Movie -- 1988 -- Netflix
My Neighbour Totoro
Satsuki and Mei move to a countryside house near the hospital where their mum is recovering. They meet soot sprites, a forest spirit they call Totoro, and a grinning Catbus. Soft and leafy, with a stretch where a little sister goes missing and everyone is afraid Mum is worse.
Not suitable under 5; parental guidance to 8 (lost child, Mum ill); ok from 9.
- Not suitable
- Parental guidance
- Ok
GentleGuide scale for sensitive kids. Not an ACCM or Classification Board rating.
About this title
- Classification
- PG
- Length
- 86 minutes
- Consumer advice
- Mild themes
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Before you press play
A gentle Studio Ghibli countryside film: an old house, a huge camphor tree, and rain at a bus stop. The pictures are kind. The load is Mum in hospital, a four-year-old lost at dusk, and a few sudden roars and glowing eyes.
- Moving house
- Mum in hospital
- Forest spirits
- A lost little sister
- Waiting in the rain
- Being found
What may feel big
Dark rooms and soot sprites; Totoro's roar and huge mouth; rain and a late bus; Mum too unwell to come home; a shout about dying; Mei missing in the countryside; villagers dragging a pond; a Catbus with yellow eyes.
4-6. Four is below this scale. Five and six need a grown-up for soot sprites, the roar, Mum being ill, and Mei lost. The ending is a hug; the middle still sits heavy.
7-9. A fair try with someone beside them. Pause for the telegram, the quarrel, and the search. Totoro is usually the treat; the hospital is the bruise.
10-12. They can hold a story about waiting for Mum. The lost-child stretch still looks long. Fine to skip the pond if that picture is too much.
Triggers in this guide
Counts are how often that theme shows up in the notes -- not when it happens.
- Sadness 2
- Separation 2
- Scary Imagery 3
- Loud Noises 1
- Relational Conflict 1