1 A DVD worthy of the movie.
"Spirited Away" is nothing short of a modern classic in a time when new true classics are hard to come by. It's very inspiring and ambitious, while being beautiful and touching at the same time. The movie centers around a little girl who has been forced to work in a bathhouse that serves spirits in order to save her parents from their awful fate that has been brought upon them. However, she makes plenty of new friends along the way, and these supporting characters are just as intriguing as the main character herself. Add upon this the beautiful score and theme song and you have a movie destined to last. The story takes many twists and turns, but it shouldn't be too hard to follow for most people.
As for the special features on the DVD, they really give a fantastic insight into how much labor it required to produce this movie. The "Making Of" documentary is very satisfying and leaves very few aspects about the making of the movie untouched. The "Behind the Microphone" extra introduces you to the voice actors that took part in the English-translated version of the film, and "The Art of Spirited Away" displays the effort that was put forth in producing this movie for an American audience. There's also a feature where you can take a peak at the storyboards for the first scene of the film while the audio track plays underneath. The only feature that's not particularly worthwhile are the Japanese trailers. Admittingly, some of these are very very good. However, some are just too similar to each other and it becomes very tedious to watch these for 30 minutes straight. In any case, the special features are very informative and accomplish their task in giving insight to the making of the film.
This movie is not just for kids, but I'd recommend this to families who might be looking for a new movie that they could watch together.
2 Piece of Art
spirited away is like a dream. i espescially like the pure emotion put into this film. Director Hayao Miyazaki poured his heart and soul into making this movie a special experience for its viewers. i like the way he connected the real world with the imaginary by plucking real live personalities, studying their emotions and then inserting them into this amazing piece of work as hand drawn charachters. that is another thing i like about this film, it wasnt made by some barely pubescent teen with a computer, it was made by teamwork of a large staff working, eating and socialising within gimli studio. what suprises me is that a film of this magnitude started with Miyazaki meeting a bored unsociable 10 year old daughter of his friend. Miyazaki observed the girl and concluded that he must makke a movie that is interesting to 10 year olds. he wanted to show them they werent just short teens forgotten near the floor, he wanted to excite them into taking a more active role in their lives. THANK YOU MIYAZAKI FOR THIS WONDERFULL FILM, AND THANK YOU AMAZON FOR GIVING ME A CHANCE TO WATCH IT!!!
3 Wonderful movie, would watch again and again!
Spirited Away is a movie based on my most favorite Director of all time, Hayao Miyazaki. I was at Blockbuster ( a movie rental store for those who might not know ) and I seen this movie. The name kind of got me to wanna go see what it was about... because of it, I ended up renting it for that time. I was glued to the TV screen until the movie was over! Spirited Away is truly a family movie, a movie that everyone will enjoy! Its filled with magical things, and beauitful artwork as you will find with any Miyazaki movie from what I've seen. If you really want a wonderful movie, pretty much appropriate for the whole family, rent or buy this movie! It is well worth it!!!
4 A Spirited Review
Wow...just wow...
Since it won the best animated feature at the 2002 Academy Awards, I have wanted to see it.
And I must repeat:
Wow...just wow...
Never before have I been affected by a movie like this. This is one that will stick with you days on end, long after you're done and returned it to the video store. It will have you lying awake in dreamless nights, thinking...thinking about everything...pollution...relationships...your family...
Spirited Away grabs you right from the beginning: You see Chihiro, an annoying ten-year-old girl whining about having to leave her old house behind and transfer to a new school. Her parents, however, feel the exact opposite. In fact, the thought of starting a new life excites an adventuresome spirit in them. Chihiro's dad, therefore, decides to take an old, dusty road, hoping it will eventually lead to their new house.
From this point on, it gets truly amazing. The moment the lights go down on the old abandoned amusement park, Miyazaki's art and storytelling advance to a whole new level. One instant that really stands out in my mind is when Chihiro discovers her parents have transformed into pigs. The look, the expression, the lighting, the mood, the scenery sincerely brought an extreme emotion to the viewer-- I felt as disgusted and afraid as Chihiro did.
As the narrative continues, I was entirely absorbed in the wonderful cast; I can't choose a favorite! There was the mysterious Haku, the eccentric Lin, the treacherous Yubaba-- all made me want to squeal "Oh! How delightful!"
And everything I thought was wonderful before builds up the the astonishingly poignant ending. This is the tale of one girl's journey to maturity. Spirited Away is a masterpiece-- and that's an understatement.
Fifteen Thousand stars out of ten
5 good animation but I've seen better!
well, lets be a little reaonable! most of fellas who'd written reviews here, annouced that it was one of the best japanese cartoons they've ever seen!
BUT IT's not!
they may have forgotten cartoons like ROBOTECH or even from this director, THE CASTLE IN THE SKY!
miyazaki is a good Dreamer but not a good storytellerr! the begining of his movies are good but at the end you feel kinda stupid! I can compare him with STANLEY KUBRICK, if you've ever seen his movies, Very good and exciting Beginings and terrible ends!
this cartoon, as the animation & imagination was a good one, but the story, specially the end of it, was sucks and stupid.
I Suggest don't buy this dvd cause It's not worse paying 20 dollars but rent it and watch it once.
6 Imaginative and mind-blowing!
"Spirited Away" was one of the most refreshing movies I've seen in ages. Though I'm not a big fan of the 'anime' genre, I was still able to enjoy this movie immensely--the characters are great, the animation is breathtaking, and most importantly, the storyline is one of the most unique I've ever encountered. It's nice to see such a remarkable Eastern influence on a film that has found its way into Western culture, and I suspect this has to do with the inventiveness of the creators in its execution. I recommend this film to anyone looking for something that goes beyond the standard, predictable plot lines we've become accustomed to in the West.
7 A Boring Dull Cliche
"Spirited Away" is simply a boring, cliched piece of trash. First, Hollywood used the plot-a person getting lost in another world and having to fight his/her way to freedom- excessively frequently and now we do not like it anymore. For famed and award-winning anime creator Miyazaki it seems to be one of his lowlier movies. Still, I am surprised this movie made so much money in Japan and Miyazaki won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival for a boring clichŽ. In addition, the beginning is simply bloated with many scenes that were not extremely necessary to tell the story; in fact, I was able to fast-forward through the first 10-15 minutes not miss a thing (really.) The trailer pretty much tells the entire story-the plot is so predictable you could easily guess what happens next.
