dir. Hayao Miyazaki
I don't know whether the little girls voices in this movie are as annoying in Japanese as they are in the Americanized version we rented from Blockbuster but my guess is that the Japanese version is infinitely better. As a rule I love movies from Studio Ghibli hence my disappointment with the squeally voices emanating from the cute animated girls in My Neighbor Totoro. Studio Ghibli movies are like the fantasy world I lived in when I was 5. Fantastically magical. Silly and sweet. Everything is possible including having a "Totoro" or Troll live in the gigantic tree beside your house that roars and flys you around the countryside late at night when you should be sleeping. Perfectly normal for a 5 year old brain. American animation has never seemed to aspire towards the beautifully painted landscapes, subtle changes in light, and the sad wonderfulness of being a child that Miyazaki has mastered. There are moments of imagination and beauty in this movie that are hard to describe and to a 5 year old I can only imagine that they may seem delightfully normal. This movie is more for a child than other Studio Ghibli creations. Mei and Satsuki are open to the scary things in the world in a way only a young one can get away with, and the audience is reassured that there is always a safe place and somone to rescue you even if it is in a psychedelic chesire cat bus.
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