Day 7: Favorite animated feature

Day 7: Favorite animated feature


Second attempt at this today. Earlier I was going on about how hard it is to pick favourites, well not hard to pick favourites plural, but to single things down to one... eesh.

Favorite animated feature

My Neighbour Totoro

Other films came to mind, including Spirited Away, and the Fox and the Hound. Right now though, I'd like a Totoro. Earlier I was thinking about how one film, or one thing, can be the best in one situation, and not be right for another. Today is a Totoro day.

Having a Totoro in the garden right now would be great. I'd cuddle into its furry belly and fall asleep. It would probably wake with a ROOOOOAAAAAWWWWRRRRR and frighten the life out of me, but then there would be giggling. And that would be nice.
It's a more muted tone film than anything by Disney, and seems more dreamlike, and perhaps more realistic because of it.

For anyone not having come across it as a film - its Studio Ghibli - beautiful Anime. Its a film with kids in it - so... arguably a kids film - but viewed as an adult, you get both the adult, and the childlike reaction to the events as they unfold. Your reactions now to a mum in hospital, and what you would have felt as a child. You also get the sadness as it emerges that you can only see the Totoro at a certain age, now long since past.

The crazy beast of the Totoro, its smaller minions, and the CatBus all weave through the human story, making it possible without the adults knowing.

You also get a lesson in the ages of Anime -

1. The small girl. Big head. Big mouth. Short and chubby.
2. The older girl. Head more in proportion. Mouth only big when acting childishly. Longer and leaner.
3. The mother. Proportionate, calm, slender.
4. The crone. Short and round. Big features, eyes and mouth - the return to childhood.

I'll try not to be sad that I can't see the Totoro. It's there. I just cant see it.