However, the visuals are the only redeeming part of the movie. There are beautiful backgrounds as well as stunning effects, although there was NO CGI EFFECTS AT ALL! That did not worsen the film, as Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli works really hard on the visuals, as all the great Japanese animators do.
The voice acting was all right.
Need proof this is a cliche? Think "Back to the Future", "The Butterfly effect", or "Alice in Wonderland. I can name so many i cant put em here. And a lotof anime has used a theme of moving to another dimension as Hollywood did.
Japanese animation needs to entertain us and make us happy-not bore us to death with cliched material the world has experienced enough of, especially for Miyazaki. Popular belief shows that Miyazaki's other films are better, though this is the only Miyazaki film I have watched so far. Please, watch something worthwhile such as another Miyazaki film or actually, for a better spirit/ghost experiece, "Yu yu Hakusho"
8 Spirited Away
Not only is this a great movie, but everyone I've shown this film to has liked it enough to buy it for themselves. Very popular with the teen anime crowd, although kids like it too.
Although there are some rather disturbing things in this film, I think all anime viewers should see this film.
This is perfect for AMVs.
9 Not just great animation-A great film, period.
Like many others, I first encountered "Spirited Away" when it took the Best Animated Picture Oscar, and was theatrically re-released. I originally went with some trepidation, because while I'm a huge animation buff, I've never cared much for anime. I went to see Akira in the middle of its hype, and walked out shaking my head, muttering "All style, no substance. Depth of a puddle." I've since had others tell me Akira was overrated. I'm inclined to believe them.
Anyhow, Spirited Away changed my mind forever. Saw it twice in the theater, and bought the DVD the minute it ame out. What a gorgeous film. Distrubing images? Certainly. Like ANY good fairy tale. Snow White, Pinocchio, Alice In Wonderland, Oz-these all contain bits of nightmare. But it's "Good Scary" as opposed to mindless fright.
Is the movie confusing? Only if you need to have plot lines and characters telegraphed to you. If you don't like to think about a movie, by all means, run screaming from Spirited Away. But if you enjoy immersing yourself in a fully formed alternate reality, this is your flick.
And what a wonderful message. Chihiro only begins to triumph when she sets herself aside, and sacrifices for the sake of others. Some of the imagery of her sacrifice (Haku's purging of the blackness inside) is spirituality of a high order.
I can understand why serious anime fans might be able to nitpick this movie. It's the same with anyone who's deeply into a subject matter. But, if you're a film fan, especially one new to anime, this is a masterwork, pure and simple. Arguably one of the finest films ever made, any genre, any era.
10 Breathtaking
This has got to be one of the best films EVER MADE!!! It is an inspiring story filled with adventure and danger around every corner. It's so amazing how much Chihiro (the main character) changes throughout the story. It is an awesome film and I highly reccomend it.
11 Marvelous
Referring to previous reviews, I find it particularly heinous for an anime fan to imply that Miyazaki has a feebleminded imagination. Ouch...that's so unforgivably tacky. Also, it'd be ideal that making sure meaning isn't lost in translation would be the director's responsibility; no such luck, particularly with dubbed anime, and especially with Disney. It's always been an issue that's been apparent since anime crossed over from Japan. That said, Spirited Away is an amazing movie, and while Otomo and Oshi are forces to be reckoned with, so is Miyazaki.
12 One of the greatest films ever made!
Words cannot express what an incredible film this is. I love that Miyazaki has included so much Japanese mythology and culture into this film. The film can be slightly confusing if you only watch it once, but I think this has more to do with the English translation being confusing rather than the actual plot. The film is visually stunning and the musical score accomodates it with perfect harmony. This is by far Miyazaki's greatest work in my opinion. In fact, this was the first film that I've ever seen my Miyazaki and I had the pleasure of seeing it in the theater when it was released in the United States. I have so much respect for Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki's work after seeing this film.
13 This movie hurts
I thought this movie was obnoxious. Maybe its meaning was lost in translation from Japanese to English, however, its the director's responsiblity to make sure that does not happen.
I thought that maybe my presupposition was a little uncultivated, so I resorted to independent arguments from friends. They, for the most part, felt inebriated and uninterested in the first 15 minutes of the film. Even though they were the ones who labored through the entire insane, prosaic, and venal "toon", they felt that I should reimburse them for the time that they wasted when each one of them would have been better off shaving their hairy asses with toothpaste and a butter knife.... Anyways, I just glanced over some of the reviews and was dumbfounded at the rave reviews that people gave this movie. I still shiver when I see the front cover of this movie anywhere..... I keep telling myself "Don't worry, go to your happy place.... You don't have to go through that again".
I am an addict when it comes to Anime. My favorite movies are Ghost in the Shell and Akira, so its not that I don't like Japanese animation, I just do not like to watch bogus fragments of someones feebleminded imagination.
14 Carried away --
-- by some of the best story-telling in animation today.
The basic plot is familiar, especially to Miyazaki fans. A plucky young girl, thrown into strange circumstances, wins her goals through hard work and bravery. In this case, little Chohiro is thrown into a Japanese fantasy world, working as a bath-house drudge, in order to save her enchanted parents.
The bath-house, however, serves the spirits, gods, and other beings that apparently inhabit Japan's fairy tales. Remember in Shrek, how seemingly every one of the Brothers Grimm characters came to life, all together? It's like that, but with a serious tone. The difference is that I didn't recognize any of the characters. They're not the fairy tales I grew up with. I could see that they were cultural icons, but not from my culture. That fascinated me - now I want to go and find out just who all those characters were, and what cultural meaning they have.
It's kid-safe, with no serious adult themes or violence. Those aren't needed to keep Chohiro's quest interesting and to sustain a sense of wonder. There's enough to keep an adult interested, too. Don't wait til there's a kid around to treat yourself to this incredible movie.
