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My Neighbor Totoro (Full Screen Edition) Actors: Noriko Hidaka, Hitoshi Takagi Director: Hayao Miyazaki Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Pan & Scan Format: Animated, Color Audience Rating: G (General Audience) Running Time: 87 minutes Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Home Video Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2002-12-03 Buy from Amazon |
 "Simply Charming"My Neighbor Totoro is great fun for adults and children alike. It also gives one a glimpse of 1940's era Japan, replete with scenic rice paddies, fashion, culture and tradition. Satsuki packs an oishii (delicious) lunch box for her family as she helps her father, a professor at a local University cope with the illness and absence of his wife. Meanwhile a mystical Neko-bas (cat buss) gives the eldest daughter and her little sister (Mei) a ride to see their mother in the hospital. This tale is filled with delightful Totoros ranging from the smallest (kototoro) to the largest (ototoro) who greets the children with a mighty roar, however let's them fall asleep on his belly...Simply charming. The film maker, Hayao Miyazaki, contributes a valuable new addition to the world of animation comparable, yet distinct from Disney's finest classics. Jyodeki (very good). "Fantastic movie"This is a fantastic movie that is pure story and imagination driven that can be enjoyed by any age. Instead of feeding kids junk like Yu-Gi-Oh turn this on for them. The animation is just beautiful. "A sweet re-watchable movie for kids of all ages"Before kids, I watched this movie about once a year or so, or whenever I was feeling down. It is a pure, sweet, innocent joy to watch, and seeing it always made me feel a little happier. What was even better was introducing it to my 3 year old and discovering that we could enjoy watching it together. There are no guns, no violence, no bad words, no loud obnoxious songs or characters; but lots of quiet spaces, beautiful and inspiring animation (if you've read a little about Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki you know that Disney animators revere him, and even use his films to draw inspiration), realistic and 3 dimensional characterization (Mei and Satsuki act age appropriate - !!), and a story that really draws you into caring for this imaginary family. Responsibility and respect for others, for family, for the world around you is embedded so deeply in this movie that I feel a little less bad about letting my son watch it so much. Fox has done a wonderful, respectful dub of this movie, but their DVD release is nothing but a simple transfer from the VHS. If you are looking for any extras or the original japanese, you'll just have to wait for the Disney take on it. If it is going to be anything like the other releases, it will have the original japanese audio on it. When they do, don't forget to check out the original japanese theme songs. Too cute! Speaking of Disney, it truly boggles my mind that now that it has the distribution rights for this movie, it has not gotten its act together and done a proper release. I was all set to buy the DVD back in June 2004 (when I first noticed it scheduled for release), then in August, then in February. But then Totoro was abrubtly, and inexplicably taken off of the release schedule, and _The Cat Returns_ put in its place, which is a semi-sequel to *another* as yet to be released Ghibli movie (huh?!) by Disney to the US. (Incidentally, _Whisper of the Heart_, the predecessor of _The Cat Returns_ ,is my favorite Ghibli movie, and I am curious to see how they deal with the particular difficulty of translating it since it is soooo Japanese) If Disney were smart (but they're not, they're mercenary, and don't like Miyazaki's old classic material eclipsing and eating into the profits of their latest and worst sequels to mediocre movies - what's next, Hercules 2? Ack!), they would have set the release date for these movies closer to the holidays. In delaying the release of Totoro, yet again, they are just giving more money to Fox, as irritated fans buy the DVD because their VHS copy is wearing a little thin from the repeated viewing. If Disney were *really* smart, they'd actually release this movie in theatres. It would make me so happy to have this movie be the very first movie I could take my son to see. And then a week later, and then a week later, and then a week later ... etc.... Please, someone at Disney, hear my plea... wide release Totoro ... wide release Totoro... "Great Movie"I have read tons of these reviews. But i have the dvd version and it is one of my favorite movies ever. Everybody keeps saying they hate it because its not in japanese. Maybe its because we are in an english speaking nation. And who cares if it is fullscreen. There were no extra features but what do you expect it is an old movie. And it is only 5-10 dollars. You buy it for the movie not the features. As for the movie itself it was great i loved it. It was very imaginative. And the music was great too. Especially the beginning and ending song. Fox put this movie into english so that U.S. children could enjoy it in their own language without having to read subtitles. I reccomend to anybody with a heart and imagination. What 3 year old kid can speak or even understand japanese unless it is their language already. "Sick of sappy Disney? Totoro is a great family movie!"Beautiful movie with great imagery and a sweet story line. Appropriate for and should be seen by kids of all ages! All of Miyazaki's films are wonderful and unique, particularly if you are sick of the "same old" in all other animation where "good fights bad, good wins, and everything is wrapped up neatly in the end." Sometimes things just "are." |
