My Neighbor Totoro 1988

A magical figure in every modern Japanese childhood, My Neighbor Totoro is looming increasingly and endearingly large in the hearts of small children and their minders all over the world. Two little girls and their father move to the country when their mother is admitted to a nearby hospital. The girls become involved, with their father’s blessing, in a weird, wonderful world of spirits, including the gigantic Totoro.

“A film with no villains. No fight scenes. No evil adults. No fighting between the two kids. No scary monsters. No darkness before the dawn. A world that is benign. A world where if you meet a strange towering creature in the forest, you curl up on its tummy and have a nap. My Neighbor Totoro has become one of the most beloved of all family films without ever having been much promoted or advertised. On the Internet Movie Database, it’s voted the fifth best family film of all time… Whenever I watch it, I smile, and smile, and smile.” — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times