My Neighbor Totoro is a movie I’ve seen many times throughout the years; watching it this week, I realized I’ve never sat down and watched it through an adult lens. I mostly watched it when I was very young, and then after that, with younger family members. It’s always been a delightful movie to see, partially because it’s told primarily through the voices of the children.

Watching it this time, I picked up on a lot of details I’ve never noticed before. I’ve always seen the film as magical and happy, but I realize now that a lot of emphasis is placed on the children’s mother being in the hospital. It was a detail I’d expected, but now that I’m a bit older, I’m understanding more of the implications of the mother’s illness. It should be a sad and scary time, which makes it all the more delightful when Totoro and the forest’s creatures appear to play with the cast. Similarly, the scene where Mei is missing is scarier to see as an adult, even if I know how it ends. As a child, I always thought her shoe floating in the water was just a detail, but I now realize the implications of it, and I know if it happened to me I would be terrified. Seeing these details in the context of the movie, they serve to draw out the happier moments better.

After watching this again, I’m excited to see it again with the next young child I encounter who needs babysitting. It’s really good storytelling, and it always manages to tell an effective story with the its magical ups and downs.