Movie: Tonari no Totoro (1988)
“Two young girls, Satsuke and her younger sister Mei, move into a house in the country with their father to be closer to their hospitalized mother. Satsuke and Mei discover that the nearby forest is inhabited by magical creatures called Totoros (pronounced toe-toe-ro). They soon befriend these Totoros, and have several magical adventures. Written by Christopher E. Meadows {cmeadows@nyx.cs.du.edu}”
- Director: Hayao Miyazaki
- Release Date: 16 April 1988 (Japan)
- Run Time: 86 min
- Country: Japan
- Genre: Animation , Adventure , Family , Fantasy
Trivia: The forest creatures and title characters of this movie got their name when Mei, the little girl who first sees them in the film, mispronounces the word “troll”. At one point in the original Japanese language version, when Satsuki first finds Mei sleeping in the grove behind their house, Mei tells her sister she saw a “totoro”. Satsuki replies, “Totoro, do you mean troll, from the storybook?” and Mei nods in agreement. This aspect of the story was left out of the 1993 Fox English version, probably because the difference between “”to-ro-ru” (the Japanese pronunciation of “troll”) and “to-to-ro” would have been lost on English-speaking audiences. The quote is included in the 2006 Disney English version.
Goofs: Continuity: When Mei and Satsuki are running back home from school because of the rain, Mei trips and there is mud on her skirt. After a few scenes, her skirt does not have the mud.