If you don't know it yet, then you'll have the chance to spend a great moment with your family in front of one of the cult cartoons in Japan and around the world. Totoro is a forest spirit that appears in the form of an animal — a cross between a cat, an owl and a panda.
Film synopsis
Two little girls, Mei, 4, and Satsuki, 10, move into a big house in the countryside with their father to be closer to the hospital where their mother is staying. They discover the nature all around the house and, above all, the existence of wonderful creatures, the Totoros, with whom they become great friends.
Excerpt
The endearing little girls, the softness of the drawings, the giant-plush side of Totoro and his powers are often addictive for young and old alike.
"One of the film's feats is to be totally universal while being intensely Japanese: everything in the Kusakabe family's new house or their way of life reminds us of Japan, rather rural, and Shinto animism and Buddhism literally inhabit the work from beginning to end. The doors slide, you take off your shoes inside, altars line the roads while others are more isolated deep in the woods... the everyday rubs shoulders with the supernatural in an organic tangle and, yet, the characters and situations are graspable at every moment, so simple and coherent does the narrative framework remain."
A real fan club exists around the world and numerous anecdotes (real or imaginary) have been revealed about the film. Many come from the book "The Art of My Neighbour Totoro", in which Hayao Miyazaki opens his archives and reveals the sketches, watercolours, storyboards and paintings that gave birth to his masterpiece.
Drawing Totoro
And because we're in lockdown, here's an exercise that will delight your children: How to draw Totoro in 8 steps by Erivak.
The Totoro song
We told you it's become a cult classic. Here is the Totoro song
Translation of the lyrics of the Totoro song.
Totoro Totoro Totoro Totoro
Someone, discreetly,
plants tree seeds on the little path
If a young sprout appears, it's the secret code
Your passport to the forest
And an adorable adventure begins
Tonari no Totoro Totoro Totoro Totoro
Since the dawn of time, you live in the heart of the forest
Tonari no Totoro Totoro Totoro Totoro
And only during childhood can we come to see you
Mysterious encounter...
It's raining at the bus stop
If a monster soaked to the bone is there
Hand him your umbrella
It's your passport to the forest
That opens the magic door
Tonari no Totoro Totoro Totoro Totoro
Moonlit evenings playing the ocarina
Tonari no Totoro Totoro Totoro Totoro
If you can meet him, this feeling of happiness
you too will feel it
Totoro Totoro Totoro Totoro
Totoro Totoro Totoro Totoro
Watching My Neighbour Totoro
On Monday 20 January 2020, Netflix made an announcement that caused a sensation: the arrival, from 1 February, of 21 Studio Ghibli films — the famous Oscar-winning Japanese studio — on the streaming site, with the exception of the United States, Canada and Japan.
On this occasion, Toshio Suzuki, producer at Studio Ghibli, declared: "Nowadays, there are excellent ways for a film to reach its audience. Our decision to stream our film catalogue responds to a demand from our fans. We hope this initiative will allow many viewers around the world to discover the world of Studio Ghibli."
The release schedule
Netflix decided to split its schedule into three distinct periods: February, March and April.
1 February 2020:
Castle in the Sky (1986)
My Neighbour Totoro (1988)
Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
Only Yesterday (1991)
Porco Rosso (1992)
Ocean Waves (1993)
Tales from Earthsea (2006)
1 March 2020:
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
Princess Mononoke (1997)
My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999)
Spirited Away (2001)
The Cat Returns (2002)
Arrietty (2010)
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013)
1 April 2020:
Pom Poko (1994)
Whisper of the Heart (1995)
Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
Ponyo (2008)
From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)
The Wind Rises (2013)
When Marnie Was There (2014)
