My Neighbor Totoro

Amazon.com essential video

My Neighbor Totoro is that rare delight, a family film that appeals to children and adults alike. While their mother is in the hospital, 10-year-old Satsuki and 4-year-old Mei move into an old-fashioned house in the country with their professor father. At the foot of an enormous camphor tree, Mei discovers the nest of King Totoro, a giant forest spirit who resembles an enormous bunny rabbit. Mei and Satsuki learn that Totoro makes the trees grow, and when he flies over the countryside or roars in his thunderous voice, the winds blow. Totoro becomes the protector of the two sisters, watching over them when they wait for their father, and carrying them over the forests on an enchanted journey. When the children worry about their mother, Totoro sends them to visit her via a Catbus, a magical, multilegged creature with a grin the Cheshire Cat might envy.

Unlike many cartoon children, Satsuki and Mei are neither smart-alecky nor cloyingly saccharine. They are credible kids: bright, energetic, silly, helpful, and occasionally impatient. Filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki makes the viewer believe the two sisters love each other in a way no American feature has ever achieved. My Neighbor Totoro is enormously popular in Japan, and some of the character merchandise has begun to appear in America. The film has also inspired a Japanese environmental group to buy a Totoro Forest preserve in the Saitama Prefecture, where Miyazaki's film is set. --Charles Solomon

Description

Critically acclaimed as one of the most delightful and charming family films ever, MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO is a stunning animated treat full of magical adventure from Hayao Miyazaki. Follow the adventures of Satsuki and her four-year-old sister Mei when they move into a new home in the countryside. To their delight, they discover that their new neighbor is a mysterious forest spirit called Totoro, who can be seen only through the eyes of a child. Totoro introduces them to extraordinary characters -- including a cat that doubles as a bus! -- and takes them on an incredible journey. Full of wonder and heart, this spectacular 2-disc set features the voice talents of Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning. MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO is a magical experience for the whole family! © 1988 Nibariki • G

Customer Reviews:

This version is better than Disney's........2007-09-14

I like this version a lot better than the one that Disney recently released. I own them both and this is the one that I watch. The Disney one has its benefits; you can view the film in the original Japanese language and you can watch it in Widescreen. However, the voice over done on the new Disney one is terrible; it sounds really "acty". I am not fond of Disney's decision to try to sell Miyazaki's movies based on WHO does the voice over as opposed to HOW WELL they do the voice over.
This movie was my introduction to Miyazaki many years ago and is one of my most favorite animated films. Every child I have ever know that sees this movie loves it.

Perfect for the youngsters.......2007-09-08

The Japanese origin of this film gives it a refreshing look compared to American animation. The story is delightful, and for a change a girl has the lead role. Kids will love the landscapes and the characters. Good, clean fun.

Would Give it More Stars if More Than Five Were Possible.......2007-09-06

Have probably watched this movie at least fifty times with and without my daughter either all the way through or just for 10 or so minutes here and there. It's safe to say that nobody in my home has shown the slightest capacity to lose any interest in this totally brilliant-but-understatedly-so movie. If I could only recommend one thing of all the things I've ever purchased on Amazon it might just be this movie. Can't recommend it highly enough.

This is the one you want.......2007-07-30

This is the definitive English-dubbed version. You've got to have it.

Steer clear of the Disney product. They butchered Totoro.

I concur that a full-blown multi-disc DVD would be nice, but then you might be settling for Disney dubbing. And all the good Fox version DVD's will be bought up and no longer available. Or they will be $200 collector's items.

I truly hate what Disney does to Japanese film. All the film's messages are reduced to a slow 1st grade reading level. Americanisms are substituted for Japanisms. Famous AMerican actors are used for the voices. Very distracting.

Get a clue, Disney. I'm trying to watch a Japanese film so I can see a Japanese film. I don't need it dumbed down and Americanized.

Note that the above criticism is directed agaist the Disney product.

This Fox product is great. Whatever anime you can get your hands on that Disney hasn't touched, congratulations.

