My Neighbor Totoro

My Neighbor Totoro should come with the following warning: "This movie is fantastic.  Your child will love it. So will you.  You will spend approximately one million hours watching this movie.  ps. You will cry at the end every time."  

This movie is my favorite for little girls.  Although his movies are all rated G or PG, of the three Miyazaki movies I have seen, this one is the only one appropriate for little kids.  My daughter is almost 3 and she can't get enough of this film.  I even loved watching it up to the 40th viewing.

Many Americans are being exposed to the work of Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki through the release of his movies by Disney.  Princess Mononoke was successful in the west in the late 90s with those who like Japanese anime, but his collaboration with Disney is making many of his films easily accessible to families and everyday movie watchers.  Many of his movies can be found on Target shelves.  My Neighbor Totoro was came out in Japan in 1988.  It was dubbed into English and released by Disney in 2006.  Dakota Fanning and her younger sister do the voices of the sisters in the movie, Satsuki and Mei.

Plot Summary:  Two girls, ages 7 and 4, move to the post-war Japanese countryside with their father.  Their mother is recovering in the hospital from an unnamed illness.  While Satsuki (7) is at school, Mei (4) follows two little forest creatures into the forest and falls down a tree hole.  In this peaceful tree hollow she meets Totoro, a huge cat-like forest spirit.  Mei quickly befriends the spirit, who can only be seen by children, and only when it wants to be seen.  The movie chronicles the girls and their interactions with Totoro while they are waiting for their mother to get well.  The movie combines the reality of living in rural Japan (think cooking with firewood) with the surrealism present in many Miyazaki movies.  

Why this movie is great for girls: Miyazaki has a  talent for animating children.  He captures their mannerisms and quirks so well it is uncanny.  Girls will instantly identify with both Satsuki and Mei.  The two sisters have a wonderful relationship.  Satsuki is kind, helpful, and mature.  Mei is adventurous and brave. The forest spirits and the girls form a special bond.  Totoro is a huge forest spirit who roars with a force that could blow you away, but at the same time is gentle and easily amused.   


Children imitate the media they see in their own pretend play.  I love watching my daughter run down the hallway yelling, "I'm running really fast just like Satski!"   This movie also exposes kids to another culture; rural Japan.  It shows rice fields and chopsticks and washing clothes by stomping out dirt!  Abbey now has a pin stuck in Japan on our 'travel-wishes' world map.


My daughter and I both cry at the end of this movie.  Even when Mei is lost it is not especially tense.  I think it has to do with how happy the girls are when they find that their mom is not as sick as they thought.  The girls are so happy but you know that underneath their playfulness there is a void.  As a mom, I can't imagine not being with my daughter and vice versa.  Abbey had a hard time coming to grips with the mama not being at home.  When they are returning home from the hospital and the 'Totoro' song starts, it's just a tear jerker.  Plus, the first picture in the movie credits shows the mom coming home.  These girls deserve their mama (as do all little girls) and it's a tear-jerker to see their family complete. 


Possible Challenges: At the end of this movie you may want to have a discussion with your daughter about not running away from your house, even if one has a good reason.  Mei tries to take an ear of corn to her mother in the hospital, which is a good three hour walk away.  The only way Satsuki finds Mei is because the cat-bus (yes, that's right, a cat who is also a bus) knows where Mei is and takes Satsuki to her.  The only  scene that took me aback was when the family took a bath.  The father and girls are in one big tub, and the girls' dad is sitting comfortably with his legs splayed open, his fatherly parts hidden by Mei in the tub.  I chuck this strangeness up to cultural and historical differences, but it may bring out some questions in your child.  


Age recommendation: Any age!

WHIP IT

This movie stars Ellen Page (Juno) and is the directorial debut by Drew Barrymore, who also has a small part in the film.  This is the first movie I'm reviewing that is definitely only for older girls.

Plot synopsis: Bliss is a high school student stuck in a small Texas town outside of Austin.  She is kind of a misfit, but competes in beauty pageants to please her mother.  When she discovers roller derby she joins the team and discovers something that finally makes her happy.