//wiredweird
15 The Best Japanese Movie!
This is the best Japanese movie i've ever seen! I watched it with ALL of my family even my cousins and we all loved it! This is a very good movie for kids & EVEN FOR ADULTS! I think you should buy it! this movie is FANTASTIC!!
16 "Blown" Away
Most Japanese aname films to me are stupid and boring, but this one caught my attention due to the critique and the academy award. After watching, it turned out to be one of my favorite movies. My friedns said it looked dumb, but I still thought that this masterpiece and soon-to-be classic was excellent. It was just like any other good movie to other people, but this movie, to me, was just palin awesome.
17 "Spirited Away": a Supreme Feat of Animation
In the animated film Spirited Away directed by Hayao Miyazaki, the epic tale of one girl's experience in a mystical and fantasy-driven world is told. This world manifests itself within a bathhouse for spirits, thus becoming the dynamic through which Chihiro (the lonesome and courageous heroine) experiences all of her conflicts and resolutions. Marked by an overriding imagery that is not only picturesque, but creatively and artfully composed, the surroundings that Chihiro is placed within are anything but bleak. While Spirited Away does indeed center around a more serious conflict, one involving Chihiro's struggle to survive within the bathhouse successfully so as to eventually rescue her parents who were formerly turned into pigs, the magical embodiment of the bathhouse and its residents balance this. In many scenes the bright and hopeful hues blue and whit are blended to create an unremitting sky. This, contrasted with the bold and dark colors that boastfully exist within the night-life of the bathhouse, is supportive of a film that is nothing less than a masterpiece of artful animation. Transcending the accepted norms of other contemporary animation pieces, Spirited Away does not only exude a magnificent and mystical story of triumph when in the depths of hopelessness, but also a certain skilled mastery of artistic feats not originally thought possible in the world of animation. Relying on the universal themes of love and friendship, Spirited Away is a film that shatters the preconceived notions regarding the superficiality of most animated films. The fact that most scenes are set against a backdrop that is both intricate and fluent in expressive color and detail only strengthens its impact.
18 A gem that celebrates the spirit of children
This movie begins with a girl and her parents moving to a new home. Right from the beginning, the movie brought out events many of us went through as a child. It's interesting to see how Hayao Miyazaki used this simple scene to portray a hidden layer of emotions that Chihiro (the main character) is enduring. Miyazaki also used this scene to foreshadow the events that were to come later in the movie. This idea of adventure and mystery resonates throughout the entire film as Chihiro finds herself in a colorful world of spirits and magic.
Throughout the movie, her courage, her strength, and her own spirit are tested as she embarks on a journey to save her parents. This idea of being a hero also brings back many nostalgic childhood memories. Miyazaki often tends to provoke a collage of emotions from his audience through his intricate emphasis on tiny details. The train scene, for example, is filled with this artistic approach. When Chihiro sits down on an empty seat, Miyazaki focuses all the attention to this; and even after she sits, he pauses for a moment to capture this image of her sitting before moving on to the next scene. Another instance of this can be seen when the two little animal friends of hers are looking out the window, bouncing up and down. This image immediately reminded me of my childhood and how I used to stand on the seat with my hands on the windows, gazing at the passing images outside. I also remember how I used to bounce up and down on the seats for no reason at all. But these are the very things that make children, children; and Miyazaki celebrates this through this and many of his other films.
The beautifully drawn images, attention to details, and the myriad of bursting colors truly embraces all the qualities of an elaborate painting. This movie is indeed a painting which will indulge viewers into Miyazaki's free spirited world.
19 Another Miyazaki Masterpiece - posted by the Moogleking
Many people born before the anime era stereotype anime as senslessly violent and poorly written. Show them this masterpiece, and pretty soon they'll be watching it at 6:30 in the morning every Saturday, while you try to get some sleep.
I love this film because it shows that anime can still be very absorbing without unessecary violence, nudity, ect. The english
dub REEKS of Disney (vile stuff, it is) , so make sure to watch it in Japanese w/ subtitles. The movie lacks info about the characters' origins (mostly Haku), but that's really the only flaw. The animation is smooth and crisp, the characthers have deep personalities, the monsters are hilarious (try to spot the Totaro in one of the beginning sequences) and the overall story combines many emotions as the main character quests to get home.
The soundtrack goes well with the movie (like how the jazzy soundtrack went well with Blue Submarine No.6), but may get repetitively annoying to some folks. As always, Hayao Miyazaki uses very innovative ideas, such as the main characther's parents getting transformed into pigs. Well, that sums it up. I would tell you more about it, but I won't give away too much of the plot. If you think this anime is bad and has a dull plot, go and watch Love Hana or Tenchi Muyo until your eyes can be mistaken for beach balls. Then you will know BAD!
20 What a Treasure!
This is such a beautiful movie and an outstanding treasure to add to our family DVD collection. In addition to the beauty and basic story of this film, the meaning is also very significant - the struggles of the initially whiney little girl on her quest to save her parents lives leading to what type of person she becomes, the showcase of excesses, and the symbolism in the oppositism of the twin sisters. My kids, my husband, and I all loved this movie. The forshadow is very interesting when our heroine meets the river spirit, who is a dragon like her friend. I was proud that my kids picked up on the fact that the spirit was drowning in pollution and junk dumped into the river and that is why his cleansing bath was so crucial. They discussed this movie long after we finished watching it. I thought the memory sequences were well-done and tied in nicely with the end of the story. The whole family is looking forward to watching this again and seeing the annoying little girl grow into such a strong and independent young lady by her adventure.
21 I got spirited away!
I can't believe I didn't get this sooner! I would see the promotions for it on television when I was eleven when it first came out, and I could kick myself for not getting before I became a teenager. A lot of my imagination has deteriorated within that time, but I'm really glad I ended up buying. Being a fan of "My Neighbor Tortoro" and "Kiki's Delivery Service" as a kid (which both inspired me majorly) I was wondering if Hayao Mayazaki was same one who created "Sprited Away". Doing a little research, I found out it was the same man, so I got the DVD expecting a fantasy, and got something out of my own imagination that got me back to remembering how I used to have so much fun with my own imagination back then.
