My Neighbor Totoro

Do you remember watching My Neighbor Totoro when we were really little? I think our cousins brought it from Boise when they came to visit. Anyways we watched the movie during a rest time (I think it was a nap time for the little kids) at Grandma's house. I remember liking it, but Grandma didn't.

My husband introduced me to the films of Hayao Miyazaki. He wrote and directed films like "Howel's Moving Castle", "Castle in the Sky", "Porco Roso", etc. I watche all those with Jesse before realizing he also did the Totoro movie. So I got it this week and we watched it. Pros and cons.



The characters in the story are very well drawn. It was reviewed as a rare film where the kids really act like kids. And they do! Running around, the little sister following the big sister and mimicking her. It was very amusing to watch the family's interaction. The father was pretty good too; enjoying his children and loving them up. I really did enjoy them in the story.

The story was good too. About a family that moved from the city to the country because the mom was sick (and in the hospital) and she needed the clean country air. The children explore their new home and find "forrest spirits" (as they say in the translated English). The father doesn't contracdict this, but even teaches his daughters to ask the forest spirits to protect them when they play in the forrest. At one point in the story, the two girls get caught in a rainstorm and find shelter at some form of an ancestor memorial. The girls again bow and ask for shelter til the storm is over.

Although spirits and demons dwell on this earth with us, they have been put under our Brother's feet. God has commanded us to put all things to submission under Him. This includes spirits and forrest fairys. We have no need to ask for their protection when we are protected by the Protector Creator. We have no need to ask for shelter when we are sheltered by the Storm Maker. We bow in reverence to no one, but Him.

This movie might be a good one to use to teach some of these things, but at the same time I think it's one to show the kids when they are older and can talk through these things. Our toddlers up to teenagers probably have enough outside play time and books and other movies that they don't need this one.