My Neighbor Totoro
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Movie Reviews of My Neighbor Totoro
Movie Review: Amazon makes things confusing!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'll recheck this but (as Amazon states) I'm certain the two-disc set contains original Japanese language with an English subtitle option (along with English dub). The debates about this video seem to focus on this issue. Amazon tends to print the same reviews for differing versions of a same title and it can get really perplexing at times--in one case two entirely different movies that happened only to share the same title shared reviews. I wrote to Amazon about this but never received a response.
With that out of the way (and I think with little need to stress the fact that this is a spectacular family film), let me be an advocate of one approach here. Even if you're showing this to children (and please, watch this with them, you'll be delighted), make every effort to watch it in the original Japanese, with subtitles, and read for them if needed. Reasons are:
A) As much as I hate to admit it, I now never find much merit in American dubbings of any film. The reason is that once a foreign film gets into the hands of American producers, they feel a need--sometimes a subtle and well-intended one--to "Americanize" the film. There's nothing innately bad about this but almost always, if you go to the original and listen very carefully to the emotions and inflections of a language you may not even understand, you'll find that the original film makes much more "emotional" sense than the American version. Anything Disney does is particularly suspect since it tends to operate (to its financial detriment, we've noticed) in High-Power Marketing Mode nearly all of the time so it will try to go for "names" in dubbing rather than pay strict attention to artistic needs*. I've worked with Disney on some projects and frankly they need someone to talk to them and help them get back to another world of magic entirely.
B) Kids, more than anyone, pick up on the emotional content of language and will, if you give them the chance, find more of value in the original language films, even if subtitles may be a minor barrier. This is also the best way to start them on a path of appreciating other cultures and non-American film product which (even I'm now realizing) is often of finer artistic merit.
C) The Japanese, with an ancient theatrical traditional, field spectacular actors and the voice talent that turns up in these movies is often as good as can be hoped for. This particular film is beautifully acted. In what I've encountered, Japanese actors generally portray finer ranges and nuances of emotion and manage gentleness and innocence particularly well. Your kids will pick up on this.
*The recent "Howl's Moving Castle" used Billy Crystal for the voice of the Fire Demon. Listen to the original and compare. Crystal was brilliant in Monsters Inc.--the part being pretty much written for him--but here he's sadly under-utilized and his wise-crack delivery is more than a little out-of-place. Disney really tried too hard to pack this one with "names."
Movie Review: scared
Summary: 5 Stars
ok let me get this outta the way I love this film, but the thing that worries me is who is publishing it. A few years back Fox released Totoro on DVD with a crappy transfer, I mean it looks like they just scanned it into the machine and let it go without even doing mandatory touch-ups to it... perhaps that could be a good thing in retrospect compared to who has the rights now. A poor transfer does not blemish a masterpiece, even though the colors are bland and sometimes off, the heart is not lost. Anywho let me get to my point. Disney currently holds the right to release special edition and while many people have been anticipating the release, you do realize this is the company who in the 80's rejected publishing back to the future because of the kiss between marty and loriene (if you don't know what i'm talking go watch back to the future). This is the company who cut out a smoking texan in the Olypus movie segment from it's own fantasia DVD! Don't even get me started on the Disney Radio stuff, I remember I rented some disney video (I think it was either Little mermaid II or fun and fancy free. ((make fun of me and i'll sick a legion of girl scouts on you and by the time there through with you you'll be out about a dozen or so thousand dollars and be stuck with a life-time supply of moderatly over-priced cookies.))) and I was skimming over the extras when I saw this Mambo no.5 remake that made me wince very cruelly, it replaced all the girls names with Disney characters, and believe me it is as stupid as it sounds. The point is is disneys drastic standards scare me a bit because if you recall the part where mei and satsuki are bathing with there father... well this may not be appropriate in the eyes of a certain little mouse... come on this is Disney! I have a bit of a worry that they might cut that scene and that would really suck, I mean come on they turned down the publishing rights to a great movie just because of a little kiss, well anywho you can connect the dots yourself and wait for the DVD, i just hope our furry little friend comes in with a big roar and not full of bullet holes... (wow what a crappy analogy i can't believe i could not think of anything better! I mean on a scale of 1-10 on the crap factor that analogy is 11, geez I mean it really sucks... sucks like a vacume... my god I don't even know how to spell vacume... i'll stop now)
Note: Holy merciful ****!!! The release date is 2010, WTF are they smokin I want this now!!! now damn it... Disney I like your movies, but I don't like you, my day will come and you will burn, burn like the setting sun on a midsummersday!
Update: Now amazon has the date listed as TBA under avaliabity instead of 2010 as before, I guess they didn't want to scare off Pre-orders, but strangley enough if you look lower at the specifics of the DVD the release date is listed as January 1, 2010... the plot thickens.
Movie Review: A truly sublime film from the master of animation.
