My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

I'll say it straight out: "My Neighbor Totoro" is one of the best children's movies of all time. It is much more than that, though, and its spirit and tenderness had me smiling through most of the film. It was made by the Japanese anime master Hayao Miyazaki, whose later film "The Princess Mononoke" is one of the most creative films I have ever seen, period.

The story is about two sisters who move to the countryside with their father. Their mother is ill and is in the hospital a town away. The older sister Satsuki is friendly and loving of her younger sister, Mei, who is not old enough for school but wants to tag along with Satsuki anyway. Both are excited about moving into their new house in the country, and are even more delighted when they are convinced that their house is haunted.

Now, haunted is not a bad thing in this film, and in most of Miyazaki's work ghosts and spirits rarely hold evil intentions. Soon after moving in, Mei comes across a pair of little totoros, furry and adorable forest spirits who scamper away from the humans. After chasing them through a large tree trunk, she falls onto the belly of another Totoro, this one huge, who is napping and can't be bothered by the little human girl.

When Mei tells her father and her sister about the Totoro, neither of them disbelieve her, which would not have been the case with standard American animation. The one distinguishing feature of "Totoro" is that there are no villains: no impatient parents, schoolyard bullies, or nosy neighbors. In fact, athough there is some tension regarding her well-being, the mother's illness is not even central to the plot. The film is about the imagination of the two children and the magic in this world, and how the two can be intertwined to help sustain the love that people have for each other.

The huge Totoro is one of Miyazaki's cutest creations, the scene when he suddenly appears next to the girls as they wait for their father to come home is warm and induces long-lasting smiles. Satsuki offers the Totoro an extra umbrella; up to that point, the large creature had been using a small leaf to shield his huge body from the rain. The Totoro is just as innocent as his two new friends; his reaction to the raindrops tapping on top of his umbrella is a classic.

Miyazaki has only recently begun to use computers to augment his animation, and "Totoro," which was made in 1988 and is completely hand-drawn, is a sparkling combination of watercolor backgrounds with cute animation. Not only is the film great to look at, but its themes of family, nature, and the wonder of youth and innocence are sure to touch anyone who is still going through, or still remember, their childhood. This is not a film to be missed.