I hate what Disney does to anime ever more than I hate Ted Turner for colorizing everything, but it's the same kind of hate.

terrific, original story.......2007-07-26

very nice to have little girls as the primary characters. Well written dynamic between the sisters, showing how a big sister tends to look out for her younger siblings, and how very young children feel about being told what to do. The magical world and characters that the girls discover at their summer home is a great connection to the imaginary play that I see in the younger children. Its a little long for the little ones(3- 4.5 yrs) but my 5 year old enjoys the whole movie on an indoor day or long trip. We watched Sprirted Away first, another great movie, but its not really for little ones (some "scary" characters and a separation from parents).
In this movie, the girls' are concerned about their mother who is recuperating, but that is not the focus of the story, and I think its good to present the idea that little kids could sometimes have an ill or recuperating parent. (Instead of just dead, like so many of the princess movies)

My Neighbor Totoro (Full Screen Edition)

Average customer rating:

This version is better than Disney's.
Perfect for the youngsters
Would Give it More Stars if More Than Five Were Possible
This is the one you want
terrific, original story

My Neighbor Totoro (Full Screen Edition)
Starring: Noriko Hidaka , Chika Sakamoto , Shigesato Itoi , Sumi Shimamoto , and Tanie Kitabayashi
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

3-6 Years | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B00003CXCZ
Release Date: 2002-12-03

Amazon.com essential video

Customer Reviews:

This version is better than Disney's........2007-09-14

Perfect for the youngsters.......2007-09-08

Would Give it More Stars if More Than Five Were Possible.......2007-09-06

This is the one you want.......2007-07-30

terrific, original story.......2007-07-26

Average customer rating:

Very Happy
bootlegs are bad...
Arrr, mateys! Make this collection walk the plank..
Non Bootleg is a great set, Go for it!
Great for kids

Studio Ghibli Movie Collection

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

ASIN: B000F7TTJQ

Product Description

This is a 4 DVD set that includes 7 movies. They are: Laputa: Castle in the Sky Grave of the Fireflies My Neighbor Totoro Kiki's Delivery Service Porco-Rosso Princess Mononoke Spirited Away Audio is in both English and Japanese

Customer Reviews:

Very Happy.......2007-06-22

I only buy anime from official dealers and I own this set pictured here published by FX. This is a wonderful 6 disc set with scene selection, set up options and interviews. They also have the Hollywood voice overs like the Disney versions. The picture and sound are very good too. A great choice for those who want to save money. Don't buy from private sellers or you're just rolling the dice. I understand there may be some issues with the subtitles but I watch the English versions. I'm very happy with my set.

bootlegs are bad..........2007-06-04

Don't buy bootlegs. Buy the Buena Vista DVD releases (in either R1 or R2). Don't buy these. I'd rather see people download copies from people who are just trying to share things that they like than see people pay money to Chinese bootleggers just trying to make a profit.

Arrr, mateys! Make this collection walk the plank.........2007-05-30

So I bought this set from another site before realizing that they were bootlegs. Well, what should you expect for about $5 a movie?

But besides the ethical issues of ripping of Studio Ghibli, you have very poor quality in the sound/captioning department. Captions are not synched properly with the dialogue; there are captions when there is no dialogue; and they caption sound effects, e.g. (birds chirping), (helicopter whirring), ...as if they were for the hearing impaired.

Furthermore, they jam 2-3 movies per disc, and navigating between movies is near impossible; the only way I can figure out how to do it is to forward through one movie to get to the next.

My advice is to find good used copies of the originals.

Non Bootleg is a great set, Go for it!.......2007-03-20

My DVD set "Studio Ghibli Complete Collection" with Studio Ghibli Trade Mark, has the following on 6 DVDs. My set has similar but different cover to that depicted, very professional and no issues at all with quality.