Why this movie is great for girls:  This is a sport movie for athletes and non-athletes alike.  Bliss is already fine being "different" from her mother and younger sister, dressing how she wants even though she goes through the motions of the pageants.  After seeing the roller derby for the first time, she goes up to one of the girls after and says, "You guys are my new heroes."  The girl responds, "Why don't you put on a pair of skates and be your own hero."  Which is exactly what Bliss does!  This movie deals with family, friendship, and relationships.  Bliss does have a relationship with an indie-rocker throughout most of the film.  He breaks her heart and then tries to deny doing anything wrong.  Bliss looks at him so full of confidence and says "I don't want to be that girl," and walks away without a second thought.

Possible challenges: Not all PG-13 movies need to be for older girls (Whale Rider) but this one does!  There is drinking and a scene where Bliss and her boyfriend are swimming in a pool and proceed to take off their clothes.  Noting is shown besides kissing, but later in the movie Bliss tells her mother that she "gave him everything."  This is a movie that has a great message, but I would watch with your daughter so you can have a conversation about behaviors in the movie that are not appropriate to emulate.

Parental lessons: What makes us happy will not (probably not) be what makes our children happy.  When Bliss' dad stands up to her mom to let Bliss skate he says (of wasting money on an $800 custom made dress), "I'm ok losing the money, but I'm not ok missing the chance to see our child happy."

Age recommendation: at least 13

National Velvet

IMBD

Those of us with young children may have only vague notions of the importance of Elizabeth Taylor, Angela Lansbury, or Mickey Rooney in the 1940s.  I remember my mother watching Murder She Wrote and I knew Elizabeth Taylor was an older elegant lady who had married a lot of men.   Therefore, my first viewing of National Velvet was a revelation!  This was the movie that made Elizabeth Taylor a star while Angela Lansbury was a newcomer on the movie scene.  Seeing these old guards of Hollywood meant nothing to my two year old, who happily watched Velvet (Taylor) galloping down the road and never tires of the end race scene.  This movie is a perfect example of older movies that can be great for kids. 

Plot summary:  A young girl, Velvet, loves horses.  “What does it feel like to be in love with a horse?” asks Edwina, Velvet’s older sister (Lansbury).  “I lose my lunch.” Velvet falls in love with a neighbor’s gelding.  When she wins the horse that she calls Pie in a raffle, she decides to train him for the most prestigious horse race in England, the Grand National.  With the help of her friend Mi (Rooney) who is a former jockey, they map out the race and train Pie through sun wind and rain.  The climax of the film is the horse race.  The night before the race, when Velvet and Mi meet their hired jockey, Velvet realizes he does not believe in the Pie so she decides to ride.  National Velvet is set in the 1920s, and the notion of a girl riding in a horse race would be an anathema.   So, Mi cuts Velvet’s hair and she rides the Pie to victory in the race. 

Why this movie is great for girls:  It seems that some little girls are enamored with horses.  Velvet Brown certainly is, so is my daughter.  The horse on the cover was my prompt to try the film.  Although love of horses may be sufficient to enjoy this movie, it is certainly not necessary.  Velvet is excited and determined.  She enters Pie into the race because she believes in the horse (it comes across that she believes in herself, too).  The movie also depicts a loving and delightfully funny family.  Although there e some sibling tiffs, the girls are quite fond of each other as well as their freckled face little brother.

Velvet's mother may not be physically loving to her family, but she is a loving supportive role model.  Anne Revere (Mrs. Brown) won an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in 1944 for her role.  While many movies that focus on children have absent or subpar parenting, Velvet’s mother is the rock of the family.  While often silent, she dishes out wisdom at the most appropriate of times.  She was once a famous swimmer and fully supports Velvet's dream.  She realizes that Velvet may fail, but knows the importance of the following a dream.  "What's wrong with folly?" she asks Mi.  Interestingly for a 1940s film, Mrs. Brown talks frankly to Velvet about sexism in sports.  She says she was 20 when people said a woman couldn't swim the channel.  Mrs. Brown gives Velvet the hundred pounds she received for her historical swim so that Velvet can enter the Grand National.

Possible concerns:  When I first started watching this movie I didn't think it would make my list of positive movies for girls.  In an early family dinner scene, Mr. Brown tells his three daughters that they "have only their face for their fortunes."   Velvet (and therefore the movie) doesn't directly challenge the status quo of  girls participating in a national sporting event, but she certainly gets a lot of press when the world discovers she's a girl and people are very supportive and proud of her.

Parental lessons: It is more important to let our children risk failure than to do the work for them to ensure success. "What's wrong with folly?"

Age recommendation: 2 and up