This old cover (on the VHS) kept me away from Totoro for many years it was only after Roger Ebert wrote about the film for his Great Movies series that I changed my mind and decided to watch for myself. But I just couldn't stand the cover design, with its airbrushed colors and fake, plastic smiles.

I know there are a lot of people who still prefer the old dub from the Fox release, so there's a certain collector's value to be had with that older version. Heck, a Daniel Thomas commentary track would be even better. A John Lasseter commentary track would be nice. Let's hope this isn't just a cynical cash-in on Disney's part. I don't know what new changes would be needed for this 'special edition' that aren't already available. I would be thrilled if the new Totoro DVD features the Japanese movie poster for its cover, the way Ghibli's DVDs are now released in Japan. They even remembered to put the title of the movie on the main menu - a very bizarre omission on their other American Ghibli DVDs. There was certainly nothing wrong with it the subtitles were accurate (the Japanese R2 used 'dub-titles'), the American dub was excellent, the packaging was very nice, and the picture was superb. To be honest, I'm not sure why Disney is shutting down and reissuing their Totoro DVD. Both are now out of print, and we're awaiting the reissue of the movie in time for Christmas.

The one on the left is the old Fox pan-and-scan, and the one on the right is the 2006 Disney release. Here's a quick look at the previous DVDs for My Neighbor Totoro.

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