1. Princess Mononoke 2. Nausicaa: Of The Valley Of Wind 3. Only Yesterday - (Tearful Thoughts) 4. Whisper of the Heart - (Pick Up Your Ears; if Your Listen Carefully) 5. My Neighbor Totoro - (Tonari No Totoro) 6. Defenders of the Forest - (Pompoko) 7. Porco Rosso - (The Crimson Pig) 8. Laputa: Castle In the Sky - (aka: Laputa) 9. Kiki's Delivery Service - (Witch's Special Express Delivery) 10. Grave of the Fireflies - (Hotaro no Haka) 11. Ocean Waves - (I can Hear the Ocean) 12. On Your Mark.

This set has all the need to see Studio Ghibli productions, this set misses Howls Moving Castle and may be a previous best collection prior to the release of that movie. My ratings below are out of 10

In any case the rest are all great, as with any selection there are those you can take or leave but in this case they are few. Top viewing are Grave of the Fireflies, (10) a must see, Kiki's flying Delivery Service (10), and Spirited Away (10), both adorable. Totoro for a fun ride (8), Laputa (9), Nausicca (9) and Princess Mononoke (8) for the adventuous, Swash Buckling Porko Rosso (8), The Cat Returns (9), Wisper of the Heart (9) for fantasy lovers, and Only Yesterday (10) and Ocean Waves (8) for love stories, finally On your Mark (7), a quick rescue the princess type adventure!

Worth every penny I paid. ($51.00 Aus) I hope if you purchase this you get a good copy and not a pirate version.

Great for kids.......2007-02-11

The first Ghibli I saw was Kiki's Delevery Service on Toon Disney althorugh I didn't saw the whole movie, the second was Sprited Away on Cartoon Network (and I didn't see the whole movie again), but I started to see more of the Miyasaki at a local libary and the movies are great for kids, teens and adults.

Miyazaki 13 Pack (Castle in the Sky/Kiki's Delivery Service/Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind/Porco Rosso/Princess Mononoke/Spirited Away/Grave of the Fireflies/The Cat Returns/Howl's Moving Castle/My Neighbor Totoro/My Neighbors the Yamadas/Pom Poko/Whisper of the Heart) (1999)

Average customer rating:

Pricey, but worthwhile collection of Ghibli's works.

Miyazaki 13 Pack (Castle in the Sky/Kiki's Delivery Service/Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind/Porco Rosso/Princess Mononoke/Spirited Away/Grave of the Fireflies/The Cat Returns/Howl's Moving Castle/My Neighbor Totoro/My Neighbors the Yamadas/Pom Poko/Whisper of the Heart) (1999)
Director: Hayao Miyazaki , and Kirk Wise
Manufacturer: Walt Disney Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Anime & Manga | Genres | DVD | Video
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The Cat Returns

ASIN: B000OYT9N6

Product Description

An instant library of 13 Hayao MIYAZAKI classics assembled on 24 DVDs. Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio, led by one of animation's greatest creators, Hayao MIYAZAKI. The studio creates very high quality animated movies, which is rather unique, since most Japanese animation studios depend on TV series or OVAs. They consistently beat Disney movies in box office revenues in Japan and have received numerous awards. Miyazaki and Ghibli movies are well respected and loved by all Japanese people, children and adults alike. Now own the ultimate Studio Ghibli DVD collection in this hefty collector's pack.

Customer Reviews:

Pricey, but worthwhile collection of Ghibli's works........2007-05-28

The genius of Hayao Miyazaki and his works from Studio Ghibli have slowly been growing in popularity, due in no small part to a campaign courtesy of Disney, headed by Pixar guru John Lasseter. Starting with SPIRITED AWAY, the Mouse House has released most of Ghibli's masterpieces on DVD here in the United States.

Many other websites have gone into detail about Studio Ghibli and their works in general, so I won't recap them here. However, it should be mentioned that all these movies contain high-quality visual transfers (KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE and LAPUTA: CASTLE IN THE SKY show their age in places, but both still look pretty good overall), as well as the original Japanese soundtracks.

While purists insist that the native language track is the only way to see these movies, Disney has nonethless gone out of their way to commission absolutely stupendous dubs featuring actors such as Mark Hamill, Cloris Leachman, Phil Hartman, Minnie Driver, Patrick Stewart, Harold Gould, Uma Thurman, Suzanne Pleshette, Pat Carroll, and Billy Crystal. All give excellent performances; some of the choices are a little odd (James Van Der Beek, Michael Keaton, and probably, to a lesser extent, Billy Bob Thornton), but they're hardly blasphemous and don't detract from the overall experience.

