Review of the 1988 film 'My Neighbour Totoro'

Conceived as a children's film with no real conflict, My Neighbour Totoro follows sisters Satsuki and Mei when they move, with their father to a house in the countryside. In the forest near their house, Mei discovers Totoro, a spirit of nature, and she and her sister have a series of adventures.

Totoro is obviously meant as a children's film, but it still had a lot of appeal. The plot is simple, but there is a lot of the kind of magic and wonder in it that makes such fantasy films so fun to watch. Visually, the film is beautiful and the characters are all likeable.

As a film with no conflict, you would think that it would be boring. I think if I was in the mood for a crazy action film, it would be a little bit boring. However, primarily this was a happy, funny film that is meant to amuse and delight. I very much enjoyed it, and while I hesitate to use the word cute, I think that best describes much of the movie.

This would be a great film to watch if you are feeling down, or if you want to watch something happy without the usual dose of angst that accompanies many films. I don't have many criticisms, positive or negative, beyond that, so I will stop there.