KeTasha Johnson
English 1301
Dr. Childs
2 October 2012
My
Movie Review: My Neighbor Totoro
A
good family film will appeal to a variety of ages and teach a lesson of some
sort. It seems that a lot of the Family film directors lately are more
concerned with filling seats at theatres than spreading a
positive message. Miyazaki strategically used diegetic to gain my attention
and had me engulfed me into the mystical world that Mei and Satsuki so confidently believed
in. What better way to see the countryside than on a Cat bus that moves swift
ly through the hills like the wind. Or Better yet! What about being friends with cute furry tree
spirits that protect you and look out for you in your time of need. Hayao Miyazaki
was able to create the ultimate family fantasy film by exceeding the expectations
of a family film.The movie is family oriented and displays a very strong family bond. The girls are moving to the country with their College professor dad to be closer to their Mom who is in the hospital with an unknown illness. The illness has kept her hospitalized for long periods of time and left the family longing for her presence. Instead of dwelling on Mrs. Kusakabe’s absence they moved to be closer to her. It is the summer time so the family is able to go and visit Mrs. Kusakabe a lot but the distance to the hospital is hours away on a bike so they take the time in between to do things together. Satsuki valiantly steps in her mother’s footsteps and takes up the slack to make it easier for her father Mr. Kusakabe while her mother is away. She cooks, takes care of her household chores and takes care of herself and her little sister Mei. She enjoys being able help out her dad.
The use of Kiyazaki’s creative imagination made way for some very interesting anime characters. In My Neighbor Totoro there are no villains. There are no scary monsters in the closet, Evil men or women trying to kidnap kids or puppies, or big bullies picking on smaller children. It’s a family movie you can watch with your kids and not have to share your bed space with them once it’s over.
The scariest thing about the whole movie is that the old dilapidated house in the country that the family is moving into is rumored to be haunted. The girls encounter dust sprites while trying to open all the windows in the house. The dust sprites are only seen in dark shadowy places and run from light. Occasionally there was one or two that linger but, the caretaker Granny, calms their fears by letting Mei and Satsuki know that laughter will drive them away to the next empty house. They put their ghost busting skills to the test and Grannies remedy works and sends the dust sprites on to the next empty house.
Mei is left at home with her dad while Satsuki goes to school and notices a small, furry, rabbit looking, creature collecting acorns in her yard. The creature notices that it can be seen and it fades into its surrounding like it disappears. This puzzles Mei and now she is determined to catch another glimpse of what she thought she saw. The furry friend reappears minutes later and gets chased by Mei underneath her house. She is fearless now so she waits at what she thinks is the only way out from under the house. As she repositions herself she notices not only the little rabbit that she was chasing moments earlier but there is another one and it’s a little bigger than the original one. The two trolls eventually lead her through the forest and down the hole in the Camphor tree to Totoro, the biggest of the three. He is ten times the size of the other trolls but he is portrayed as a big, fluffy, comforting snuggle bunny. Mei is not scared at all she is actually comforted by her new forest friend and falls asleep on his fluffy belly to his soothing, rythmic, deep breathing.
Hayao Miyazaki was able to create the ulimate family fantasy film by exceeding the expectations of a fantasy film. This is what you wrote for your thesis.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your first paragraph. It was very interesting and complete. The first paragraph made me keep reading the following paragraphs. They were all filled with detailed examples. I was able to remember alot of things that I had not paid as much attention to before. I like the example you made of the one scary thing throughout the movie was the dust spirits.You pointed something out so true.
I like that even though the thesis didn't actually mention any example of expectations. You did a good job describing, by supporting it with enough detail throughout the entire essay.
The only thing I didn't see, was outside sources and conclusion. I know your essay wasn''t finished yet, but so far you covered just about everything.
You did a really good job. The only thing I would say is, work on your conclusion. Good job =)
ReplyDeleteYou may want to check capitalization and spacing errors. The word family in the first paragraph, second sentence was capitalized and doesn't need to be. The word better in the first paragraph (Or Better yet!) was also capitalized. The word swiftly has a space between the t and l. In the fourth paragragh, the last sentence had me stumbling a bit. The middle of the sentence didn't make sense to me. Grannies may need to be Granny's, works may need to be worked and sends may need to be sent. It reads 'test and Grannies remedy works and sends' and reads better as 'test and Granny's remedy worked and sent the dust sprites on to the next empty house'.
ReplyDeleteCheck the punctuation as well. There were commas in some places that didn't need to be and not one where there needed to be. Example, a comma between looking and creature in the last paragraph is not needed.
The ending left me wondering if there was supposed be more or not. There is nothing of Satsuki and I am not sure if this was interntional or not. The review seems to just stop.
I see your thesis at the end of the intro. And the 1st supporting paragraph supports your thesis well. The 2nd supporting paragraph also supports yout thesis but you might want to go into greater description and use more detail because it is so short.
ReplyDeleteThe 3rd supporting paragraph doesn't seem to be that strong on its own as a seperate paragraph and I would suggest maybe combining it with the paragraph above it to make one strong descriptive paragraph.
also the last paragraph doesn't seem to support the thesis as well as the other paragraphs. but instead just seems to be reviewing the movie without persuasion towards your thesis. I would really think about when you revise your whole paper. Think about the supporting paragraphs helping the persuasion of your thesis.
And you need a proper conclusion that restates the thesis.
But i like where you are going with this and I think it will turnout well.
I think the scariest thing was that Mei got lost, not the supposedly scary home. Print paper out and read out loud . Thesis is not restated on the conclusion. Needs work ... but i know you can do it :)
ReplyDelete