Review of My Neighbor Totoro (1988) by Charleynewman — 27 Jan 2019

The film certainly has a lot of positives within it. It does a good job of establishing the characters as relatable, in a way that a lot of animated films never do. The imagination and the joy of youth really does come through in the presence of the two girls.

However, the movie probably spends too much time with them in its lackadaisical state and not enough time on story. Half an hour into the film, the novelty of the movies encapsulation of youthfulness and subtly implied magical world-building, start to wear thin.

You may find yourself questioning where the film is going. Be prepared to wait nearly another hour wondering, as this film is very light on plot. At the end of the film it does pull out everything it can to provide an emotional and satisfying conclusion, and succeeds quite well at doing so in fact.

But I'm not sure the meandering journey was quite worth the destination. The movie could have probably been helped by a harsher edit; a good twenty minutes or so cut from the movie might have helped the pacing.

Also, worth mentioning is that the music is quite good, if not sometimes a little elevator music-y. The Totoro theme that plays over the credits is quite catchy.