It’s a movie about two little girls who find new strength in the unknown when confronted with every child’s greatest fear; who learn to laugh away the things that scare them and rescue each other from their darkest thoughts.
Softening — but never domesticating — the animistic spirit that leads to war in “Nausicaä” and “Princess Mononoke,” “My Neighbor Totoro” is a fundamentally moral story about the magic that avails itself to those who don’t live their lives in fear. It’s a movie about two little girls who find new strength in the unknown when confronted with every child’s greatest fear; who learn to laugh away the things that scare them and rescue each other from their darkest thoughts. Miyazaki deliberately emphasizes the most frightening aspects of Totoro’s design, often isolating his giant claws away from his less intimidating features, so that viewers of all ages are invited to appreciate the warmth that’s often lost inside fear’s shadow.