![]() In hopes of financial success, the industry followed Pixar’s CG, prompting Disney to lay off most of its 2D animators after 2004’s disastrous Home on the Range. It’s absolute realism without photorealism, which in the three decades since My Neighbor Totoro, has become the language of Western animated films that hope to put kids on the fast track to adulthood.īy the mid-2000s, after the repeated box-office failure of 2D animated films like Disney’s Treasure Planet and Brother Bear, along with Dreamworks’ own misfires The Road to El Dorado and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, the pencil points of American hand-drawn animation were dulled down to a nub. Mei, in stark contrast to every animated character that came before and after her, looks like a kid, acts like a kid, and emotes like a kid. Frozen might be played and replayed ad nauseam in every house containing a 6-or-under, but Elsa and Anna are grown women and potential role models. Despite the target audience, Disney Animation, DreamWorks, Illumination, Pixar, and the other American majors whisk young audiences along on teenage coming-of-age quests, or cartoon romps with immature avatars. (Which makes sense, because preschoolers are terrible at taking direction.) But even though animation comes with limitless possibilities, it has rarely filled in the gap. Only a handful of live-action films have dealt with the raw emotions of preschoolers. What she can do is bolt up our stairs in search of her own “secret stairs,” scribble an orange line on a piece of paper and call it the “Catbus,” and comb through tall grass to find acorns for the tiny totoros who apparently lurk in our backyard. ![]() The film, made in 1988 and set in post-war Japan, clicks for my daughter in the year 2020, even if she can’t articulate the connection. In thousands of scanned pencil sketches and ink blots, Miyazaki rendered an actual little kid, imperfect and thriving. ![]() Mei feels a thousand thoughts rush through her mind as she dips a hand into a puddle full of tadpoles. For my 2-year-old, who I’ve now seen the film with at least 50 times by her demand, the sequence is a moment of behavioral reassurance. The encounter puts smiles on their faces and charcoal dust on their hands.Īs an adult, it’s a transportive. They shriek with glee when they discover “secret stairs,” where a family of soot spirits scurry about. In the film’s opening minutes, writer-director Hayao Miyazaki introduces two young girls, 11-year-old Satsuki and 4-year-old Mei, as they race around and wiggle through the hidden spaces of their new country home. ![]() Totoro and his friends introduce the girls to a series of adventures, including a ride aboard the extraordinary Cat Bus, in this all-ages animated masterpiece featuring the voices of Tim Daly, Lea Salonga, and real-life sisters Dakota and Elle Fanning, in early roles.The thrill of My Neighbor Totoro begins long before the film’s iconic giant bear-owl spirit takes to the skies on a spinning top. They soon discover that the house and nearby woods are full of strange and delightful creatures, including a gigantic but gentle forest spirit called Totoro, who can only be seen by children. When Satsuki and her sister Mei move with their father to a new home in the countryside, they find country life is not as simple as it seems. Scott and film writer Lauren Wilford, alongside gorgeous art, statements from director Hayao Miyazaki and producer Toshio Suzuki, and more.įrom the legendary Studio Ghibli, creators of Spirited Away and Ponyo, and Academy Award®-winning* director Hayao Miyazaki, comes a classic tale of magic and adventure for the whole family, now celebrating its 30th anniversary. The set’s 40-page book features new essays by The New York Times’ film critic A.O. Featured in a deluxe disc portfolio is a Blu-ray of the film paired with hours of special features, and the film’s soundtrack made available on CD for the first time in North America. This limited-edition set comes housed in an elegant hard slipcase and includes a new 40-page book with stunning art and essays. "One of the most beloved of all family films" – Roger Ebert ![]()
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