This beloved movie is another Studio Ghibli film that shows its brilliance by its utter simplicity. For those who haven’t seen this yet, I strongly urge that you do so immediately. It’s one of the classics!  I don’t think I can write any suitable review for this since I imagine it’s been done a million times by now. Just know that despite it’s age, it can easily go against any recent films from Pixar, and I don’t make that comparison lightly.

If you’re not familiar with Totoro, he’s the lovable nature spirit in the movie. This film actually launched him into superstardom in his native Japan, arguably in the same level as Mickey Mouse is famous in the United States. One part of his allure is that despite his cute fuzzy appearance, he’s still an avatar of nature and thus bears all of its characteristics: strong, wild and unpredictable. No scenes were shown of him losing his temper but I would dare say that it would be a frightening sight to behold. Think tornado, typhoon and earthquake level of fear and awe. The two children, Satsuki and Mei, treat him as if he’s a natural part of every day life. I, for one, would doubly be very cautious should I ever encounter a creature like him in the bus stop. I suppose that’s one of the beauties of being a child, you can look at everything with wide eyed wonder and innocence.

What did I like about the movie? Most of them are the inconsequential parts. The first that comes to mind is that part where Mei becomes unruly when being babysat by the grandma, so she sat in on Sasuki’s class with permission from the teacher. Satsuki’s classmates react to this new addition to their monotonous daily grind as what you would expect from kids. Mei becomes the center of attention and gets a cheery farewell when the day was over. I imagine if some new guest came over to my elementary class and broke the mundane ritual of activities we had, my classmates and I would react the same way.