Possibly the nicest movie i have seen. I think this gets my vote as Miyazaki's best Studio Ghibli film. Made in 1988 and only the music really dates it.
It is entirely self contained. The two little girls who are the main characters are really nicely observed, especially during the exposition.
Totoro is a nature spirit but the comical madness of it's appearance avoids any self-conscious seriousness. In fact this madness is what keeps a fairly depressing background story from dominating.
It felt a lot like Disney, and now i see that Disney did the western distribution and English dub. Also, the two girls were played by actual sisters.
The film has a lot of the themes that Miyazaki explores more seriously in Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, and i think that the father is revisited in Howl's Moving Castle.
Totally worth it... the catbus was just about the icing on the cake, and then i saw the brake lights were rats with glowing red eyes...
Four stars.
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