Elemental Miyazaki

An old-fashioned neighborhood in Japan reveals an elemental secret. A sweet child or two. Atmosphere, magic.
My Neighbor Totoro or almost any of Miyazaki's animes from Studio Ghibli.

In Totoro, a dad and his 2 daughters move to an old house deep in the Japanese countryside. The house appears to be haunted by soot gremlins. Rather than being frightened, the girls are delighted. The younger daughter finds a giant tree and the round grinning giant monster who lives at its root. And so on, through many adventures.

There isn't much plot, or even conflict, until the end when the younger daughter gets lost. The spirits, hauntings and mysteries could almost have been skipped, and the movie would have worked as well. The joy is mostly in the quaint architecture, the changing seasons, the countryside and the simple folks who live and work there. That's so Miyazaki.

The Cat Returns is less so - a Studio Ghibli not written or directed by Miyazaki. In place of the Japanese inaka (countryside), it takes place in Tokyo - a Tokyo just a pretty and magical as Miyazaki-san's countrysides. Put-upon high-school girl Haru discovers that the cat she rescues from traffic is the Prince of the Kingdom of Cats, and she will be married to him, whether she likes it or not. A mysterious voice tells her to seek a huge white cat at the crossroads. This cat leads her through Tokyo back ways to a tiny courtyard, with miniature houses. The smallest and quaintest is the Cat Bureau, run by a small, nattily dressed bipedal cat - the Baron.

The story and characters are a lot of fun, but I found them a little arbitrary. I did not get the deep sense of wonder I sometimes find in Miyazaki's anime. But - we were able to turn off the English language dubbing and watch in good ol' Japanese with English subtitles, which is not always an option. It made all the difference.