My Neighbor Totoro - Movie Review

My Neighbor Totoro is directed by Hayao Miyazaki and I just got to see this in theaters. There's a really cool new thing going on this year called Ghibli Fest. Fathom Events is doing a special two-night only run of various Studio Ghibli films and Totoro was the first one they showed. It's a good excuse for me to finally review it because one of my goals for my channel is to have a review for every Studio Ghibli film ever made. At some point in the future I'd like to have that accomplished. It's going to take a while, trust me, but this year I'm going to try to knock out all the ones they're showing at Ghibli Fest. Despite the fact that I know many of you have seen this movie, I'm also sure a lot of you haven't so I'm going to avoid spoilers in this review. Basically it's about two young girls and a father who move to a rural countryside in a new house and they explore the house and they make up stories about the fact that they think it's haunted and they use their imagination. They're clearly two very happy-go-lucky girls and their mother is in the hospital. It's unclear exactly what she has. There are small hints given towards what their mother's illness might be but it's never really clearly stated. And it's clear as an adult watching this movie that these kids are using their imagination so much because they're trying to escape the fear that they have about whether or not their mother could die. And eventually the youngest girl, May, while her sister is at school, runs into a beast named Totoro in the forest. Now Totoro has a lot of magical abilities. He can make plants grow at will, in fact entire trees. He has a cat bus at his disposal that can basically take you anywhere that you want to go and he can fly on a spinning top. Is he in the girl's imagination or is he real? Can he actually break through the real world or is he just an imaginary friend? One of my biggest fears, and I mean this for real, is that classic films will not be appreciated by new generations. I'm afraid that some of these great classic animations are going to be tossed aside by a new generation that just wants 3D computer animation and a lot of dance sequences in their animated films. And I was so refreshed and relieved to sit in this theater today surrounded by kids who were in awe at this movie. Normally I'm annoyed when kids get really vocal during films, but here it was perfect. At all the right moments kids were like, wow look I see Totoro, like they were so into it. And I was so relieved to see that because this movie has none of the modern distractions of almost every kids movie that's released today. There's no breathtaking action sequences, there's no explosions, it's not in 3D, and it's not computer animated, but the kids in this theater were transfixed by this movie. And so was I. It still works beautifully as an adult. The animation is just so damn good and this movie is going to be timeless. Seeing it in theaters today and feeling the audience react at all the right moments, this movie is going to be around for a really long time and I could not be happier because it deserves to be. Hayao Miyazaki is just so freaking brilliant. I can't give this guy enough praise. And as I review the Studio Ghibli films throughout this year, you're going to hear this a lot, but I can't escape saying it. Their animations are just the best there is. I think they're the best in the entire industry. They've been around for so long and I hope that they continue to make films in the future and that they can figure out a way to work out their financial issues because we need films like this that inspire children's imaginations, that can make adults think also about the film, because you can look at this film and be like, hmm, for the first half of it, Totoro seems to appear when one of them is asleep. Does that mean that he's just in their dreams? But then as the film progresses, you can see that other things are happening while they're awake. So not only is the animation gorgeous and the characters a lot of fun, it's a film that actively uses your brain. You feel like you're engaged with the way it's cut together, with the direction, and you feel like you're using your imagination just like these kids are. It captures, I think perfectly, the carefree, adventurous feeling that so many kids have. The score also by Joe Hisaishi is one of his best, and I mean, I'm saying things you've heard a billion times over and over again, but it has to be said, this animation is just so beautiful. It also sneaks up on you because at one point the film gets a little serious, and I haven't seen this movie in a while, and I was surprised at how invested I actually got, which tells you just really what Miyazaki was doing in the first two acts of this movie, because yes, you're experiencing a very fun and sort of light movie until you realize that you actually really care about these characters, and that's rare in animation. I'm going to give My Neighbor Totoro a much deserved A+. Thank you so much guys for watching. I'm going to try to see every film they're showing this year and review them for you guys, and since I am wearing this shirt, yes, Samurai Jack Season 5 gave me everything I wanted. It was so, so good. You guys are the best. Thank you so much for watching, and if you like this, you can click right here and get Stuckmanized.