My Neighbour Totoro

So out of all the Studio Ghibli movies out there, this one might be the most famous and well-known, My Neighbour Totoro. When I say this is the most famous Ghibli movie, I mean because this film's creature, Totoro, has pretty much become the mascot of all of Studio Ghibli. It's on the logo for Ghibli whenever you watch one of their movies and everything. As for this movie for me though, I was super curious to know what made this film so iconic for the studio and see what it was about. So, while I guess I personally wouldn't place this movie as one of my favourite Ghibli movies, I still really enjoyed it. It centres around two sisters named Satsuki and Mei and their dad as they move into a new house but they discover it's filled with spirits and all sorts of things like that and their mom is in the hospital so they're waiting for her to get better. One day, Mei discovers another kind of spirit named Totoro, this huge one that doesn't seem harmful so they keep trying to find him again. So, really, like a lot of other Ghibli movies, there's really not a lot of stuff happening in this as far as an actual plot, it's really just watching Satsuki and Mei living their lives and occasionally seeing Totoro, but they still manage to do it in very entertaining ways. And it's a very light hearted movie, which is good considering the last film, Grave Of The Fireflies was so heavy and heart-wrenching, so it's nice to have a film like this that's way more kid-friendly. And it's a very relaxing film too. That's another thing about Ghibli movies I really love, a lot of these can be very relaxing movies where you're just watching characters not doing much and just doing typical stuff, but it's really fascinating to watch and really relaxing as well. I love that about a lot of these movies. These characters are also a big help with that too. I really enjoy Satsuki and Mei and I really like their bond as sisters. And, again, I like how this film really doesn't really focus on any of the spirits either, it's really just focused on Satsuki and Mei trying to adjust to their lives being there while also being worried about their mom and fearing for her life and that's really about it. It's like I've said a ton of times already, I love how Ghibli movies can have not much of anything going on and just have the characters walk around doing whatever but still keep it really captivating. It's kinda weird because you would almost think this film would be focused more on the spirit stuff and trying to find out about that, but that's kind of a small side thing that's not focused on very much. In fact, despite being the titular character of the film, Totoro is barely in the film, you really only just see him about four times. But the pacing in those scenes is really well handled like when Mei first meets him or when Satsuki and Mei are waiting for a bus with him. Again, something about how it's paced and presented makes it super fun to watch. Also, I think the ending helps with that too. I like how even though this is a story focused on spirit aspects and all that, the end climax is actually very small, but also really relatable because Satsuki and Mei are both terrified that their mom is gonna die so Mei tries to go see her on her own but gets lost so the entire town tries to find her but eventually Satsuki gets Totoro's help to find her and they do and they're kind of able to go see their mom together and it's revealed that she's fine. It's really sweet. Speaking of sweet, I really like that Kanta boy they meet who acts really stand-offish for a lot of the movie but begins to act nicer towards the end. It's really nice and sweet to see him act nicer to them. I do also just really like the characters too, especially Satsuki, I really like her. I like her maturity and her bond with Mei with trying to protect her as much as possible. The dub definitely helps with that too. They actually got two actual sisters to voice Satsuki and Mei, Dakoda and Elle Fanning, and they both do an amazing job. They really feel like real sisters with the two of them voicing these two. But others like Pat Carrol, Tim Daly and Paul Butcher do a great job too. As for the stuff with Totoro himself, that stuff's fine. I don't think it's some of the best stuff Ghibli's ever done, but it's still very fun to watch regardless and I like the connection Satsuki and Mei build with him, and the animation as well is still fantastic. So, really, at the end of the day, I personally wouldn't really say this is one of my favourite Studio Ghibli movies, I can at least say I do somewhat understand why this would be some people's favourite and I do see why this would be so famous in regards to the popularity of the character of Totoro. He's even in some Disney movies like Toy Story 3, and it was cool when someone pointed that out for me. So, while I personally don't think it's absolutely incredible, but there are some really amazing things in it. So, yeah, I would say check this out to see what all the hype is about, but you should still watch it because it is really good. So, guys, that's my review for My Neighbour Totoro. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.