My Neighbor Totoro (2-Disc Edition) DVD Review
SoHood.com Reviewed by: Derek Lawrence
Movie Rating:  4 out of 5
Extras Rating: 5 out of 5

Overview: In 1972, a scale of measurement was established for alien encounters. When a UFO is sighted, it is called an encounter of the first kind. When evidence is collected, it is known as an encounter of the second kind. When contact is made with extraterrestrials, it is the third kind. The next level, abduction, is the fourth kind. This encounter has been the most difficult to document-until now. Set in modern-day Nome, Alaska, where–mysteriously since the 1960s–a disproportionate number of the population has been reported missing every year. Despite multiple FBI investigations of the region, the truth has never been discovered. Here in this remote region, psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler began videotaping sessions with traumatized patients and unwittingly discovered some of the most disturbing evidence of alien abduction ever documented.

Japanese animated feature about two young girls who meet a supernatural creature, or spirit, named “Totoro.” Director Miyazaki’s talents shine in this movie with beautiful animation and simple pleasures. The story is set in the late 1950′s when a college professor moves to the country with his two daughters who are approximately five and eight years of age. The family is happy for the most part, but their mother is confined to a hospital for an illness not identified in the story. The girls are enchanted with their new home, an old spacious house situated in the country, surrounded by farms and forests.

Unusual events begin to take place with mysterious little creatures running around the house and strange winds and noises outside the house at night. Eventually the girls discover Totoro, a large mythical creature who looks like a cross between a bear and rabbit; he’s big! Mei, the youngest of the two girls, meets him first and she’s the one who names him “Totoro.” Satsuki, the older sister, meets Totoro later in the film while waiting for her father at a lonely bus-stop during an evening rainstorm, which is probably the most enjoyable scene in the movie.

With Totoro are his two little brothers, miniature versions of himself, and a giant cat who looks like a bus. Totoro and the giant Cat bus come to the rescue when Mei is lost in the country after running off in anguish to look for her mother at the hospital, and Satsuki is in despair trying to find her sister. The story is simple and it’s enchanting. Disney fans may love it or hate it for being a different form of animation and story-telling.