Chihiro (american voiced by Daveigh Chase from The Ring) isn't too thrilled moving away to another town. New school, new friends, and a new house. It's not easy for someone who's just entering into her pre-teens. But when her parents accidentally take a wrong turn, the three find themselves in a seemingly abandoned amusement park. Her parents find some food left out in a restaurant, and when you see food you know someone has to be there. But when Chihiro comes back, she finds her parents have undergone a transformation, and strange shadows going up and down the sidewalks of the once abandoned place. Yet now that darkness has fallen, Chihiro knows something about the place is different, and if she wants to save her parents and herself, the only way out of the place is going straight through it.
I don't want to give away too much because if you give away something, you give it all away. Hayao Mayazaki must take these own ideas from his own childhood imagination, because his artwork, and where the plot goes is too amazing to be anywhere else. Being a wannabe author, Mayazaki's work has inspired, and I'm sure for any child who sees Spirited Away or any of his other breathtaking movies will be swept out of the world, and back into their own imagination.
Sprited Away is one of the more detailed and well thought out movies of his. Some of them are very easy to figure out, and some of them take a little while, but they deliver just as they always have. This one brings in a little bit of everything, and doesn't really need all explained, but as the story goes on, things fall together, and as a fantasy, you shouldn't think logical. When something comes out of the imagination, nothing is ever logical again.
The voice talents are amazing. I was surprised to find out that the highly acclaimed horror remake of a japanese thriller The Ring would have the same voice of Samara (for those of you who have seen it) in another remake. Coincidental? Daveigh Chase did good as little Chihiro, but of course the original is always better. I didn't listen to the japanese voice, but just in case I didn't like the new american voices, it's always good to switch on the subtitles, and change to the original japanese voices. That's what I really like about DVD's.
Spirited Away definitely has a good many laughs, but for kids who don't understand them it may be good, but for the adults, they'll be laughing until they can't breathe with the inside jokes all throughout the movie. The DVD also has a good variety of things to choose from unlike the sad DVD for my neighbor Totoro. I hope Mayazaki comes out with more like this, though. He's so highly underrated it's not even funny. At least there's a good number of us who appreciate him.
22 masterpiece
richly done with great vision and originality. an example of intimate, personal ideas, dreams, and conciousness translated into the anime genre. beautiful artwork from color, perspective, composition... better than princess mononoke but different. the best ever from miyazake.
23 extremely forgettable
Perhaps one has to be Japanese to understand this movie. It is hardly worth reviewing, but after we rented it last night (having heard good things about it in the media - first mistake) I couldn't resist taking a look at what kind of reviews it received. Imagine my astonishment to find that this highly forgettable movie received an overall rating of 4-1/2 stars. Of course, the book Eragon also seems to be well-received by the on-line audience which reviews books and movies; perhaps there is a selection bias here as well.
Anyway, my husband and I watched with growing horror as a film with no recognizable plot and almost no stable characters unfolded before us. I think it was morbid fascination that held us to the screen until the lame but anxiously awaited ending. Granted, there were some lovely scenes that would make great stills, and a few chuckles here and there. I will admit that I found the combination of sickly-sweet cuteness and frightening grotesqueness unique, if nothing else. The "monster" spirits eating people (although they were regurgitated whole later), and the prominence of nightmarish chases and scary situations made me wonder that this was PG - the rating seemed too low. Perhaps what disturbed me more (besides lack of plot) was that there were no characters who seemed to be consistent. For example, the "witch," although supposedly evil, congratulates the heroine (Chihiro) at one point for a job well done and tells her other "employees" to try to be like Chihiro. The character of "no-face" seems to be a helpful spirit, becomes a terrifying monster, and then returns to passivity for no real reason that is explained. These are just two examples of many that pervade this movie.
We did have fun afterwards imagining what the TV-guide blurb for this would be if it were shown on TV. It was stranger than any strange movie I've seen (Escanaba in Da Moonlight, Dune, the Point, and Buckaroo Banzai for a few samples, although most of those had some semblance of plot), although I don't go in for weirdness as a rule, preferring to be entertained. I can't say that this movie entertained me at all. After I have written this review, I will forget all about Spirited Away, except to tell anyone who asks me about it not to waste his money or time on watching it.
24 Know wonder its the highest grossing film in Japan
This movie is amazing. I saw it at my school two years ago. Me and my friend liked it so much we played it at resess. If you like anime you should buy this DVD.
25 Greatest animated film ever!!!
When i first watched this film i was absolutely blown away. The Music, the animation, the acting and the storyline are all top-notch and all add to the perfection of this film. Seriously, this film is perfect in every sense of the word and, i absolutely love it. Spirited away will enchant anybody who watches it no matter how old they are. I even managed to get my 45 year old dad to watch it and, no joke, he thought it was amazing.
This is the highest grossing film ever in Japan and one of the highest grossing animated films in the world, which goes to show how fantastic this film is. I watched this film a total of 5 times in the first week I bought it and, it is very rare for me to watch any film twice, never mind five times in one week. Another point to make is the fact that the dubbing on this film is great. The script was slightly changed for the English version so that the words fit into the japanese speaking mouths of the characters. They really hit the nail on the head with this film and if there was one animated film i had advice anybody to get, it would be this one.
26 Incredible
This was the first Miyazaki movie I have ever watched, and I happened upon the movie accidentally...I've just finished watching it, and WOW I am so so impressed!!! This was the most original animation movie I have ever seen! Now I am excited to go and find more of Miyazaki's stuff. The characters were so unique, and such a well developed, diverse range of personalities. The colorful scenery, original setting (a Japanese spirit bath house), and beautiful story was one to by loved by all ages. You have to see this!
27 A great story for young girls and their parents!
After seeing Princess Mononoke on DVD, I became an instant fan of Miyazaki's films and style of animation. I saw this movie when it was released to theaters here in the US, having seen the ads for it and knowing it was going to be good.
It wasn't good, it was great! So many fables in the U.S. have been told to death that to see this movie was a literal breath of fresh air. It is such a wonderful new take on the old story of the hero being required to grow up and mature in order to "get out" of whatever situation he/she has been thrust into.