While the adaptation scripts sometimes throw in more extra lines than necessary (KIKI and LAPUTA are most notable for this, although to be fair, they're not too much out of context with the original), for the most part they remain faithful in spirit (if not letter) to the screenplays of Miyazaki, Takahata, and company. And best of all, not even one second is omitted from these movies. Four things should be noted, though.

1. KIKI and CASTLE have extra pieces of music on the dubs--the former is mostly soft piano music courtesy of Paul Chihara, while the latter has a spectacular and arguably superior reorchestration of the full score (previously performed on synthesizers). The man responsible for the new music, interestingly, is the original composer Joe Hisaishi, under the approval of Miyazaki himself! There have been many debates over which interpretation of the soundtrack is superior, but personally I think both versions of the score for LAPUTA are beautiful and can be enjoyed independently.

2. GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES is the only movie in this package not to be dubbed by Disney; produced by New York based Central Park Media, it's not on the same level as the other titles, but it's mostly well done.

3. The DVD of MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, a much loved movie, is the newly repackaged Disney release with a high-quality widescreen transfer as well as a new dub featuring real-life sisters Dakota and Elle Fanning as Satsuki and Mei. There was a previous, well-liked dub of TOTORO produced by Streamline Pictures and released by FOX in 1993, but the DVD it is on is pan & scan. There has been a lot of pointless debating over which dub is superior; most of these criticims tend to stem from nostalgia rather than reason. I'd suggest ignoring the controversy and listen to both dubs for two different but no less enjoyable interpretations of a great story.

4. PRINCESS MONONOKE (distributed by Miramax) and MY NEIGHBORS THE YAMADAS are both one-disc sets. And, since MONONOKE was the first Ghibli DVD release, there are only two skimpy extras (although the transfer of the movie itself is impeccable).

There are a group of naysayers who have been overly critical of Disney's treatment of these films, claiming that the Mouse House is somehow sabotaging Ghibli's work. These accusations are senseless and untrue. While Disney has admittingly delayed these movies for way too long (they acquired the rights for them in 1996), the numerous criticisms over the DVDs and dubbing are often overdone and unnecessary. While the DVDs are sometimes simply designed, the films themselves are presented well. Likewise, there is little point in comparing the dubs to the original Japanese versions. While there might be some argument about getting a more authentic experience through the native language track on most of these movies (although films like KIKI, LAPUTA, and HOWL are actually easier to watch in English since they all set in European-based environments), when the dubs are as well done as this, it is arguably better to just watch both. Either one provides an enjoyable experience, although getting the most out of the dubs may depend on what you bring with you to them.

For Anime fans, the works of Ghibli are an essential addition, but fans of animation in general owe it to themselves to give them a spin. A word of caution, though: not all of these movies are for children--PRINCESS MONONOKE has some graphic images of violence; it's the sort of movie that grown-ups will enjoy, and that's not a bad thing in the least.

Average customer rating:

My Neighbor Totoro

Manufacturer: Studio Ghbu DVD Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000BDME46

Product Description

Two girls, Satsuke and her younger sister Mei, move into the country with their father. While out exploring, the younger girl meets Totoro, a large forest spirit. The two girls befriend Totoro and he becomes their protector. The gang embarks on wondrous journeys over the forests, even visiting their hospitalized mother.

Average customer rating:

Memories of Teardrops
Director: Isao Takahata
Manufacturer: Daewon DVD
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

English Subtitled
Dolby Digital 2.0

ASIN: B000OOLIBW

Product Description

Korean Special Edition of 1991 Japanese Animation Directed by Takahata Isao, Produed by Miyazaki Hayao. Bonus Disc Features Making of the Film, Theatrical Trailer & More. Region Code:3 (Only Viewable on Code-Free or Asian Players). English Subtitled.

DVD:

DVD

DVD