You know what would make commuting to work every day a lot more enjoyable? If the bus was a cat, that's how! Viewed through the eyes of Satsuki while waiting for her father at a bus stop, the Catbus is a roaringly surreal vehicle that arrives to pick up the title character. Never explicitly named, the Catbus lives up to its description: it is a giant furry feline mode of transportation. It has all the benefits of the Knight Bus from Harry Potter - such as invisibility to all but the main characters - but with the added benefit of leaping tall trees in a few short bounds and running (driving?) on telephone wires when necessary (not to mention the lack of any shrunken heads hanging from the windshield). It only shows up twice in the film - once in the movie's most iconic scene, once at the the climax. Both times it makes a striking entrance - with eyes lighting up like headlights, fur coated interior and exterior, and a window that enlarges to create a door, this is a subtly but lovingly designed creature. At the climax of the film, when Satsuki fears she has lost her little sister Mei, Totoro calls upon this bus to aid her - and it does, with speed only twelve legs can provide. This creature is as caring and compassionate as any in this film, but also efficient and helpful - not to mention, it looks like it would be extremely comfortable to ride in.
Self-evidently a man who writes for the Internet, Robert also writes films, plays, teleplays, and short stories when he's not working on a movie set somewhere. He lives somewhere behind the Hollywood sign.