Chihiro/Sen is someone that any young girl can relate to. While she starts off seeming bratty, it's not because she's really a brat. Her family has moved, something that's all too familiar to many young children, and what young girl wouldn't be angry at her parents after being yanked away from her friends without so much as a "how do you feel about this"? She just wants to stay where she's comfortable and safe.
From the outset, Chihiro is required to act in ways that would be difficult for anyone, never mind a young girl! How well would you react to the sight of a "boiler keeper" who looks like a cross between a man and a spider, with little puffs of soot scurrying about as his helpers? And in the same night, find yourself having to face down a foul-tempered witch to ensure you don't suffer the same fate as your parents?
Every girl (and boy) has to learn to "grow up" -- to come to grips with the fact that the world can sometimes be a harsh place, and that you still have to live in it and do the best that you can; to learn to stand up for yourself with no one there to help you; to be responsible for what you (or those with you) do; to come to understand that other people besides yourself matter. Chihiro learns all of these things and more, and changes from a timid, somewhat self-absorbed person into one who has a deep inner strength and faith in herself and who cares deeply about the people she has come to know. This is a story that sends a powerful message, one that will stay with the people who watch it.
I have a four year-old daughter, and I can't wait to show this DVD to her when she's a little older. Her younger sister will see it, too, when she's old enough. I'm betting that this will become one of their favorite movies, and that they'll want to watch it over and over again.
28 Another Masterpiece from Miyazaki
Personally, I prefer Princess Mononoke because of the complexity of its story. Nevertheless, the beauty and wonder of Spirited Away can not be denied. The plot of a girl making her way without her parents has been done before, but Miyazaki proves the tale can still be fresh. Chihiro/Sen is a wonderful character: a petulant and occasionally bratty child who becomes brave and learns to rely on herself in a dangerous and strange world. I also appreciated her sweet romance with Haku, a young man who helps her and soon turns out to be much more than he seems. But not only Haku, Chihiro ends up facing many strange and wonderful creatures in the witch's bathouse. A lake God polluted beyond recognition, a many-armed man who works the heaters, an enormous baby who is turned into a mouse ...
All of these characters and this world is created lovingly by Miyazaki. The animation, which remains mostly hand-drawn, is a wonder to behold. The characters move so fluidly and realistically, and the designs of some of the gods is unlike any seen before. After watching this film, the viewer feels like they have journeyed through an entirely new world. It's amazing.
The movie also features a beautiful score that's both magical and haunting. I loved it.
DVD features for the movie are also top-notch. My favorite was the "Making of" which gave a look at the animation process in Japan and a glimpse of Miyazaki in action. The interviews with the American voice actors were also interesting, but on the whole I prefer subtitles.
This is a wonderful movie that I recommend to all. Even non-anime fans.
29 this is a cool movie :-)
i first heard of this film on film 2001 johnathan ross said U MUST SEE THIS MOVIE and ever since i've been going down my local video store and saying 'im gonna rent that when i get the money' but i never did ... untill a couple of weeks ago i decided i will ... and i wasnt disapointed i thought it was a awesome film and now i bought it ... i loved it every anime fan should have this movie in their collection :-)
30 A must see!
I had my doubts before my brother bought this movie and then shot it into the DVD player, but after seeing it, I was speechless. The movie itself is just amazing in the fact that no one has done it before. The tale is also inchanting, as it moves from one part to another. Anyone can watch this and be amazed with the visuals, the music, and the plot. Pick it up and see if you enjoy it, I recommend it!
The only downside I could find is if you totally hate anime, then this is not for you.
31 My Favorite Movie
I love Japanese animation! I think it is so interesting how the characters' eyes are so big, and their emotions are so obvious without them speaking of it. My favorite Japanese animtation books/movies are stories where the main character(s) use(s) magic to save the day! This movie was not only jam packed with magic, and made with beautiful animation, but the characters were so memorable, and the story really pulled you in!
I waited months after getting this movie to actually watch it, because despite all the rewards it received, I thought it looked kind of boring. But when I watched it, all two hours and five minutes of it, I was still waiting for more! The story was always exciting and kept me in anticipation. It was full of action, magic, romance, friendship, and even a tiny little bit of comedy.
If you have loved Hayao Miyazaki's past movies, love Japanese animation, or just want a good movie to watch, I would highly recommend this movie to you!
32 Simply magical
I cannot express how much I enjoyed this movie. It can be enjoyed by simply watching it or by analyzing the subtle background mythology and culture.
33 Enchantment of the Girl.
The wondrous world of Yubaba. Conceived attention and comfort for tiresome godlike creatures. Congregate nameless innocent servants. Sum the wizardry of One, and rule this with sight of greed. The perfect Business! Spirits to attend and pleasures to indulge in this Spa. An unlikely place for a pre-adolescent girl. Who knows when an evil spirit will feel like sucking your own soul just for the hunger of a foodless evening? And so, when Chihiro trades her name for accommodation and work at Yubaba's Spa, she is initiated in the ways of serving the lesser ones. By any means don't let yourself forget your name or else you won't be able to return to your home. A high risk indeed. But Chihiro is not here to stay. Clear in her goal to bring back her parents from their pig state, the girl confronts every peril with courage and innocence. Friends along the way will keep her company and good advice. Zeniba, the lovely counterpart and twin sister to Yubaba, the mysterious No-face, Kamaji, that annoying huge baby son of Yubaba (Morphed into a hamster?), and off course: Haku. A river runs through her, this interpretation she must find.
Spirited Away (El Viaje de Chihiro), is an overwhelming display of dream like qualities and imagination, a tale of the purest enchantment between the tenderness of a lone child and the magical side of parallel realities. The girl is lost in the beginning, little by little towards freedom and a secret of love, she knows it by heart. In the end everything is bittersweet, but melancholic is her future.
