My Neighbor Totoro made you cry?
I've been sitting here trying to figure out what in that movie was so sad, but...
I saw that movie this summer with hyper friends, so that probably changed the mood.
I really do love it though.
* spoilers *
The children think the mother has died or will die when the telegram arrives from the hospital, especially since the telegram is a repeat of a prior incident in the course of the mother's illness.
Satsuki tries to handle it intellectually, but fails, as shown in the scene with granny when she explains to granny how this is similar to the earlier incident noted above. .
Mei deals with it emotionally, especially in reaction to Satsuki's outburst at her "childishness", and runs off. She makes the decision to go to the hospital while watching the scene with granny and Satsuki, where Satsuki breaks down, so the connection between the real possibility of the mother's death and the children's knowledge of the possibility is clearly made.
A rumor arises that Mei has fallen into the pond and drowned as a result of running off. Satsuki feels personally responsible for Mei running off, and attempts to follow, running much of the way from Matsugo to the hospital before returning to see if the rumor at the pond is true.
Before this is all resolved (happily) there is plenty of reason to suspect that something very sad might have happened. This increase of tension (due to the possibility of both the mother's further illness and possible death and Mei's despair and possible death) is what makes the following catharsis with the aid of Totoro and the return of the cat bus work so well.
There is further tension due to the fact that Mei's possible death was a tragic error, since the father plays down the seriousness of the telegram--but you cannot be certain if he is doing so only to calm Satsuki on the phone or whether he really believes it.
All of these are resolved quite effectively, and the fate of the mother is only resolved for certain at the very end, as the children view the mother from the tree and with the ear of corn (as the symbolic representation of Mei's desire to help her mother) being delivered.
If there was no dramatic tension, this catharsis would have much less impact, so it must have reached you at some level.
However, it almosts sounds like the presence of your hyper friends (as you noted) may have distracted you from the significance of much of the events, at least on a conscious level.
* end of spoiler *
BrianIs
AtYou
PS
* spoilers *
Totoro was originally released as a double feature with "Grave of the Fireflies", which is unrelentingly tragic.
The original audiences of the Totoro film would have no reason to believe that the possibility of death for the mother or Mei was mere cinematic artifice, since Seita and Setsuko, and their mother, all die in "Grave of the Fireflies".
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I remember that happening in the movie but it didn't really get to me. 
