Totoro Impressions - reviews and discussion

Reviews

totoro.reviews available in the file archive

Contains two personal reviews, six US newspaper reviews, one magazine review, and a review by popular film critics Siskel & Ebert.

The contributing people and publications were:

• Steven Feldman (Miyazaki mailing list founder)
• The Los Angeles Times - May 7, 1993 - by Charles Solomon
• Newsday - May 14, 1993 - by Joseph Gelmis
• The New York Daily News - sometime between May 13 and May 15, 1993 - by "the Phantom of the Movies"
• The New York Times - May 14, 1993 - by Stephen Holden
• rec.arts.movies.reviews - May 18, 1993 - by Robert Plamondon
• The San Francisco Chronicle - May 8, 1993 - by Peter Stack
• The San Jose Mercury - May 10, 1993 - by Bob Strauss
• Siskel & Ebert: At The Movies [TV program] - May 9, 1993 - by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert
• Variety magazine - May 10, 1993 - by Leonard Klady

totoro.reviews2 available in the file archive

Contains nine more reviews of Fox Video's release of Totoro in the United States.

The contributing publications were:

• The Hollywood Reporter - Feb 1, 1993 - by James Ulmer
• The Hollywood Reporter - Apr 8, 1993 - by Jeffrey Jolson-Colburn
• The Hollywood Reporter - Apr 29, 1993 - by David Hunter
• Daily Variety - May 6, 1993 - by Leonard Klady
• The Seattle Times - May 6, 1993 - by John Hartl
• The Seattle Times - May 15, 1993 - by Malika Bennett, age 12
• The Los Angeles Times - May 20, 1993 - by Lynn Smith
• Billboard, Aug 20, 1994 - by Trudi Miller Rosenblum
• Cineman Video Reviews - Mar 11, 1996 - by (unknown)

totoro.mentions available in the file archive

Contains six incidental references to Totoro in longer articles.

The file includes articles from:

• The Los Angeles Times - Aug 5, 1994 - by Dennis Hunt
• USA Today - Aug 8, 1994 - by Arlene Vigoda, Robin DeRosa, Karen Thomas, Deirdre Donahue, and Erik Brady
• The Washington Post, Oct 12, 1994 - by Don Oldenburg, C.J. Houtchens, Richard Harrington, and John F. Kelly
• Billboard, Jan 7, 1995 - by Moira McCormick
• The Hollywood Reporter, Mar 21, 1995 - by (unknown)
• The Washington Post, Nov 29, 1995 - by C.J. Houtchens
• The Washington Post, Mar 29, 1995 - by (unknown)

Press information / advertising

totoro.presskit available in the file archive

Contains promotional information provided by Troma Pictures for use by theaters and the press when advertising and critiquing the theatrical release of Totoro in the United States. WARNING: text in this file is transcribed exactly as printed, including many spelling and grammatical errors.

The file includes:

• text and description of a two-sided advertising slick
• a mini movie-reivew sheet from Tokuma and 50th Street Films
• a press release from Yasuyoshi TOKUMA, Executive Producer
• a press release from 50th Street Films/Troma, Inc., US Distributor
• a short biography of Hayao MIYAZAKI, Director
• another (long) press release about Tokuma and Troma
• motion picture credits, for the English and Japanese versions
• descriptions of four glossy pictures included in the presskit

Discussion threads

totoro.douwa available in the file archive

A short file explaining the concept of douwa, and how the author Miho NISHIDA's parents reacted with nostalgia to their first viewing of Totoro.

totoro.names available in the file archive

A very short file containing an exerpt from an email conversation about how the names "Mei" and "Satsuki" are puns on the fifth month of the year.