My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

When two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother, they have adventures with the wondrous forest spirits who live nearby.

Director:

Hayao Miyazaki

Writer:

Hayao Miyazaki

Stars:

Hitoshi Takagi, Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto

Top Rated Movies #146 | 5 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Noriko Hidaka	...	Satsuki (voice)
Chika Sakamoto	...	Mei (voice)
Shigesato Itoi	...	Tatsuo Kusakabe (voice)
Sumi Shimamoto	...	Yasuko Kusakabe (voice)
Tanie Kitabayashi	...	Granny (voice)
Hitoshi Takagi	...	Totoro (voice)
Yûko Maruyama	...	Kanta's Mother (voice)
Machiko Washio	...	Sensei (voice)
Reiko Suzuki	...	Rôba (voice)
Masashi Hirose	...	Kanta's Father (voice)
Toshiyuki Amagasa	...	Kanta (voice)
Shigeru Chiba	...	Kusakari-Otoko (voice)
Naoki Tatsuta	...	Cat Bus / Additional Voices (voice)
Tarako	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Tomohiro Nishimura	...	Postal Messanger (voice)

Storyline

Two young girls, 10-year-old Satsuki and her 4-year-old sister Mei, move into a house in the country with their father to be closer to their hospitalized mother. Satsuki and Mei discover that the nearby forest is inhabited by magical creatures called Totoros (pronounced toe-toe-ro). They soon befriend these Totoros, and have several magical adventures.

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Plot Keywords:

sister sister relationship | studio ghibli | sick mother | little girl | father daughter relationship | 

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Genres:

Animation | Family | Fantasy

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Certificate:

G

Did You Know?

Trivia

King Totoro is the mascot for Hayao Miyazaki's studio, Studio Ghibli.

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Goofs

When Mei is walking around with corn, a goat walks up and bears its large teeth. The goat shows a full set of upper and lower teeth. This is a mistake as goats do not have upper teeth.

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Quotes

Satsuki: You're such a baby! Just grow up!

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Crazy Credits

Drawings in the closing credits show the mother returning home in a taxi and having a bath with Satsuki and Mei. There is also the appearance of a baby dressed in blue, perhaps a younger sibling (brother?) for the girls.

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Alternate Versions

In the Disney dub version of the film, instead of using the FOX opening credits that show the crew-member's names, it uses credits that show voice cast then some crew names, and it is also in a different font.

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Connections

Referenced in Lilo & Stitch (2002)

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Soundtracks

Tonari no Totoro
("My Neighbor Totoro")
Lyrics by Hayao Miyazaki
Composed by Joe Hisaishi

User Reviews

A kids movie?

Picture if you will, a 27 year old male, scanning through his dvd collection, trying to figure out what to watch, on a boring night at home. Suddenly, he stops at My Neighbor Totoro and smiles. Well, that's a pretty typical happenning around the house here.

Miyazaki created a true masterpiece with this film. It has everything a person, of any age, could want. There are points that it is hilarious, a few points where it makes one slightly nervous, the animation is outstanding (as with all Miyazaki films), and aside from lacking a little bit in plot (what movie doesn't nowadays?), the story is wonderful.

One of the things that makes this film shine, at least for me, is that there is absolutely no antagonist role. No bad guy whatsoever, and only a genius like Miyazaki could pull that off.

Is this a childrens movie? Yes, of course it is. Is it a movie only for children? Well... maybe for the inner child inside all of us. There's humour in this movie that the young will laugh at, and there's a bit of humour in the movie that only adults will fully catch and appreciate, without it being "adult humour".

I would reccommend, and have reccommended this film to anyone that would listen.

Thank you again Miyazaki Sensei.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

13 July 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

My Neighbor Totoro

Box Office

Budget:

$3,700,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$539,245, 30 September 2018

Gross USA:

$2,250,213

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$30,545,619

Company Credits

Production Co:

Tokuma Japan Communications, Studio Ghibli, Nibariki

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1