Title: My Neighbor Totoro
Encompasses: Entire Film
Published by: Madman Entertainment
Studio: Studio Ghibli
Genre: Kids, Adventure, Comedy, Supernatural
Audio: English, Japanese
Subtitles: English
Classification: This title has been classified as G for General Audiences
Special Thanks: Madman Entertainment for providing me with a copy of this release to review!
Two young girls, Satsuki and Mei, have moved with their father into a new home in the country while their mother recovers from illness in a nearby hospital. To their surprise, they soon discover that they share this home with some rather unusual creatures and even stranger neighbors – forest guardians that the girls dub Totoro. When trouble occurs, their new friends will discover hope.
Over the last couple of years, we have seen many of Studio Ghibli’s works receive Blu-ray re-releases, from older titles such as Laputa: Castle in the Sky to new(er) titles such as Howl’s Moving Castle. While there doesn’t seem to be a noticeable trend as to what series receives such re-releases, the latest release by Madman Entertainment is certainly one of the more deserving – especially considering it ranked #17 on the Top 20 list of the companies releases.
Originally screening in Japan during 1988, alongside easily one of the saddest films to date (Grave of the Fireflies), My Neighbor Totoro is what you could easily consider both an anime (classic) masterpiece and a much watch film irrespective of your age. But of course, even despite the series age and the number of times it has been reviewed…. it is not good practice to leave the review like that…. so take a look at my review of this must-watch film.
Storyline
My Neighbor Totoro follows two young girls, the older sister Satsuki and the younger sister Mei who have moved to a small country town for when their mother comes out of hospital. While old, their home and local area holds host to many supernatural beings, but as the girls settle in to their new home, Mei finds that the forest right next to their house holds home to the most interesting creature of all – a being they name Totoro. Given that this film at least gives the impression of being aimed towards a younger audience (Although that is no reason not to watch it), the storyline does not go too much further than that. The rest of the film is dedicated to the girls finding out more on Totoro leading to an ending which felt forced but introduced another character and still tied in with the reason they moved to the town.
In almost every Studio Ghibli movie you feel drawn into the detailed worlds through many factors – and with My Neighbor Totoro there is no exception. With little trinkets of Japanese themed locations and culture (Which is expanded in the Extra content slightly in “The Locations of Totoro”) and both heartwarming and light viewing, it is a show you can watch and enjoy without having to delve too much into the storyline and makes for a great introductory film into Japanese animation.
The setting is interesting and beautiful, the characters while underdeveloped are appropriate and instead of a complex storyline which I usually like… it delivered an experience. If delivered by any other studio it might not have worked… but in this case it did!
Design
It continuously astounds me how great looking companies have been able to make their decade-old titles look when released as part of HD DVD or Blu-ray collections. With My Neighbor Totoro this was no exception, and while there were a few moments I found where the characters didn’t blend in too well with the background for the most part the quality was high. Character and backdrop detailing was high, and while it may not match the visuals of more recent Ghibli works, it was evident that Studio Ghibli even back then put a lot of work and care into their titles.
Audio
My Neighbor Totoro comes with an opening and ending sequence which has been translated and dubbed into English (Although can be switched by changing the audio language setting). In this case I was more fond of the Japanese versions of the songs but given (at least) one of the target audiences it was a wise decision to offer both. The rest of the music features a nice compilation of tracks and helps bring across the emotions of the film very well.
In the past My Neighbor Totoro has come with two English dubs, both of which were released many years apart. Unlike Arrietty which included both available English dubs, this Blu-ray release only includes the second Disney one. Sisters Dakota and Elle Fanning voice the series main characters, and while there where moments where their voices hit an unnecessarily high pitch they did a solid job of their roles. The rest of the English voice cast also turned out pretty well, with the same standard set by the Japanese dub. It really comes down to personal preference and who you are watching the show with – but I recommend trying both dubs out.
Extras
As with many recent Studio Ghibli releases, this installment brings a number of extra goodies to watch upon completion of the main film. The contents include:
- Storyboards which you can toggle on/off using the Picture-in-Picture Button on your TV Remote – Always a nice feature!
- Creating My Neighbor Totoro – A three minute interview with Hayao Miyazaki about the development and conception behind My Neighbor Totoro.
- Creating the Characters – A four and a half minute interview detailing the development of the characters.
- The Totoro Experience – A two minute interview which detailed the original release and subsequent airings… it is actually very interesting to listen to and shows how it went from underperforming in the box-office to exceeding anyone’s expectations upon airing on television.
- Producers Perspective: Creating Ghibli – Minute and a half interview about the history of Ghibli itself.
- The Locations of Totoro – An almost half an hour long EXCERPT from Japanese documentary “The Scenery of Ghibli”. Would love to see the entire documentary released internationally if it hasn’t already been.
- Scoring Miyazaki – A seven and a half minute interview with Joe Hisaishi who served as composer for not only My Neighbor Totoro but many even recent Studio Ghibli titles.
- Behind the Microphone – After many Japanese-language interview, take a look at the work on the English Dub process.
- Textless Opening and Closings – Japanese Dub Only
- Original Japanese Theatrical Trailers
- Studio Ghibli Collection Trailers – The Art of Studio Ghibli, Arrietty, Ponyo, Laputa: Castle in the Sky
As the icing on the cake and similarly to other Studio Ghibli blu-ray releases, there is a reversible cover featuring one of the earlier artworks for the series with a girl who is more or less a combination of both Mei and Satsuki.
Final Word
My Neighbor Totoro is one of those animated films I cannot enthuse about highly enough. It is a fun, simple film that I would have loved to have been able to have watched whilst younger – although it is still captivating today. We have seen many great Studio Ghibli works receive blu-ray releases so far… and I look forward to seeing what is next on their release slate…. Spirited Away? The Cat Returns? Kiki’s Delivery Service? Time will tell….
Final Score
Storyline / Character Development: B+
Design: B
Music/Voice Acting: A-
Extras: A
Personal Preference: A
Overall Score: B+
