My friend had the same reaction to Spirited Away, though I thought the movie made a great deal of sense both character and plotwise. It's my personal favorite Miyazaki flick up there with Totoro.

Kiki's is a good family flick, Cagliostro just didn't age as well as I had hoped.

I hope you put on Pom Poko instead.

My Neighbor Totoro is one of the sweetest kids movies ever made. I loved it and I'm sour as a pickle.

I'm not a huge miyazaki fan but I caught a lot of these on TCM the other month and I would say Totoro is his best film--and would also say its one of the best movies you could show your kids.

having said that,

Jeez, these sound like the kind of people that think parents should be charged with pedophilia for taking pictures of their toddlers in the bathtub. I share you frustration (which must be much worse, since you're in the same family). If you see child porn and incest in these scenes, I think the problem lies with the viewer, not the movie. If you really want to throw them for a loop, recommend "The Tin Drum", saying its a highly acclaimed Oscar-winning classic

Kudos to Miyazaki for holding his ground (and to Disney for not editing it). I hear the same kind of crap is holding up the release of the great "Only Yesterday". I don't think there are any plans to release this movie, even though Disney owns the rights. If people are bothered by "Totoro", they'll want to call the cops on this one -- little girls naked in public bathing houses, a girl having a crush on another girl, discussion of periods, boys teasing girls by pulling up their skirts. The horror!

In anticipation of yesterday's releases, i didn't watch any of the films broadcast on TCM that I didn't yet own, aside from Only Yesterday. It was a really amazing film, different from the rest of these, but great in it's own way. I absolutely loved it and can't wait for its inevitable release on DVD. While it probably should have been released with the other Takahata films in August, I have a feeling they are holding out in order to pair it with another release batch (as it certainly wouldn't have fit in with the Howl batch).

I've heard rumors of Disney tossing around a set compiling some of the Ghibli shorts that have been released over the years, and I also believe there are two or three films that have no distributor as yet. I bet that they're trying to get a hold of those films and keep Only Yesterday as a back up to guarentee they have at least two films to release together. There is also the Earthsea film directed by Miyazaki's son due out in Japan this summer, I'm sure Disney will distribute this and its eventual dvd release. So, at any rate, with the new influence Pixar will have at the company and their well popularized admiration for Ghibli films, I'm not worried about an if, just waiting for the when.

Anyway, on a side note, I popped in Totoro last night, and watched it in full for the first time in Japanese (I have seen parts in subs, and the full film with the Fox dub previously, but many years ago), and I have just been in such a splendid mood all day today. It's such a magical, wonderful thing, that movie. I've always loved it, and I just love it even more, now that I own it. I'm very glad that I saved it till now, it was worth it to just have me and my dvd, and this great movie. I'll probably have my girlfriend watch it with me later this weekend, I'm sure she'll love it too! Really, if anyone is still on the fence about these movies, get off and run to the store. I can't believe anyone would regret owning these, and if they do, I doubt they made the decision to buy it.

Wow. I might pick it up.
We rented the older version from BBO, and I think my boy liked it, but he finished watching it at his grandmother's house, so I didn't get very far into it [only when the little girl met the big fuzzy creature thing in the woods].

The only issue I might have had with it was the thing about 'spirits'. I know in Japan there are spirits for everything, and they view them differently. We just kinda blew over it and said they were similar to fairies [which he knows about from Dragon Tales], because I didn't want to Americanize it like: "spirits -> ghosts -> dead people -> death" because we haven't had that discussion yet.
The bath thing, not a big deal. My boy has taken baths with me before, and I didn't see anything wrong with that scene, especially given the large bathtub and the family-oriented nature of many Japanese people. Plus, it was a cute, funny scene.
That's sad that someone barred their children from seeing this film due to that scene. But she probably lets them watch Spongebob with namecalling and cursing, or other cartoons with adult allusions or gross bodily function references.

For a child a little older, I recommend Kiki's Delivery Service. Very good, positive, feel-good, accessible film, as long as you don't have a problem with those evil depictions of witchcraft that drag children to the burning pits of hell. This is actually my favorite Miyazaki film.

I don't know about Spirited Away. They might like the weird spirits, but a lot of the allusions/references, they'll probably miss. Hell, I missed most of them.

Grave of the Fireflies? Maybe for a middle school/junior high schooler who has studied WWII. Not for younger kids, imho.

And I agree, though there may be kid-oriented parts in Miyazaki films, or the whole film maybe be kid-oriented, they're not dumb or talking-down or lowest-common-denominator. They treat kids maturely and respectfully, both in tone of the movie for the viewer, and with how a child in the film acts. They're childlike in the best way - positive, maybe a little innocent naivete, observant, always curious in the world around them. Actually, though this is most obvious in M's films, a lot of non-Americanized 'children's' anime has this feel as well. It's too bad most kids are exposed to insulting, commercial dreck like Pokemon or Yugioh or even the ruined Americanized version of Cardcaptor Sakura.

