My favorite movie from the 80's is "My Neighbor Totoro."

If I have to pick a movie as my favorite from the 80s, it would definitely be "My Neighbor Totoro"; specifically released in 1988 and produced by Studio Ghibli.

When I talked about movies with my friends, they always mentioned "My Neighbor Totoro." Hearing constantly about "Totoro" and how good this "children's movie" was made me curious to want to see it. Now, after giving the movie a shot, I can call it "My Favorite."

"My Neighbor Totoro" is an animated film, set after the loss of Japan in the war. It tells the story of a couple of girls (Satsuki and Mei) who move to the outskirts of the city together with her father, hoping that her mother's health will improve and they can bring her home with them soon.

There are many things that fascinate me about this film, first of all, the protagonists are a couple of girls; developing these types of characters so that they are credible is not easy and, it seems to me, that the film achieves it perfectly.

Girls convey the purity and innocence that an infant has, without being exaggerated, their behaviors are quite consistent with their age and the situation in which they are living. We can highlight that the girls have different ages and it is appreciated that one proves to be more mature by having to take care of and protect the other, despite her role as a mother, she is still a child and retains her innocent mind.

The two little protagonists experience a life that could be considered tragic or sad, but the film takes this situation and changes it to show how the innocent mind of a child can modify reality to stay safe.

The infants meet a magical forest creature called "Totoro" who, although he does not say a single word, he helps them with the delicate situation they go through with their mother and living from day to day; accompanying them at every moment that seems to turn sad, helping them in situations that they could not solve alone and keeping them happy in a gray world.

The logic that the film uses, personally, fascinates me: Totoro, despite being a huge creature, cannot be seen by adults and, being a creature of the forest and living on the outskirts of the city (like the girls), her job is to make the plants grow at night (thus helping the girls with their home garden).

I find it impressive how, in the film, they take reality and combine it with "magic", saying that "Totoro" is, in a way, the protector of nature. Although, this is not all, the belief that surprised me the most was, when demonstrating with a scene, who is responsible for the strong breezes that we can experience in the field or in less populated areas, and no, this time it is not Totoro, the person responsible for the gusts of wind is the Gato Bus; one of Totoro's magical friends.

In one scene, the Bus Cat can be seen passing between two people, running at full speed, and generating a strong breeze that makes them stagger. The bus cat cannot be seen by adults either, although in this case, it seems that the reason for its invisibility is due to the speed with which the feline runs.

When I saw the movie for the first time, I had the intention of judging it because I could not accept that something that is categorized as "childish" could be so good. The truth is that "My Neighbor Totoro" is for the whole family, with messages that raise awareness about nature and show that dreaming is also lived.