurrent as they deal with the reality of a seriously ill and absent parent.
There is little to My Neighbor Totoro that isn’t utterly charming, from the soot sprites that flit about the corners of the home to the Catbus (a giant, 10-legged cat that’s also a bus) to the mostly silent but highly expressive Totoro himself. The best kind of childhood whimsy permeates the whole film, and it’s all but impossible not to be enchanted by it.
And yet this is an intensely human film. Satsuki and Mei feel like real kids, by turns taking care of and squabbling with each other. While their father is a wonderful example of good parenting, both attentive and patient, the absence of their mother is constantly with them, mostly below the surface but occasionally rising through.
The good nature of the human characters is aided by one of the better English dubs I’ve encountered in anime (although I’m glad that this edition also includes the original Japanese cast’s language track). Produced in 2005 by Disney, the English version features Dakota and Elle Fanning, who voice the sisters, with Tim Daly playing the father. Each does an admirable job, giving the characters an emotional immediacy that isn’t always possible while reading subtitles.
As with the other recent Miyazaki re-releases under Disney’s banner, this DVD includes a bonus disc with a World of Ghibli feature, including interviews with the director and other Studio Ghibli personnel, as well as information about the other animated features in the set. The interviews are quite good, providing insight into both Miyazaki’s inspiration and the creative process.
There’s no way to understate the importance of My Neighbor Totoro in the world of anime. The title character has become both the logo of Studio Ghibli and an indelible figure in Japanese pop culture. Anyone who’s enjoyed the animated features of Walt Disney or Pixar should definitely be introduced to the wonder that is Totoro.
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