Yahoo Movies 10 things you might not know about My Neighbour Totoro
Not to be confused with the other giant rabbit movie, Donnie Darko.
Studio Ghibli's most beloved creation My Neighbour Totoro is being re-released in cinemas on 2 August, so fittingly, we've clustered together some of the titbits you may not be aware of.
From master director Hayao Miyazaki, who would go on to claim two Oscars in the Best Animated Feature category for Spirited Away, and The Boy and the Heron, Totoro first arrived on Japanese big screens back in 1988 before Streamline Pictures produced its own exclusive English-language dub a year later for use on transpacific Japan Airlines trips. It took a further four years before this version premiered in US theaters, and then in 1994 and 2002 came the VHS and DVD releases.
When the Streamline Pictures rights expired in 2004, in swooped Walt Disney Home Entertainment with a brand-new version just two years later, featuring the voices of sisters Dakota and Elle Fanning, and The Sopranos actor Tim Daly.
As for what Totoro is all about, the movie centers around a schoolchild named Satsuki and her young sister Mei, who relocate to a house in the countryside with their father while their mother recovers from an illness in hospital. Exploring the local area, the pair cross paths with little dusty spirits before being introduced to the roaring king of them all, the humongous titular creature who would go on to become the famous animation house's logo.
So, let's get this mystical party started...
TV ratings saved its skin
Following a suggestion from producer Toshio Suzuki to the financiers, Totoro originally premiered in its homeland as a double feature alongside Ghibli stablemate Grave of the Fireflies. However, the box office taking proved less than incendiary and it wasn't until 1989 that Totoro found its audience on the TV listings.
"When it aired on NTV, the ratings went off the chart," recalled Suzuki in the DVD extras.
Pixar honoured Totoro with his own Toy Story 3 cameo
Fourteen years ago, the third Toy Story adventure from Pixar turned the white-bellied beefcake into a plush teddy character. You can catch Totoro lurking amongst Woody, Buzz, Rex and Jessie in various scenes, but sadly, licensing issues meant that he couldn't cameo again in Toy Story 4.
US distributors almost vetoed family bathing scene
During one part of the animated classic, Satsuki and Mei are seen enjoying a bath with their father. Prior to the movie's US unveiling though, companies were keen to remove it as Stateside audiences would apparently find it difficult to understand. Ghibli stood firm and allowed no edits.
It went against Japan's entertainment barometer of the time
In her 2009 book Animation: Art and Industry, author Maureen Furniss claimed distributors "didn't think the furry giant could take off, literally or figuratively". The story of "two little girls and a monster in modern Japan" just wasn't going to cut the mustard with cinemagoers in their eyes, while its rural 1950s setting also welcomed scrutiny.
Miyazaki himself shared in an interview for the 30th anniversary's Blu-ray disc: "Back then, a story without a hero or a girl with superpowers, and the ordinary Japanese scenery as a backdrop, was not considered entertaining enough. Entertainment back then was all about guns, action, and speed. I wanted my movie to be peaceful, tranquil, and innocent. I wanted to create that kind of world. Also, I wanted to prove that a movie like this could be successful."
Mission accomplished, sir!
Totoro doesn't represent the God of Death, despite speculation
A popular fan theory depicts the youngster Mei as deceased and Totoro as the God of Death, with alleged artistic pointers found in a floating sandal and an absence of shadows in one sequence, yet the studio poured cold water on such talk in a statement.
"Everyone, do not worry," it began. "There's absolutely no truth [to the theory] that Totoro is the God of Death or that Mei is dead in My Neighbour Totoro."
Apparently, the movie's animators just didn't deem shadows as necessary in the scene.
Velvet worm inspiration
A species of Vietnamese velvet worm was formally described for the first time by Dr. Ivo de Sena Oliveira of the University of Leipzig back in 2013. His creepy-crawly was bestowed the name Eoperipatus totoro as it resembles the many-legged vehicular animal Catbus from the Ghibli movie.
There's a 14-minute sequel in existence
Apart from lucky visitors of the Ghibli Museum's Saturn Theater in Tokyo, you might be surprised to learn that a short sequel directed by Miyazaki is out there in the world. Titled Mei and the Kittenbus and lasting just 14 minutes, it charts the one-night escapades of the Totoro girl and the eponymous offspring of the Catbus.
According to a breakdown of the short, it's set two months since Mei's mother returned home from the hospital and while the youngster sits atop a stony hill with some caramel candy to chew on, a little whirlwind comes out of nowhere to chase her. Trapped inside Mei's home shortly after, the whirlwind transforms into the scared Kittenbus, but soon they're bonding over caramel cubes.
Kittenbus gladly takes Mei for a ride and along their journey they encounter its father, the Catbus, which is packed with Totoro-like figures. Then, another Catbus pulls into view, as well as other types of cat vehicle. All of their passengers are dropped off, including Mei, who is subsequently reunited with the true Totoro. She travels with him to meet the enormous Granny Cat, grandmother of Kittenbus, who will drive all the many spirits to their ultimate destination. Mei and Kittenbus follow her for a time before returning to the former's house.
Catbus is not an imitation of the Cheshire Cat
Perhaps inevitably, comparisons have been drawn between Lewis Carroll's grinning literary character Cheshire Cat from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Miyazaki's Catbus.
In the aforementioned physical package of Totoro, the filmmaker explained: "I do like the Cheshire Cat, but there's no influence from it. When I had to come up with some kind of monster bus, I thought about the shape-shifting cat from Japanese folklore, so I just made a cat shapeshift into a bus. And that was that."
He was alluding to the bakeneko, incase you're interested.
It should probably be titled My Neighbour Tororu
In the Japanese language, pronunciation of the word 'troll' is 'tororu', which is similar to what Mei can be heard calling the pointy-eared entity. When Satsuki questions her sister if she's actually talking about the troll from the fairytale Three Billy Goats Gruff, which their mother later reads to them, Mei nods.
Despite this supposed mispronunciation, Miyazaki confirmed in The Art of My Neighbour Totoro that "no one knows what their real name is" and Totoro is simply "the name that our protagonist gives these creatures".
Hmm.
Benedict Cumberbatch's record was broken by stage adaptation
Oscar-nominated actor Benedict Cumberbatch's record-breaking stage rendition of Hamlet felt the full force of Totoro's legacy back in 2022. Adapted by playwright Tom Morton-Smith for the boards, five years after Cumberbatch-mania Totoro took over as the Barbican Centre's biggest-selling show across one day.
Having wrapped up its second Barbican run earlier this year, the Totoro play is scheduled to hit London's West End next March at the Gillian Lynne Theatre.