Summary: 5 Stars
In recent years, many "family films" have not been enjoyable for the whole family. Instead of making them so that both the kids and the parents can enjoy them, they are often made so only the kiddies will enjoy them (I'm lookin' at YOU Nickelodeon). These films are loud, obnoxious, rude and simply unbearable. However, there are also a few family films that have been enjoyable for all ages. The most prominent examples being the films of Pixar and Studio Ghibli. Out of all of these films, this little gem, "My Neighbor Totoro", may just be the finest family film of all. The premise is simple: Two little girls with a sick mother move out to the country with their father, exploring the surrounding forest and interacting with the spirits that inhabit it, such as the big furry Totoro. That's pretty much it. While it doesn't sound like engaging cinema, it has a warm, touching atmosphere with an emphasis on the importance of family togetherness. While it is a fine family film, it is also a wonderfully experimental art film. Instead of relying on a conventional plot, it explores it's world with a childlike sense of wonder, taking life one step at a time. The human characters have surprisingly real personalities, and are somehow able to get along with each other for the most part. The spirits also fit surprisingly well into the realistic world, as if they really did exist. This film also has the most detailed and beautiful backgrounds you'll ever see in a film. The beautifully crafted plants make you want to go outside and explore nature (after you're done watching the movie, of course). One thing that really irks me however, is that many fans give this wonderful film one measly star, simply because they didn't like Disney's dub. Many people seem to prefer Fox's dub from the early nineties, but I don't see why. I haven't seen the whole film with the Fox dub, but all I know is this: The girls are voiced by adults (adults never sound like authentic children), the father has a deep, scratchy voice (COMPLETELY out of character), and Totoro and Catbus don't even have voices (SERIOUSLY?!? They had voices in the Japanese version, why don't they have them in the Fox dub?!?). Also, the cover art makes it look like one of those Disney musical rip-offs that were so common in the nineties. These are my opinions, anyway. One reason why I would say that Disney's dub is a better buy, is that it includes the original Japanese audio track, while the Fox dub does not. That way, if you really do dislike Disney's dub, or just hate dubbing in general, you can watch the film in it's original language without having to buy an overpriced import from Japan. Also, I don't think Disney's dub is as bad as anime snobs let on. This really is one of Hayao Miyazaki's best works.Movie Review: A family film that's not just for the kids
Summary: 5 Stars
A lot of times whenever I see the words "family film", it usually means that the film is perfect for kids but adults would merely find it tolerable, as if it's not that entertaining but it's not a bore either. Recently my sister had a kid's show on TV that she loves yet I felt kind of "meh" about it. Well Miyazaki films are perfect since they're colorful and imaginative for the kids but they're quite entertaining for the adults too.
Satsuki and Mei are 2 girls who have just moved into a new house with their dad. Mei takes a trip to the nearby forest and runs into a Totoro, a forest spirit who resembles a giant rabbit. Soon Satsuki also finds it and the 2 have fun with it. Only thing is is that their mom is in the hospital and Mei does something drastic to go see her.
Watching Totoro, you get the sense of you're watching something that fits perfectly with whatever situation you're in. If you're a parent with kids it's perfect but if you're just buying it to watch it that'll work too. Unlike Nausicaa or Mononoke which were maybe a bit too "adult", Totoro fits for everyone who just wants to be entertained for an hour and a half.
It's certainly an imaginative film but it doesn't have that out-there craziness like other films had. There's no guy with a pig head or giant....bug things or a giant talking wolf. It does have one very odd addition: a bus shaped like a multi-legged cat. But the imagination in a way seems a bit more tamer. In fact, Totoro doesn't show up right away, neither does the Cat Bus and they're not in the movie that much anyway. One thing is that kids might be slightly turned off by the fact that it's not one of those "everything's perfect" kid films where the only badness comes from the bad guy. There's no song singing and when Totoro isn't smiling(kind of creepily I might add), he's roaring like crazy.
Do yourself a favor and watch the japanese version. It reeks of stunt-casting syndrome that animated films have been doing lately which is to just cast a big star for whatever role you feel like instead of matching the character to the voice(the only 3 I ever liked were Patrick Stewart and Alison Lohman in Nausicaa and Christian Bale). The extras are kind of disappointing since being a 2-disc set you're expecting some huge ensemble of documentaries but there's not a whole lot here.
Is it watchable? Definately. Whether or not your kids will love it though depends on what they like. If they prefer big rousing songs and endless comic relief...they might not like it. Imagination and colorful animation? Then they will.
Movie Review: Great animated movie
Summary: 5 Stars
First off i would like to say, i own both copies of the movie.
I enjoyed this movie fully. It's widescreen presentations was flawless and full of color. It also had a number of extras on this dvd.
Next debate, the new dub. Ok, I completely understand why people dont like this dub...i dont like it as well as the Fox Totoro dub either. Before this was out all anyone could do is complain about the acting on the Fox Totoro, now everyone prefers it.
I watched My neighbor Totoro when i was young. It was my favorite movie. We only rented it though. Then years later (about a year or two ago). I found the Fox version in a walmart bargain bin of dvds. I couldnt believe my eyes, memories rushed back as i grabbed it and bought it. I really loved watching it.
Then a few years later this one comes out. Disney does a great job at these Ghibli movies. So i did not hesitate to buy the movie again. Not only is it widescreen, but it has the original japanese version. I am not big on Japanese versions, but its always nice to run through once.
First thing i thought...They redid the song. Same words new vocals. It was nice. then Wow they sound older than they look...I know Dakota Fanning is a great young actress, but she sounded older than the previous one who played her. I also noticed a lot of dialouge changes. I dont know anything about japanese so i dont know which was more accurate. But it kinda made me feel bad...They arent soot gremlins they are dust bunnies. I have known them as dust bunnies all my life, then they change it to soot gremlins.........that makes me sick......Even when i first saw spirited away i said "Look its the dust bunnies". Course they called them soot sprites...which still sounds better than soot gremlins. That is the only real thing i hated about this movie.
I picked up my fox dvd for only $5.50 at wal mart. This one for $20 at wal mart. Both i love, disney for the quality, and Fox for the original dialogue and voices i have grown to love.
I still give this 5 stars despite the soot gremlin horror.
If the dub bugs you that much. I would buy the fox version. What i do, is since i have a ps2 and a dvd player. I put one in each, wire the disney video, and the fox sound together with the cables and then start them at the same time. That way i get my favorite dialogue and good video.