My Neighbor Totoro

MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO is one of the most beloved family films. Its creatures alone are iconic and beloved. It comes from Hayao Miyazaki, a great animator / director who has made many a great film. SPIRITED AWAY stands as his best in my opinion, for it fully flaunts its mythological, spirit premise, and is visually layered. MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO however, is subtle in its visual spectacle. It briefly shows its creatures, and creates an anxiety around them. In the film, two kids, 4 and 10, move to a new house in the country with their dad to be closer to the hospital their mother is in. The first time they enter the house, strange black soot sprites scurry about, and please the two girls (voiced by Elle and Dakota Fanning) rather than scare them. They both want to see these creatures, as they stand more as cherished guardians than creepy ghosts. There isn't much actual tension in the film, and its amazing how slowly it takes for the actual plot to develop. Miyazaki instead emphasizes the tone in his film, building an array of family truisms, country bumpkinism parading as wiseness, and fantastical imagery. The wonder of MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO also undermines it, because the spectacles are so brief that we, the audience, want so much more of this. In his other films, like SPIRITED AWAY for example, the creativity just flows and continually surprises. I understand the point of the brevity in MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, but it feels rather minor, if not surprisingly an entertainment for the restless.
My Neighbor Totoro: ★★★1/2