My Neighbor Totoro

Few films better capture the magic of childhood than My Neighbor Totoro, “a children’s film made for the world we should live in, rather than the one we occupy” (Roger Ebert). Two young sisters move to the countryside for a long, sleepy summer to be near their sick mother. They soon make a new friend, Totoro, who is kindly, a bit chubby, and overly fond of umbrellas. Totoro also grows magic trees overnight, hops aboard huge “catbuses,” and is probably imaginary. Creating a magical space where the natural, spiritual, fantasy, and human worlds combine, My Neighbor Totoro revels in—and embodies—a true sense of wonder.