My Neighbor Totoro by Hayao Miyazaki is a wonderful autobiographical movie by Miyazaki. This animated film tells of the misadventures of two Japanese children and the monster they befriend. Miyazaki has stated that the family portion of the story is almost a complete autobiography of his childhood. He changed the genders of the children from male to female to allow him to have some distance from the story. But not so much, that he didn’t make it his most personal film.

Satsuki and Mei are two Japanese children who have just moved to a rural farmhouse with their father. Their mother is in the hospital recovering from an unspecified disease. As they start exploring the house, they start finding soot spirits there. Mei later finds two additional bunny like creatures who lead her to a giant monster/spirit called Totoro. When their mother has additional medical problems, the Totoro takes them on a journey to their mother’s hospital, inside a catbus (a cat that is also a bus). The girls  leave food on the windowsill of their mother’s hospital room (which is found by their parents) and that helps their mother recover.

But the plot is only half the story. The simple, yet endearing animation draws you into the story. And the depictions of 10 year old Satsuki and 4 year old Mei are amazing. You can truly believe that these characters are their ages. The belief in the magical creatures is matched only by the love for their family. My Neighbor Totoro is an amazing story for children and adults of all ages. Highly recommended.