My Neighbor Totoro is a 1988 Japanese animated movie. It’s about two sisters, Mei and Satsuki. They live in the country with their dad. One day, they find a big furry animal that looks like a mix between a cat and rabbit named Totoro. He takes them on amazing adventures!
In the 1950s, a man named Tatsuo Kusakabe and his two daughters Satsuki and Mei move into an old house. It has tiny creatures called susuwatari. They are dark dust-like spirits that live in the house. The man’s wife is sick so they moved closer to the hospital where she is recovering.
A house is empty when the owners move out. When someone moves in, they make it their own. One day, Mei finds some small spirits that live inside a tree. They are happy with her and she plays with them. Totoro is a larger spirit that lives there too and befriends Mei. She falls asleep on top of him but Satsuki sees her on the ground when she wakes up. Tatsuo tells her not to worry because Totoro will show himself when he wants to.
One night, Mei falls asleep on Satsuki’s back. Totoro appears near them. He has no umbrella so Satsuki offers him hers. Totoro is happy and he gives her some nuts and seeds in return.
Totoro is a cat. He gets on the bus. The girls see him. The girls’ bus comes too. Totoro dances around the seeds and they grow into a tree, but in the morning it is gone, but the seeds are still there, ready to grow into trees again.
The girls find out that a planned visit by Yasuko has to be postponed because of a setback in her treatment. Mei does not take this well and argues with Satsuki, later leaving for the hospital to bring fresh corn to Yasuko. Her disappearance prompts Satsuki and the neighbors to search for her.
Satsuki is sad because Mei has been lost. Totoro helps her and she goes to see her sister in a hospital. They see their mom and find out that she is okay. Yasuko leaves the corn on the windowsill where her parents find it. Yasuko comes home, and she plays with other children. Totoro watches them from afar.