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Plot: The movie is a slow-moving yet fascinating
portrayal of Japanese rural life. It is set during a summer of the
1950s. A university professor from the city and his two daughters move
into an old house near a forest, while his wife recovers from
tuberculosis in a nearby convalescence home. His daughters discover
"soot sprites", which their father rationalizes as makkurokurosuke
— an optical illusion seen when moving from light to dark places
(glossed as dust bunnies in the 1993 English dub; in the Disney
version they are called "Soot Gremlins".).
Mei
discovers a small Totoro, which leads her to find a large forest
spirit living in a hollow under a Camphor Laurel by a small jinja. Mei
names it Totoro. Her father tells her that this is the "King of
the Forest". Not everyone can see the spirits of the forest, only the
pure of heart. Mei is enchanted with them and determined to find the
King of the Forest. One rainy night, while the girls are waiting for
their father's bus which is running late, they encounter the giant
Totoro who is looking rather forlorn with only a leaf for protection
against the rain. When Satsuki gives him her umbrella, he's delighted
at both the shelter and the sounds it makes as water hits it. This
begins a series of encounters as the spirits allow the children to
partake in their nightly activities.
Later, Mei and Satsuki are disappointed to learn
that their mother's planned homecoming visit that upcoming weekend has
been postponed because mother's condition has worsened. Satsuki
understands why the visit was cancelled, but Mei does not, and a
frustrated Satsuki yells at Mei and the girls end up not speaking to
each other for several hours. Then, Mei gets lost while trying to
bring an ear of healthy corn to her mother at the hospital, and a
frantic Satsuki runs everywhere searching for her. Satsuki and the
villagers get a major scare when a girl's sandal is found in a pond
and they begin to fear that Mei has drowned, but Satsuki confirms that
the sandal is not Mei's. Satsuki finally seeks Totoro's help. He is
delighted to be of assistance, and with his help Mei is quickly found.
The movie features the Catbus, a grinning feline bus
summoned by Totoro which rescues Mei and whisks her and Satsuki over
the countryside to see their mother in hospital. When the cat bus
finally leaves them it fades into the evening shadows, in the manner
of Lewis Carroll's Cheshire cat. In the movie's final scene, Professor
and Mrs. Kusakabe discover Mei's ear of corn on the windowsill of Mrs.
Kusakabe's hospital room, carved with the inscription "To Mommy," as
the girls and the Totoros watch from a nearby tree, happy that mother
seems to be feeling better.
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