Some how the film is constructed in perfect motion between a continuous 360 degrees exposure of consequent magical places, themes, and landscapes, blending adventure and emotiveness in an effortless chain. Talking frogs, spider like workers , dirty gods eager to be clean and indulge, translucent spirits, and simple-minded black pebbles. By the way, in this Spa the human odors are distasteful. Chihiro is set in a peculiar coming of age. Fragile and weak, she is nothing but a little girl with bad luck. Far from being a woman at the end of the tale, she is grown in inner dept and knowledge, the rest of her is let to be blossom and developed by the spectator, right there is one of the film's most touching elements, melancholic is the mood but with great hopes and expectations. They will come together if you want them to.
Hayao Miyazaki has created a masterpiece that reminds us of that wonderful age when good was good, mysterious was magical, and when looks didn't matter, but the goodness of a kind deed. Dragons, spells, ocean sightings, and that long gone first love. Universal and wonderful!
Its main theme is set around being pure and truthful to one's own soul. Its main vocation is storytelling at its highest and simplest manifest. From a strong and extend pallet of colors, to a character design that fits entirely the concept of children's drawings: big eyes, big gestures and soft voices. A child as the main actor against big perils. No one is anything without the help of friends. Good friends, a grandmother to cherish the child, and love, parental love, romantic love set along a river stream. It's the world we would like to return to, some day.
Such quality can only exist in the boundaries of Japanimation. Movement, design, words and story, and Miyasaki as a creator is one of its finest examples. His film is already a reference mark in Animation History. Perfect in its composition of traditional drawings and computer frames, the balance is achieved with exact momentum. As always detail and effortless movement of the Japanimation style is use to express moods and moments with great expansion of emotions and tempos. Miyasaki made his presence and involvement with every step of the process, beginning with its original story, and ending with the final cut. The original score by Joe Hisaichi is beautiful and big as the Spa, along with a rich sound design to set the tone of every frame. An exquisite composure of sight and sound. Outstanding.
Spirited Away can be appreciated at a high level in its excellent DVD edition. From a not so traditional Making Of (Nippon T.V. Special), that includes Miyazaki's passion high at work, to the Voice Recording Sessions and Story boards. Great 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio Track and a visual transferring that emphasizes both colors and details at a flawless level. When a film is as good as this one, the production process can be as interesting as the final product, this Two-disc Edition offers that insight.
As any other Art Genre, Film Making is base in the spectator subjectivity. But this subjectivity is valid to a certain point. There are films so bad (for example Pearl Harbor), that anyone that believes that is a good film, doesn't know anything about cinema quality and good taste. And there are films so good (for example Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal), that anyone how thinks that is a bad film, either misunderstood the story, or simply doesn't know anything about good Film Making. This is the case with Spirited Away. Its genius is undeniable.
34 A Spirited Example of the Genre
Anime has grown into a popular genre for many people, both young and old, across the world. In some western universities, a striving undergraduate can now take it as a major, even taking the subject further as a research project in the attainment of a Masters degree. One of the more popular anime film features is `Spirited Away'. In fact, in my opinion, it is a good introduction to the genre, as it is a work of pure art, made with compassion and detail, a beautiful film in every respect.
At first glance, the story echoes other well known stories, such as `Alice Through the Looking Glass' and `The Wizard of Oz.' Although similar on the surface, in terms of a little girl finding herself in a fantastic land, searching for a way out, `Spirited Away' has it own unique signature. The cast of strange characters are legion, the strangest being `No Face', a black hooded, masked demon-like phantom who, in more ways than one, is the central character, who reveals that greed is within all of us, contrasting the lead, Chihiro, the brave and compassionate little girl, who must pass a series of tests in order to free her parents from the clutches of a terrible spell, brought on, by the way, through their own greed.
The story begins with Chihiro and her parents driving through the countryside. They stumble upon a peculiar structure and walk through a tunnel into what appears to be an abandoned amusement park. Chihiro, of course, is reluctant to enter the place, but her parent's curiosity wins out. In the park they come across shelves upon shelves of delicious food. Mother and father cannot help themselves and begin gorging the food until they're transformed into massive pigs. This is our first clue as to one of the film's central themes: greed. Thus begins Chihiro's journey into a fantastic land of creatures, spirits and evil witches.
What I found astounding about this film was the care and attention to detail in every scene. All too often we take for granted just how much work in involved in creating an animated film. There are indeed some astonishing scenes in this film that would of taken days, weeks or even months to create. When viewing this film with this in mind, my appreciation for anime and animation in general, moved straight to the top. Anime is certainly a burgeoning art form in many ways.
`Spirited Away' is a film for all ages; a wonderful example of anime and perhaps a good introduction to the study of the genre itself - absolutely five stars.
35 My First Anime
My boyfriend recommended this movie to me. At first I was not very interested because it was Anime. I had never watched a movie like this before. You have to have some prior knowledge of Japanese customs to fully comprehend the concept of this movie. There are points in this movie where it makes you jump. Some scenes you feel so bad for the characters. I recommend this to anyone who wants to see a sensitive yet slightly action-filled movie. This is really a great movie. I liked it so much that I bought it a week after I first saw it, and as you can see its no cheap buy. But I recommend that you get yourself a copy, it's worth it.
36 Miyazaki's Masterpiece
"Spirited Away" is the only Miyazaki film I've had the good fortune to see in the theaters. After winning an Academy Award, the movie enjoyed a re-run. I hadn't heard much about it, other than the occasional television ad, where even the briefest snippet of the film convinced me this was something I had to see.
Sitting in the theater, I felt like a child. The animation is superlative. Every bit of color and texture jumps out at one. The care which which this film was made is absolutely astounding!
Miyazaki's dream-like story follows a young girl, Chihiro, moving to a new town with her parents. Her father, on the way to their new home, mis-directs them, and the family finds themselves at a failed amusement park, where the parents decide to explore, much to Chihiro's dismay.
After wandering a bit, the parents find a food stall filled to overflowing with freshly cooked delicacies. They tuck in immediately, but Chihiro won't have anything to do with it. As the sun sets, a startling thing happens, and Chihiro finds herself in a world populated by spirits. She alone can save her parents and return them - along with herself - to the world she is used to.
Miyazaki's movies tend to have a dream-like quality to them, with the possible exception of "Princess Mononoke" (at least, the Miyazaki films I have seen so far). "Spirited Away" is definitely no exception, being the most dream-like of them all. While all the occurrences in the story don't always make sense in an everyday sort of way, Chihiro's experiences in the spirit world are easy enough to relate to.