The Best Miyazaki Films from super-best to okay-best, since all of them are really good:

1. Princess Mononoke (for older kids)
2. Naussica of the Wind (for older kids)
3. Kiki's Delivery Service (for all ages)
4. My Neighbor Totoro (for all ages)
5. Pom Poko (for all ages, unless one is squeemish about animal testicles)
6. Howl's Moving Castle (for older kids)
7. Castle In the Sky (for all ages)
8. Castle of Cagliostro (for all ages)
9. Spirited Away (for older kids)
10. Porco Rosso (for all kids)

Spirited Away for the win. My sister has made fun of anime and show a complete lack of interest in the genre until she saw SA. She's been asking for more every since. I remember my brother texting me too once after he borrowed it and getting a wow reply. Which is alot from guy too busy working out to watch movies.

I think you meant to say 'looking'.

I'll stop with the spoiler discussion, I promise

I agree, and I interpret a number of films in that he approaches his story and perspective from the children's point of view - where the backstory is slightly invisible and is not supposed to be prominent and over power the story.

Okay, this post made me laugh.

Spirited Away definitely has a plot, but it's not one that follows the standard Western formula. I've noticed that many Japanese films have two things built into them: 1) an assumption of a knowledge of Japanese culture/history/mythology, and 2) a lack of a need to wrap up loose ends . . . side stories and supporting characters are often left unfully fleshed out. Neither of these things is bad, they are just different from what a US audience is used too. Watch enough Japanese film, and you get used to it . . . it's nothing more than a stylistic difference and I hardly notice it any more.

Eh . . . I think there that two things really address why your "issues" were handled the way they were.

1) Miyazaki has done most of his films for a child audience . . . to the point of even talking about which specific child in his life was the inspiration and/or target audience for a given film. In films that are not as child oriented (Nausicaa, Mononoke, etc.) he tends to be a little more adult oriented in his messages/themes.

2) Particularly in anime, the spirit/fantasy world is generally assumed to be real. In fact, I'm not sure if I've ever seen one (not that my viewing experience isn't limited) that has portrayed spirits, etc. as being completely imaginary.

Totoro is without a doubt the best. end of story. i still need to see castle of caligistro and whisper of the heart (coming in the mail). anyone know when i can get Go Pando Go and Only Yesterday are coming out. and is that the last of the ghibli movies aside from shorts?

Does anybody know if the cool repeating MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO theme song has played in any other movie? I feel like I've heard it in some other movie before I actually heard it in TOTORO itself. I'm not sure If ive heard it in some other Japanese or Western movie, but I feel like someone used that song before....Does anyone know?

as far as I know the song was composed specifically for Totoro - the main theme music is so memorable that it's one of the most popular tunes from a Japanese animated film that both young and old know immediately (in Japan proper).

Yes i'm aware, and agreed that his was the right ending to choose because of that. But who hasn't wished that an ending could be different.

I have absolutely nothing to add to this thread, except to say it's great! I caught Naussica when I was a kid (lived overseas, and was friends with a japanese kid), and have recently found it, and other Miyazaki films to enjoy as an adult. I hope more and more people find and enjoy these films over time.

I just don't think that there is anyway that he could have. If you are suggesting the ending that I think you are, it would have turned it from a kids film to an childlike adults film. I don't think it could have survived as both. For me, at least, it would no longer be a movie that I would want to show to a kid.

Plus, I think it would have lost a lot of it's charm. The innocence and sweetness that permeate through the film would have taken a pretty big hit.

All that bring said, I appreciate what you're saying, I just don't think it would have worked in this film. Some of his others maybe, but not Totoro.

Panda Go Panda! can be purchased at Amazon here . Only Yesterday is under the Disney distribution deal and should have been released last August with My Neighbors the Yamadas and Pom Poko, but they pulled it for some reason. As far as I know, a dub has not been produced, but it was aired on TCM this January with a subtitle track. See my earlier post in this thread for how I feel its release will be handled.

There are a couple of commercials and music videos that Ghibli has produced that I doubt are worth fighting to have released here. The only other movie is Ocean Waves, a movie made for TV. I don't know much about this movie, other than that it's about a girl and her school life. I've heard rumblings that Disney might try to release this, but it is not part of the deal they have with Studio Ghibli, so I don't know how much they'd work to get it over here.

You can also investigate pre Ghibli stuff that Miyazaki and Takahata were involved with other than Panda Go Panda, such as Animal Treasure Island, Sherlock Hound, Lupin, Anne of Green Gables, and some other shows and films probably not available in the US. One film I'm very interested to see from this era is Hols, Prince of the Sun, which I believe is available in the UK. Hopefully this becomes available soon.

Not to drag this out too much longer, but I think it could have worked fine. I should clarify though that I wouldn't exactly be in favor of But as I keep saying, because of the very young target audience, the ending is completely appropriate.

Sherlock Hound is available in the US. I think they may be OOP, but are probably still available at reasonable prices.

thanks a bunch