My Neighbour Totoro
The Wind Rises hits the big screen today and is set to bring director Hayao Miyazaki's terrific directing career to a close.
All week we have been looking at some of the best Studio Ghibli films to celebrate this new release, and My Neighbour Totoro is in the spotlight today.
My Neighbour Totoro was released in Japan back in 1988, and saw Miyazaki return to the director's chair for the first time since Castle in the Sky back in 1986.
This movie charmed audiences from the movie it was released, and has been doing so for the last twenty-five years.
While their mother recovers from an illness, Satsuki and her sister Mei get away from it all in an idyllic rural retreat.
Far from the bustle of the city, they discover a mysterious place of spirits and magic, and the friendship of the Totoro woodland creatures.
My Neighbour Totoro is perhaps the most child-like of all of Studio Ghibli's films and yet it is a captivating story from start to finish.
It is a story that is packed with childhood wonder and innocence and you cannot help but get swept away with it.
More than any other Studio Ghibli films My Neighbour Totoro is a celebration of the imagination as the director Hayao Miyazaki really does take you to a different world.
Characters such as Totoro and Catbus are some of the most famous Studio Ghibli creations; they are characters that will stay with you long after the credits have rolled.
However, there is a real undercurrent of emotional turmoil in this film: death really does loom over this picture as the life of Satsuki and Mei's mother hangs in the balance.
However, Hayao Miyazaki has cleverly not let this darken the movie as the sisters experience all of these wonderful times with Totoro as a way to escape reality.
The big screen has become packed with CGI driven animation movies over the years and it is fantastic to see the hand drawn style back.
I love the CGI animation movies as much as the next film fan but there is a real magic and charm to the hand drawn movies.
My Neighbour Totoro is a movie that has not lost its magic over the years, as it is just as wonderful and arresting now as it was when it was first released.
This movie has a real power as it taps into this idea of childhood, innocent and wide-eyed wonder - this is something that we can all relate to.
The Wind Rises is out now.
Tagged in Studio Ghibli