Film: My Neighbour Totoro
Release date: 27th March 2006
Certificate: U
Running time: 90 mins
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Starring: Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, Shigesato Itoi, Sumi Shimamoto, Tanie Kitabayashi
Genre: Anime
Studio: Optimum
Format: DVD
Country: Japan
For anyone who has seen a Studio Ghibli film, they will have inadvertently viewed the title character, as it now forms part of the Japanese animators' logo. Released, in 1988, as the studio's first purposely made family film, My Neighbour Totoro details the lives of a family adapting to their new life in the countryside, and earned Hayao Miyazaki his third prestigious Anime Grand Prix; his second with his fledgling company.
Tatsuo Kusakabe, a university lecturer, arrives with his two daughters, Satsuki and Mei, at an abandoned house in rural Japan. The three begin to clean this rustic domain in hope and preparation for the return of their mother from hospital - she is suffering from an unnamed yet seemingly serious long-term illness.
As the girls explore their new habitat, they stumble across susuwatari, or "soot spirits", little black spherical soot balls with tiny eyes, which disappear into nooks and crannies upon contact with light. The children, intrigued yet also confused, inform their father of their discovery, and he explains what they are, and announces that laughter and feeling comfortable in their new home will cause these spirits to fly away and find a new home. While taking a bath the three begin to laugh raucously, their warming sounds causing the sprites to vacate the occupied household.
While Satsuki is at school one day, Mei, the significantly younger of the two siblings, is parading around outside when she spies two creatures walking through their garden, mysteriously fading in and out of visibility. Following the footsteps of the overgrown rabbit-like entities, they lead through the undergrowth of the bordering forest to the base of a humungous camphor tree. Falling in between the roots, she stumbles into a mysterious enclosure where lay asleep an even larger version of the two coney creatures. Upon wakening, he announces himself with a succession of yawns and roars as being known as Totoro.
After returning to recount the happenings to a highly jealous sister and attentive father, the professor explains that Totoro is likely to be the keeper and spiritual embodiment of the forest. Satsuki looks forward to meeting the forest troll herself, and informs her mother when she is released from hospital, but a setback in her recovery means the children and their new neighbourly friends must help one another, as well as teach each other new things to ensure a happy ending…
After creating his environmental epic with Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind and the fantasy adventure of Laputa: Castle In The Sky, both garnering numerous awards and critical acclaim, Hayao Miyazaki wished to put his mind towards creating something more family orientated, particularly for the very young. As a result, My Neighbour Totoro is a lilting, dream-like and innocent film that eschews traditional plot and focuses on being as accurate a description of family life as possible. There are no overtly dramatic sequences and no secret quests the children must embark on. The day to day situations resemble real life as much as possible, where each event seems to spawn naturally as a consequence of daily life than a means of creating fantastically lavish sequences.
The way each member of the family behaves is symptomatic of their respective ages and ability to appreciate the circumstances that are around them. Tatsuo does his best to balance his work life, two young children, and an ill wife in hospital several miles down the road - the only transport to which is via bus or bicycle. Mei, the younger 4-year-old daughter, is naïve to the situation of her mother, unable to truly appreciate the severity of her illness. Yet, her age makes her the most likely candidate to be the first person to meet Totoro, and her innocence is representative of the target audience Miyazaki wishes to pitch the film at. Satsuki, being older than Mei by several years, understands the principles of life and death, and is affected more so than her sister by her mother's continued hospitalisation. She gets frustrated with her younger sister not being able to fully understand the situation, especially when Mei wanders off to find a way to the hospital, believing that the freshly grown produce of the nearby farms will cure their mother of her ailment.
My Neighbour Totoro is a realistic appraisal of life and as a result can be quite sombre at times. There are no ludicrously comedic characters to lighten the mood, and in such a slow paced film, this is a daring gamble. However, this only serves to enhance the film's precious nature. Its humour spawns from the interaction between the girls and the forest spirits, or from the young boy, Kanta, who lives near them. Yet, this simplicity with which the film is told, and the honesty that courses through the very fabric of these individuals' lives, makes its viewing a more rewarding experience. Kanta is a grubby boy who is looked after by his grandmother and finds himself undertaking a vast array of chores. He is a clumsy character whose initial social awkwardness around Satsuki often leads to much mirth and hilarity, yet when in a thunderstorm, he lends the girls his umbrella to save them from being drenched, and the sentiment proves immensely touching.
Of course, the fantasy elements are where the film is allowed to flourish into Miyazaki's creative best, and the warm cuddliness of Totoro and his spritely companions are nothing short of iconic. Animated with all the attention to perfection one comes to expect from Studio Ghibli, the art direction undertaken for the first time by Kazuo Oga is full of vibrancy, detail, and a unique stylisation that was set to become the template for all future Ghibli works. The vitality that vibrates through the spirits, in particular the introduction of the zany and Cheshire cat-like Catbus is symptomatic of a film that hinges its existence on imagination, and encourages us to remember that sometimes that is all you need to enjoy life.
Accompanying Miyazaki's imagery, as usual, is the score by Joe Hisashi, a permanent fixture on every single Ghibli production, with an amicable and pure musical creation that is as understated and winsome as its visual counterpart.
In an animated world populated by a factory-styled production line that churns out remarkably similar stories with an ever changing array of wildlife, Totoro's simplistic enchantment is a beacon of what can be achieved without resorting to loud, flashy, hollow characters to attract children's attentions.
My Neighbour Totoro is a deeply warming adventure that can accurately be described as 'family-orientated'. Its charming honesty and delicate tale of two young girls' lives is a moving treat no child should go without seeing, no matter how old they are. BL
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