My neighbor the Totoro is the most wonderful children movie you'll find on the market all around the world. It is that incredible and unique.
It's the cutest, but it also goes way beyond that. It's also one of the deepest, without ever losing it's simplicity. And it's narrative structure is beyond a doubt one of the most original you'll find in movies.
For those who haven't seen it, here's a synopsis:
"Totoro is a forest spirit that little Mei, and later her older sister Satsuki, encounter in a giant camphor tree near their new home in the countryside. Although their father, a university professor, is with them when they move, their mother is in the hospital, recovering from some unnamed illness. When Mei hears that her mother's condition may be worsening, she resolves to visit her all by herself. When everyone realizes she's missing, only Totoro knows how to find her! "
The summary is taken from
http://www.nausicaa.net/ .
The movie's pace is extremely slow and simple. It goes from one scene to another, and when Totoro isn't there (which is for most of the movie) few outstanding events happen. And yet, the movie is always able to amaze the viewer. It's simplicity captures you into his world, the world of two kids trying to evade reality (their mother's current condition). Totoro is what all of us had when we were kids: Dreams of something better, of something magical. Both child are trying to escape that, and their imagination (Totoro) bring them that. The flying sequence in Totoro is easily one of the most striking air sequence filmed or draw, and yet it is so simple. Much more simple than the Porco Rosso flying scenes (also a great movie, btw) and that's why it feels more exciting than those.
The movie is magic, and that's what brings it above every other one. Hayao Miyazaki's own Kiki's delivery service provides the samething, but while it is also a gem, it never goes as deep, as sad and as magical as Totoro does.
