produced , directed , and written by hayao miyazaki 1988 ( 1993 , american release ) , color , 87 minutes i'm an anime fan . yes , that's right , one of those people who religiously collects japanese animation by methods of sometimes dubious legality , huddles in dark screening rooms at science-fiction conventions to get my " fix , " complains prodigiously about dubs ( especially those from streamline ) , and is probably looked upon rather oddly by most of the people i know because of it . as i said , i tend to complain prodigiously about dubs , especially those done by streamline . as such , it's probably more than a little surprising to you that i'm rating this particular streamline dub so highly . i know it's * damn * surprising to me . you see , streamline has this annoying little habit of * changing * the lines that they're supposed to be dubbing . the most notable example that comes to mind is when goemon the samurai cuts lupin's burning clothes off of him in the movie lupin iii : castle of cagliostro . in the original , he says afterward , " once again , i've cut a worthless object . " in the streamline dub , he says , " should've worn an asbestos suit . " and the president of streamline , carl macek , has stated that he will never subtitle any of his films . purist that i am , i find this kind of thing totally unacceptable , so i was , to say the least , highly dubious of totoro . what made the cagliostro dub all the more disappointing was the fact that the movie was one of my favorites in the subtitled format . it was a hayao miyazaki film , and miyazaki is my favorite anime creator . he's done some truly beautiful films--cagliostro , laputa : castle in the sky , kiki's delivery service , nausicaa of the valley of the wind , and my neighbor totoro , to name a few . it is sadly ironic that streamline got its hands on most of these , and thus no " decent " commercial version will ever be produced . anyway , enough streamline bashing ; that isn't the point of this review . as i've said , i was skeptical of totoro , even though some friends and acquaintances told me it was quite good . however , since miyazaki * is * my favorite director , i knew i would eventually have to see it . but as my concession to myself before seeing a streamline dub ( an act which tends to make me come away feeling rather dirty ) , i decided to obtain and view the fan-subtitled version first . thus , i watched the totoro fansub one night and the totoro commercial dubbed release the next . even though totoro is touted as a children's movie ( and a very good children's movie it is , too ) , is is a film that will likely enthrall and at the very least not bore ( or , for that matter , nauseate--barney , anyone ? ) any grown-ups who watch it too . the story is fairly simple--two young girls and their father move into a house in the japanese countryside to be closer to their hospitalized mother , and the girls meet and befriend the magical creatures that live in the forest nearby . but there's more to this film than that . my neighbor totoro gives us sort of a window into japanese culture , painting a picture of life amid the rice paddies that is filled with all the wonder and magic it has when seen through the eyes of a child . it's not my favorite miyazaki story , but i couldn't help but be entranced by its simple charm all the same . miyazaki always does that to me . one thing about miyazaki is that he likes to make references to other films . for example , in both laputa : castle in the sky and an episode of the " lupin " tv series that he directed , a robot is featured that looks remarkably similar to one from a 1930s fleischer superman short . in my neighbor totoro there are references to at least a couple of children's movies--namely , mary poppins and alice in wonderland . i had to smile . as i've said , i was quite skeptical up to the moment when i put the dub into the vcr and pressed play . my skepticism began its immediate decline when the opening theme began playing . as this is a children's movie , it was to be expected that the music would be translated into english , and i was half-expecting some sort of stupid kiddie song that would be entirely unrelated to the spirit of the original . but as soon as the theme began , my jaw dropped , for they had somehow managed to translate that song almost * excatly * . the english singer even sounded like the original japanese one ! and it was thus throughout the entire film . not only were the translations nearly flawless but even the voice-acting was dead-on ! my friend had said to me that the voices in the english version sounded just like the voices in the japanese version . and they did ! the translations were 98% accurate--even trivial lines that weren't important to the story were often rendered correctly . by the time the closing credits had rolled , i had realized that my fansubbed copy of this movie was going to be gathering a lot of dust . a brief summary of the most noticeable differences between the original and the dubbed versions : the opening and closing songs are in english , as i've said . the minor elements of buddhism ( the religion usually depicted in anime ) have been removed : where in the original the older sister prays at a shrine to let them take shelter from the rain there , she now asks , " would it be all right if we stay here ? " ; where an old lady was chanting a prayer to buddha she is now murmuring in the style of someone praying under her breath . the film has been pan-and-scanned , as well . one thing which particularly relieves me is that carl macek didn't pull any of his usual " hide-the-kanji-at-all-costs " tricks which so often make the opening credits of movies he dubs look like crud . ( in order to hide the japanese symbols in the castle of cagliostro opening credits , for example , he slowed down the opening animation and reframed parts of the picture , and it looked utterly disgusting . ) in the scenes where a bus's sign changes to indicate its destination , he dubbed in a voice ( provided , so i'm told , by carl himself ) that said , " next stop . . . " in one instance a subtitle is provided for translation . as many instances of kanji as there are in this film , i'm glad he didn't try to hide them this time . another thing which relieves me is that none of the names are changed . all the original japanese names are still used , and even pronounced properly , as far as i know ( i especially like the way the older sister pronounces " totoro " ) . this is one more element that adds to the general japanese ambiance of this movie . it makes me feel as though the characters actually * are * japanese , but i just happen to be able to understand them for some mysterious reason . very few dubs have ever done that for me . and now i've reached the point where , in summing up , i'm probably supposed to draw upon those phrases that have become cliches by virtue of repeated use in magazine movie reviews and inclusion on the backs of video boxes . things like " this is a magical film for all ages , " for example . but i'm not trying to advertise this movie ; it's not like i'm going to make money off of it or anything . so , i'll just sum up with a few observations , instead . this is one of very few dubs that i would not feel ashamed to show to other people . it maintains the integrity of the original almost to the last detail . the film itself is easily comparable to some of disney's best , with an attention to detail that disney sometimes lacks . if you're looking for something you can show the kiddies that won't have them karate-chopping around the house afterward , get my neighbor totoro . if you're a fan of good animation yourself , get my neighbor totoro . if nothing else , rental will only cost a buck or two , and trust me--the experience is more than worth it . ( this review is copyright 1995 by christopher e . meadows . distribution is okay as long as it's not for profit and this notice remains intact . distribution on cd-rom is verboten without chris's permission , however . ) 
