My Neighbor Totoro
50th Street Films | Release Date: April 16, 1988 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
86
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The A.V. ClubSam Adams
Miyazaki so effectively captures the feeling of a child’s life, inside as well as out, that little ones are often mesmerized by the movie, and adults are returned to a time when they could enjoy mystery for its own sake. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Here is a children's film made for the world we should live in, rather than the one we occupy. 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. Read full review
100
EmpireDan Jolin
An otherworldly tale of childhood and a definitive work of imagination. Read full review
100
The GuardianSteve Rose
Hayao Miyazaki's family fantasy is full of benign spirituality, prelapsarian innocence, but little icky sentiment. Read full review
100
Time OutTrevor Johnston
An animated achievement almost without parallel. Read full review
100
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
Compared to the breathtaking action sequences and elaborate fantasy landscapes of Miyazaki's early features, the genteel, languid Totoro seems at first slight, and even soporific. Yet My Neighbor Totoro may be the most enduring entry in Miyazaki's impressive filmography, because it's so particular about the nuances of human behavior and emotion. Read full review
100
CineVueIvan Radford
The two kids are effortlessly real and emotionally complex, but profoundly simple, and Miyazaki’s unique masterpiece embraces that childlike existence. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Stack
My Neighbor Totoro is drawn in an expansive, naturalistic way that makes an atmosphere of trees, rice fields and hills unraveling in the distance a hypnotic shadow character. In some scenes this nature is so delicious it becomes a poetical presence. [08 May 1993, p.C3]
88
Slant MagazineJordan Cronk
It’s a film that proves time and again that life itself is the grandest, most galvanizing of all dramas. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderTed Shen
Sheer enchantment, this 1989 animated feature is a key early work by Hayao Miyazaki. It exemplifies Ghibli's style of fanciful realism, paying close attention to minute details as well-drawn figures move across a fluid backdrop. It also deals straightforwardly with substantial emotions like fear of death, though at times it veers toward the heart-tugging cuteness of the Pokemon series. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesCharles Solomon
My Neighbor Totoro is a gentle and affirming film. It's certain to delight smaller children, although boys accustomed to the slam-bang violence of super-hero cartoon features and TV shows may chafe at its leisurely pace. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
An ideal animated film for young children, it has also found favor among adults who appreciate its unusually gentle, painterly style of animation, a trademark of the film's director, Japan's most renowned animator, Hayao Miyazaki. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesJohn Hartl
Miyazaki's appreciation of miraculous possibilities and childhood visions is what drives Totoro. Read full review
50
The New York TimesStephen Holden
When My Neighbor Totoro, which was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, is dispensing enchantment, it can be very charming. Too much of the film, however, is taken up with stiff, mechanical chitchat. Read full review
50
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
Writer-director Hayao Miyazaki has essentially padded a television half-hour into a sluggish theatrical feature. Read full review
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