This is not a movie about plot. It's about the exact feeling of being small in a big new place, and how a forest can suddenly become infinite when you're four years old. The animation moves at the speed of a child's attention, which means it never rushes wonder. Totoro himself barely does anything. He just exists, patient and enormous, and that presence alone is enough to make you remember what it felt like to believe in magic without needing it to save the world.

In 1950s Japan, Tatsuo Kusakabe moves with his daughters Satsuki and four-year-old Mei to the countryside so they can be closer to their mother, who is in the hospital with a long illness. As the girls settle into rural life, Mei spots a small, rabbit-like creature in the yard and follows it into the forest. There she meets Totoro, an enormous forest spirit visible only to children, and the two become friends. Satsuki soon meets him too. Totoro introduces the sisters to remarkable beings, including a cat that works as a bus, and their days fill with magical adventures in nature. The film is a fantasy about childhood and the wonders hidden in the countryside.