Every parent should pick a day and make their young kids watch My Neighbor Totoro.
Every parent should pick a day and make their young kids watch My Neighbor Totoro. They won’t ever be the same. The gateway drug for an addiction to Studio Ghibli, this is quite simply one of the most delightful and enjoyable children’s films ever made. It’s a movie that can be watched over and over again, losing none of its power to inspire wonder. At its core, it’s a simple story of an imaginary creature discovered by two girls dealing with the emotional stress of a sick mother and a relocation. How we use fantasy to deal with reality has always been a theme of children’s entertainment, but Miyazaki and Ghibli don’t see that fantasy purely as escapism. They see it as something essential to human life, something beyond our control yet more essential than mere imagination. And Totoro remains one of the most iconic characters of modern animation. He has taken on a life much bigger than just one film, appearing on Ghibli merchandise for decades now. After you fall in love with this movie, you’ll understand why.