My Neighbor Totoro

[ellen_datlow]

Just finished watching it and it's really lovely. Utterly charming and quite moving with the underlying worry throughout (for those who haven't seen in, I won't go into detail).
I'm glad I finally got to see it. So are there any sequels to it?

Comments

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I'll watch whatever Netflix has. I put the following on my list:
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Kiki's Delivery Service
Porco Rosso
The Cat Returns
and on the "saved" list if it shows up:
Lupin: Castle of Cagliostro

Those should keep me going for a while.

[cinriter.livejournal.com]

Yep, I'm a full-on Miyazaki fanatic. I've even watched the early television things that he only worked on as an animator or director.

Netflix should also have CASTLE IN THE SKY, although they may have it as LAPUTA: CASTLE IN THE SKY. I'd put that and KIKI'S at the top, myself, although NAUSICAA is astounding (and his one real science fiction film).

What was disappointing was Studio Ghibli's recent TALES FROM EARTHSEA. It was directed by Miyazaki's son, and had beautiful moments but never worked as a whole. Turns out Ursula K. LeGuin has basically disowned the film, and I can see why.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Castle in the Sky added. I don't like to watch too much of any sort of movie in a row (except for tv shows) so will mix and move my queue around periodically. Otherwise, I'll sometimes find myself with three really depressing movies and don't want to watch any of them!

[cinriter.livejournal.com]

Good philosophy!

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

Oh, if you want to see The Cat Returns you should probably watch Whisper of the Heart first (which was written but not directed by Miyazaki Hayao). Cat is a loose sequel; it's fun, but not the best effort to come out of Ghibli.

You should also add Pom Poko and My Neighbors the Yamadas, which were directed by Takahata Isao, the guy who did the much more depressing Grave of the Fireflies. They're both very quirky films. As I mentioned, you're welcome to borrow my copies and free up Netflix for other things.