| The
cover of Fox's English-dubbed release of My
Neighbor Totoro (1988) (before Disney gobbled
up the rights much later) features attractive, bright
artwork that wraps around the case. The art appears
to have been made by someone in the West; the characters
aren't quite captured perfectly (though they're close),
and the design resembles in style the sort of thing
I would expect to find accompanying other animated
video releases at that time in America. On the front
cover, the famous flying Totoro sequence is depicted
in conjunction with an earlier scene from the movie
in which Mei pursues the smaller Totoro creatures.
The main protagonist, Satsuki, is clinging to the
big Totoro's belly, but she could easily be mistaken
for a boy here. Also, in this image Satsuki's pajamas
are green, whereas they were blue in the movie. Furthermore,
in the film, both Satsuki and Mei, along with the
smaller Totoros, rode together on big Totoro through
the skies.
On the back of the box, the background image shows
a scene from the climax of the picture, with Mei
and Satsuki waving goodbye to the bizarre Catbus.
I like the art on the back even more than the front
because it captures a sense of dream-like wonder
so prevalent in the actual movie. The synopsis for
the film is accurate without spoiling anything,
and it is punched up with several adoring quotes
from such respected sources as Roger Ebert, the
New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. |