There is just so much going on in this film: Chihiro's sense of loneliness, the unpredictable nature of the spirits she meets, the different laws that apply to the spirit world. "Spirited Away" is an assault on the senses from start to finish.
I highly recommend watching the film both in the dubbed English and then in the subtitled Japanese. The differences that the characters' tone of voice convey are delightful. This is most notable in the character of Yubaba, voiced beautifully in the English by Suzanne Pleshette (and by Nina Hagen in the German version....her daughter, Cosma Shiva, plays Lin, Chihiro's boss at the bathhouse).
A must see for all fans of Miyazaki's work.
37 I love it!
It's one of the best cartoon/anime i've saw, actually, probably THE best. It'll be better if you understand more about the Japanese culture (then it'll all make sense), but if you don't it's still a pretty good movie. I've watched Hayao Miyazaki's movies ever since i was born and i loved them! this is one of the best, then totoro, then the panda one, then kiki.
38 "Ah. Ah."
This movie ROCKS A$$! I bought this for my B.F. as a B-day present this year and I loved it! The movie's about a young girl who is moving to a new house in a new city away from everything she's ever known. Not until her parents take an unexpected turn which was 'supposedly' supposed to lead them to their new home. Wrong. It actually leads them to an 'abandoned' train station next to an old theme park. The girl wants to go back, but he parents find an empty restaurant filled with delicious food, and insist to stay. While her parents eat, she explores Ther are empty buildings all around her, and she comes across a bath house. A boy sees her and tells her to take her parents and leave befor the sun sets. She does so, but not in time. She returns to the restaurant and finds that her parents turned into PIGS! They get taken away, and she runs back to the train station. Only she reaches a river that was not there when they first arrived. So she had to stay in this magical world she got shoved into, and takes a job at the bath house, where she tries to fet her parents back into humans. Not so easy.
This movie is really great and really captures its viewers. It has a slight resemblance to 'Alice in Wonderland', and the ending is awesome. I really love the characters, especially the baby when it gets turned into a mouse. The movie has wonderful animation and music. Everyone should love this movie. Or you can "PLAY WITH ME OR I'LL BREAK YOUR ARM."
39 Amazing movie, very entertaining a must see
Chihiro and her family get sidetracked on the way to their new home. They enter the land of the spirits unknowingly much to chihiro's chagrin. She begs her family not to enter but they do anyway. There they are lead by the smell of food, they dig in and lil chihiro goes off wandering. As night approaches she meets a young boy, haku and he tells her to leave quickly. She goes back to find her family but they have turned into pigs!
She is now trapped and must find a way to save her parents.. She has to battle several spirits and and evil witch yubaba..
Amazing movie, very entertaining a must see..
40 Spirited Away
This movie is one of my all-time favorites! I received it for Easter last year, and didn't watch it until months later because I didn't think it looked very good. But boy, was I wrong! Great animation, neat charecters, and a good storyline. I felt like I was actually in the movie!
Some parts were a little scary, but I would still recommend this movie to anyone! If you like anime, good stories, good animation, or just want a movie to watch, I'd say at least rent this. It's two hours long, but who would want a good movie to end earlier, anyway?
P.S. Please don't write reviews about other's reviews (Including mine), it's not nice.
41 An excellent movie for everyone!
This is a cool DVD. Has a bonus one hour DVD showing how they made the movie and all the work that went into it. It is a great watch. The movie is very well done. Being that it is from Japan it does have some elements to it that Americans will find odd. I enjoyed this movie entirely. The "acting" is amazing for an animated film. Surpasses any Disney movie I have watched. Good story on friendships, family, integrity, respect....you name it. Your kids will enjoy this movie and so will you because it is so well done.
42 Quite simply one of the greatest films ever made.
Spirited Away is one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen, and deserves its place as one of the greatest films to ever be made. The story and characters are not spectacular (above par yes, but not spectacular), it's the way the director Hayao Miyazaki presents the story that makes Spirited Away so special. Miyazaki's colour pallet for the film gives it a certain edge over other animated movies, the film is truly art caught on film, the animation is spectacular and beyond Walt Disney's dreams.
The detail in the surroundings is astounding from the architecture of the bath house to the costume designs, that takes an interesting but quite simplistic story to something truly magical. There is so much feeling enveloped in every scene of this movie that it easily draws you into Chihiro's quest to escape the bath house and save her parents.
One thing that may deter people from this film is that it is very Japanese, and gives an insightful view into their culture. Certain cultural references may leave people misreading certain aspects of the film. Such as one magazine critic who thought that the bath house was similar to the red-light district. Even though bath houses are extremely common throughout Japan, have been so for hundreds of years and are very much an ordinary part of Japanese life. Even though some cultural references may cause some misunderstandings, the story of Chihiro is truly universal and can be understood by everyone, as this is a childrens film afterall.
There are a few scary bits in the film that may scare the kids, so Parental Guidance is advised. But this is a true gem, and gives the new slur of CG effects movies a good kicking, and shows what makes a good film. Disney may have forgotten how to make animated movies over the past thirty years (with a few exceptions) but Studio Ghibli is here to show that you can put all the money you want into making more realistic looking CG movies, but a great story and artful direction will win out overall.
43 SPECTACULAR DVD OF THE GREATEST ANIMATED FILM EVER!!!!!!!!!!
what a spectacular dvd release of the greatest animated film ever made (its not i who say this, just go to IMDB.COM)! this dvd, undoubtedly, is the best release of a studio ghibli film by disney and buena vista so far. this is the treatment films like these deserve.
the most delighting feature in this 2disc set is "the nippon tv special", showing the in depth making of the film at studio ghibli. all the footage seen in this long documentary is real and live, of the time when the work on the film was on in studio ghibli which makes it different and all the more interesting to watch. the tension, the pressure, the workload...what we get to see here is all real unlike the people involved in it just sitting in front of the camera, all made up, talking big.
it was also good to see people from disney, including glen keane (tarzan) and others, speaking about the exceptional work of miyazaki and the influence it had on them, in another short "the art of spirited away" on disc1.
mr miyazaki always prefers speaking with his matchless work...films like this one, princess mononoke, nausicaa and totoro have proved that time and again.
i only hope all the upcoming ghibli releases by disney get the same treatment. meanwhile disney and buena vista deserve a two thumbs up for this one!
go get this one before it is out of stock. it is one hell of a dvd you'll never regret having.
