This 1988 anime film was another of the works by the great master of animation, Hayao Miyazaki. The latest release may be distributed by Walt Disney but it shouldn't put people off as it's been wonderfully dubbed for English audiences. If you purchase this film on DVD then the Japanese version is also on the same disc.
For those who have seen the Studio Ghibli movie, My Neighbour Totoro, it is often one of their favourite anime movies, and it's not too hard to see why. The film was written and directed by the great Hayao Miyazaki who is famous for his amazing contributions to the anime world with classics such as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke.
This film starts with Tatsuo Kusakabe moving house with his two daughters, Satsuki and Mei, to a place in the countryside. Both of them are very excitable to be moving in to a new house though they are initially wary also. Whilst investigating their new residence Satsuki and Mei discover acorns dropping from the ceiling to which their father suggests could be squirrels, or rats but nothing more is really said about that. Whilst looking around the house one of the rooms scares them as they see hundreds of little black creatures scurrying away from the light into the walls - I assumed these were probably just highly stylised spiders, but they're not. To calm their fears their father suggests they go and look for the stairs to the attic which soon takes their mind of the creatures until they actually find the stairs and notice they lead up into darkness. Both of them soon fall back to their fear of what might be hiding in the dark but Satsuki confronts her fears and makes a run to open the window and the shutters to let some light in. Once again we see all these black creatures running to the walls. This time Mei gets a clear view of them and she is frozen to the spot whilst Satsuki heads off back downstairs to help her father.
What follows I found quite amusing - Mei, still frozen to the spot, sees one of these black creatures float past her and without blinking she just slams her hands together with the creature trapped between them (though most insects that size if you slammed your hands together that fast would get a little squished). She rushes downstairs to show off what she's found but seems initially scared by an old woman who is down there - who introduces herself as "Granny". Granny tells Mei and Satsuki that the black creatures they saw are called "soot sprites" and that now that they've moved in the soot sprites will decide soon whether or not to continue living there.
One evening we then see that the soot sprites have chosen to leave - I'm not quite sure what their purpose was in the overall story as they don't really seem to achieve anything other than to demonstrate why the children were nervous when they moved into the new house. We also learn that their mother has been hospitalised for some time, though we never get to find out what for.
Sometime later Mei encounters some strange little creatures which she follows to the edge of the forest and then follows through a small opening she has to crawl through. Eventually when she reaches a large tree in the middle she falls down a hole to where she finds a larger one of these creatures sleeping. She instantly finds the creature to be endearing and interprets it's name as being totoro. This whole scene reminds me of Alice in Wonderland with a young girl following a mystical creature down a hole to place quite different to their own.
As the story progresses both girls interact a number of times with what the father calls the spirit of the forest. On the first occasion Satsuki sees the totoro it gives her a package of acorns after she leant it an umbrella. They plant these acorns and eagerly await them to start growing. It isn't until totoro and the smaller creatures appear performing some sort of ritual dance that they actually start to grow. Mei and Satsuki join them in this dance and then eventually go with them to the top of the massive tree that grows from the seeds. Their fondness for the spirit of the forest grows and eventually it helps Satsuki to locate Mei after she goes missing. One of the most interesting creations in this series is the cat bus - it's a fantastically designed vehicle which I'm sure many people would want a trip in!
One of the things I noticed about this movie was how different the soundtrack was to most other Ghibli films, and that one track, "Gogatsu No Mura", had a particular familiarity to it that made me think at times it was inspired by "Summer Holiday" by Cliff Richard and the Shadows. I played the piece of music to both family and friends and they thought it was "Summer Holiday" rather than something by a composer famed for some truly amazing orchestral pieces. It seems a particularly odd song to draw inspiration from, but I guess that's what Joe Hisaishi felt was right for the scenes in question. Most of the tracks do have a very playful vibe to them, but it suits the overarching story and theme for this movie quite well. The tracks that include vocals are very melodic and still have a fairly playful sound to them which I do quite like even if it's only for how well some of them stick in your head (listen to "Tonari No Totoro" and tell me it doesn't stick in your head!). Although the soundtrack has been popular enough to be rereleased several times it does seem incredibly hard to get hold of for a decent price - though at the time of writing there are a few copies on Amazon UK for around the £20 price mark, though if you want the orchestral version they tend to sell for at least twice that.
If you are a big fan of Studio Ghibli films then their "Art of... " series of books does also include an "Art of My Neighbour Totoro" edition which contains production and concept drawings as well as the script for the film. I'm a bit of a fan of art books so do find it quite satisfying to be able to see the creative process behind the film and how it evolved into the film it became.
For the even bigger Totoro fans there are quite a few different plush toys in existence though unfortunately it seems they are only available on Amazon US and not the UK version of the site. It's a shame really as if they had been available on Amazon UK I think I'd have been more tempted to get a 9 inch Totoro plushie to sit next to the Yoda on my desk.
The underlying message in this movie is that you should respect nature, something which many people no longer do. We see the girls and their father respecting nature, and the spirits of the forest help them in return. Quite a nice message I think and I genuinely think it's a must-watch for any Studio Ghibli fans out there.
