You've heard of Miyazaki, right; One of the most popular anime writers and directors ever. Some of his works include Princess Mononoke, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind and Kiki's Delivery Service. (I'm still waiting for Laputa and Naussica to be released in the U.S. ::sigh::) Anyway, My Neighbor Totoro is considered another one of Miyazaki's classics. I, don't agree. Totoro is a good movie, but it isn't quite as good as Mononoke and nowhere near as magical or as charming as the masterpiece that we know as Kiki's Delivery Service.

Totoro is basically a fairy tale that really doesn't have too much of a plot. No one saves the world and there isn't a bad guy to conquer. It's just about little kids and the cute Totoro's they meet. Totoros, by the way, are the cutest things I have ever seen, they are a combination of a bear, bunny and a cat. Satsuke and Mei, are two little girls that move into their new house. The tree next door has inhabitants named Totoro. Three Totoro, one giant, one medium and one baby, live in this tree. The story then goes on to show us the adventures that Satsuke and Mei have of discovering the Totoros and other such whimsical adventures. Let me tell you about the movie. It's CUTE. Very, very cute; annoyingly cute. It's really mean, but one reason that I don't like the movie as much as I did is because of Satsuke and Mei. They are irritating. Their voices are really good, but if I hear Mei's stupid giggle one more time.......These hyperactive children just won't shutup. They won't stop! They annoy us with the stupidest things. It's not cute. It's irritating. I really hope I didn't act like such a fool when I was a child.

The story doesn't really matter in this movie. It's about going into the magical world of Satsuke and Mei. It does a nice job of sucking you into the world of the totoros, that is until Mei let's out one of her irritating laughs. The art is fantastic and really bright and beautiful. I love the Totoro tree especially. The best thing about this movie is probably the soothing country atmosphere. The Totoro designs are cute too. Like I said, they are very cute, but cute in a very good way. The music is nice too. When I heard one of the songs, I was reminded of Princess Mononoke, and that's a good thing. Let me say that this movie is all happy, happy, joy, joy. Nothing is really sad, and if there is something sad, the totoros make it all better anyway. So will you enjoy this movie. I really didn't like it that much. Yes it is good, but it didn't appeal to me at all.

It just irritated me. This a movie that you can watch to forget your problems and just basically feel good. This movie will make you happy. It's one of those movies where there is no evil. It will make you feel at peace. I think this movie really will appeal to a whole lot of people. Children will love the Totoros and the magic and adults will enjoy thinking back when they used to have imaginary adventures, imaginary friends and discovering new things. Do you remember when you didn't have a care in the world? However, I don't think this movie is as good as Kiki. I feel that Kiki's Delivery Service is much more magical and has better messages than this movie. Kiki is much less annoying than these children or maybe Miyazaki just sets such high standards with his other masterpieces. I also didn't feel very satisfied after watching this movie. There just wasn't enough Totoro, or just enough to make me feel that this movie was really worth watching again. It's forgettable. If you can take really annoying Giddy children and like cute movies than watch this. If you have a choice between Kiki or Totoro and can only buy one movie than get Kiki. Out of the three Miyazaki's I have seen (Mononoke, Kiki, Totoro) this is my least favorite.