My Neighbor Totoro
Gillipedia Official Rating: Pure bliss
Score: 9/10
I’m still working my way through
Studio Ghibli movies, and recently I watched My Neighbor Totoro for the
first time. For those that aren’t aware or only think they know, the term anime
refers to Japanese animation. These are often shows you’ve likely heard of
adapted from manga, like Naruto, Attack on Titan, One Piece,
etc. Headed by the possibly retiring Hayao Miyazaki, his Studio Ghibli anime films
are often family friendly, but they tend to depict more realistic depictions of
relationships and don’t dumb down the humor just to try to appeal to the
youngest demographics. Instead of spelling out their themes, fantastical and
supernatural elements fill up these imaginative worlds with beautiful 2D hand
animation. Originally released in 1988, this review is based off the 2006
dubbed release—instead of listening to the Japanese cast with English subtitles,
I watched the dubbed release with an English-speaking cast. And even if you
haven’t heard of this studio, they get stacked casts to dub their films.
In terms of story, My Neighbor
Totoro’s plot is pretty simplistic overall. A Japanese professor moves his
two young daughters to a creaky rural home. Although the biggest moving parts
are the two girls adapting to a new life and discovering fantastical creatures
in the nearby forest, there’s an emotional aura that hovers over every scene
once it’s revealed early on that the mother is sick with an undisclosed illness.
And that’s part of the brilliance of how the story plays out. We don’t know
what the illness, and it doesn’t matter. As the girls try to make life work and
hope for the best for their mom and interact with the forest creatures, there’s
this wonderful blend of the real-life elements that suggest the girls’
imaginations and the family’s way of coping with this difficult time is the
easy explanation—but there’s just enough tangible elements to wonder how real
the Totoro creatures are and how they interact with the world.
The first 20 minutes or so are the two
girls, Satsuki and Mei, playing around in their new spooky house and
interacting with some dust bunny creatures. Again, not the most thrilling
sounding stuff. And while the cute charm of it all should be harmless
entertainment for kids of any age, as a mostly functioning adult, I adored every aspect of this film. The way
the characters speak to each other and the facial and body expressions will
evoke everyone’s childhood. It feels like such a perfect representation of kids
using their imagination and scarce resources to still have fun while the dad
keeps the struggles of real life all at bay and out of sight. And you couldn’t
have two better actresses representing these girls than real life sisters
Dakota and Elle Fanning. The film places so much on them, and they bring such a
joyful cuteness to their characters.
My Neighbor Totoro is such an unassuming
film. The girls meet a family of Totoros that could be imposing based on the
biggest one’s size, but they never failed to make me laugh or make me feel at
ease with how they interact with the girls. For example, there’s a scene
dedicated to the girls waiting at a raining bus stop for their dad to come
home, and they hand Totoro an umbrella. Having fun with how the raindrops fall
off leaves and using the umbrella, there’s very little plot that happens. But
that doesn’t mean the story doesn’t advance. Scenes like this are such a warm
hug that don’t need twists or antagonists. But there’s also enough substance
about how the Totoros lend enough of a hand to help out the family while avoiding
any interaction with adults. With the combination of great animation, an
incredible soundtrack, and more than enough joy to spread around, My
Neighbor Totoro is a simplistic film with an incredible heart—that anyone
of any age can enjoy.
Creed 3
Gillipedia Official Rating: Jonathan Majors did a bit too much method acting in his personal life...
Score: 7/10
In his directorial debut, Michael B.
Jordan takes over the reins of his boxing franchise in such a refreshing
manner. I have admittedly not watched all the Rocky movies, but the
resurgence of Creed with the incredibly talented Jordan teaming up with
an older Sylvester Stallone kept the streak of boxing films proving they are
the undisputed champs of sports movies. Even without Stallone, Creed 2
proved that this is a worthy franchise to build on its own merits. Ryan Coogler
sticks around for this third installment as a writer and producer after having
directed Creed—you may know that name from the two Black Panther
movies, but he broke onto the scene alongside Jordan with their critically acclaimed
Fruitvale Station (a tough-to-watch but well made film). All this to say
that alongside stars Tessa Thompson and Jonathan Majors, all signs point to a sequel
crafted with care and passion instead of just being driven by money.
We start off with a young Adonis Creed
following his athletic friend around to some shady places, but his friend
Damian also helps show him the world of boxing. We cut to a present day Creed
clearly before that full backstory was told, but we watch as Creed finishes his
career in winning fashion using Robert Downey Jr’s Sherlock Holmes techniques
of finding an enemy’s weakpoints. Creed goes through the process of finding
himself post-retirement while trying to be a loving husband and father to a
deaf daughter, but of course this is also a movie. Which is why childhood friend
Damian shows up after being released from prison and asks Creed to help give
him a shot at the title. If you’re thinking you can see where the story is
headed, you’re most likely right. The story hits all the plot points and
emotional elements that you’d expect, and it’s the definite reason why I scored
the movie the way I did. But subtracting a few points for a by-the-books story
doesn’t mean this isn’t an entertaining film worth checking out. Because I’m
mostly proud of how Jordan puts himself into this film.
Majors’ MCU future may still be in
jeopardy, I don’t know, but he plays an excellent foil to Jordan. He is a large
presence with undertones of violence, but he has enough of a quiet demeanor to
believably show the sides of prison simultaneously as a humbling figure
deserving of a second shot. Thompson doesn’t have overly too much to do, but
she still carves out her own persona and personality which is so nice to see.
But I do have one other critique. Michael B. Jordan is one of the most talented
actors right now, but he does overact every scene just a bit, and I can’t help
but think that’s a symptom of him double dutying with directing.
But the shining light is Jordan’s
directing. He is outspokenly an anime fan, and he includes references both
obvious and subtle to many scenes—but gloriously so to the boxing scenes. The
climactic showdown is some of the best boxing ever put to film. It blends the
physical showcase that Jordan and Majors possess, but it takes the most risk
ever put to a boxing match with its imagery. Since every frame of anime takes
so much time to craft, it’s vital to get as much storytelling as possible out
of its images, and it’s this inspiration that fills the final battle.
Creed 3 is a very entertaining
movie, and although watching the previous films help, it’s not necessary for
the viewing experience. If you looked at nothing but one-sentence descriptions
for My Neighbor Totoro and Creed 3, they couldn’t be further away
from each other in terms of story. While the actual anime is so delicate and
subtle in its delivery, the boxing film sometimes bides its time before packing
its punches with imagery. If you’re someone that only ever saw 3-second clips
of anime and thought it looked like stupid cartoons, just like with so many
artforms, you don’t know the full picture. You don’t have to watch or even like
anime, but you can still appreciate the influences it has and how it has done nothing
but grow in recent years, and I humbly applaud Jordan for continuing that
trend. Creed 3 is not a perfect movie, but you don’t need to know its
predecessors or its influences to still enjoy yourself.