44 Great Animation, complicated story
I have to say that this was one of the most entertaining anime movies i've watched. I was fooled by the shady opening scenes, but there after, the story seemed to be more interesting. The story of a girl, Sen, as she is named in the spirit world, and her parents, barged in and started eating up all the food, then as the sun was setting, they were meant to leave before they change into pigs, but because they were hypnotized by the appetizing food, they stayed, then turing into pigs. Now Sen has to rescue her parents and change them back before the Spirit World figures out she's a human and kill her.
There are lots of colorful, weird and supporting characters in this first ever Oscar winning anime, and the way this anime was presented, with it's out of this world animation and great voice overs, it's the only anime worth watching, trust me!
45 Beautiful!
In the whole movie I was captured. It had a great meaning to it all. It had clever characters and great anime. I loved it so much, I gave one to my neice and now it's one of her favorite movies. Its a must buy!
46 Stunning and Moving
Anime Vs. Disney. Anime Vs. Disney. Anime Vs. Disney.
Who gives a damn?
Anyway, "Spirited Away" follows the story of Chihiro (AKA Sen) as she is separated from her parents during their move to a new town, and her subsequent adventures in the Spirit World. Along the way she makes some friends, defeats some enemies and tries her hardest to be reunited with Mom and Dad, and get home.
The first and most important thing about "Spirited Away" is the quality of the storyline. In my opinion, it fulfills more of the "Kids-Movies-For-Adults" criteria than any of the Harry Potters to date, becuase of the truly universal themes contained therein - love, loss, family bonds, friendship - and becuase of the innate charm and beautifully-crafted characterisation of the characters. Chihiro is a plucky and adventurous girl, Haku is her straight-laced mystical counterpart, Yubaba is perhaps the most enjoyable villainess since Disney's Maleficent. The story unfolds with a total lack of pretension and a gentle, yet enthralling, pace, and the whole shebang moves with such an elegant and effortless grace that we are begging to be taken along for the ride.
Animation-wise, if "Shrek 2" is the current king of CGI, then the hand-drawn crown absolutely must go to "Spirited Away". The first thing we notice is the glorious colour of the Spirit world, the hodgepodge of western and eastern architectural styles and the straight-from-a-child's-imagination renderings of Yubaba and her consort Gods are all flawless in their movement. Hand-drawn animation may be a dying art form, but with such a brilliant and beautiful swan song as this, it will never be forgotten. Even those of us without an understanding of the Hand-Drawn animation process can only sit back and be amazed at the quality and clarity of Chihiro, Haku, Yubaba et al. Landscapes and interiors chew on the scenery all by themselves, and provide a visually enthralling stage against which the wonderful players tell us the story.
To wonder if our children will enjoy "Spirited Away" is, I believe, an insult to their powers of imagination and cognition - this is a timeless and classic tale full of familiar themes and top-notch characters, and, when it's done with such an endearing naivete, I'd never once hesitate to recommend "Spirited Away" to the parents of any child, any age, and from any culture.
A classic that must be seen to be understood, and thoroughly recommended.
47 The Most Intriguing Animated Movie Ever
This movie is simply stunning. The art is gorgeous. The story is unlike anything you have come across. This movie is simply magical. I prefer it with the Japanese language track and the English subtitles.
A word of advice--just because this is an animated movie does not mean it is for small children. There are some pretty scary scenes. Conversely-- just because this is an animated movie does not mean that it is not for adults. Older audiences are likely to appreciate this movie more.
48 huh.
apparently some of you american audiences don't understand the cultural value anime is to the japanese. anime is not merely a entertainment source for small children (like the ever-laughable mickey mouse), but viewed at the same level as live motion pictures. adults often can be seen, even, on the subways reading manga because it's the only alternate source for "adult" entertainment. (manga is generally considered adult material, anyway). perhaps that is the reason why there is so much skill and style put into their *art* than many american cartoons because it is not only a cartoon, but a form of artistic expression.
i wonder too, why people would complain about the PG rating when americans gave "The Ring" PG-13. wasn't this movie "disturbing" as well? or did i see a different version of it? digimon? please...i defy anyone to explain to me how a "plot", as it were, like this one would even be considered an influential item in society.
let's see, does a story about disfigured creatures to be used by humans as fighting tools send a more powerful message than a story of the awakening of a young child's lust for life after having experienced the most unfathomable and learning through this the importance of loving one's family and life? hm... difficult decision, i know.
but of course.. we all have our preferences...only there is a difference between quality and mere paltriness.
49 This is NOT AS GREAT as everyone says!
This movie is (apart from some good animation) rotten, very creepy, and will mess with your mind, like it has with mine and a person that also has seen it with me. I strongly suggest that if you like horror storys you might just stomach this otherwise stay away from it! It was made for Japan and thats where it should have stayed!
(If you love animation so much that you have to see this film then watch it with the lights on or curtains open and take a break from waching this film for 5 miniutes every 15 minutes and sit outside if you can, if the film is to much for you from a certain point then dont watch any more because the film becomes worse and worse.)
50 Spirited Away DVD by Hayao Miyazaki
Wow!!!!! What an adventure! What a story! What a fantasy! I wish I could watch this animation when I was young like Chihiro! But even now being 28 years old, I am impressed.... So, what's special in this movie? Why everybody likes it?
1) Well, first of all, there is a very unusual story. It's just not what you expect from fairytales or what you are accustomed to expect from fairytales. The story is intriguing and is absolutely unpredictable. Each next scene will make your eyes and mouth remain wide. That's why you'll be glued to the screen the whole 2-hour time while the movie goes. So, I am not going to tell you what's the story is about, as I want you to be excited in the same way I was when I watched it for the first time...
2) Humour. There are plenty of moments there, which will make you laugh. The humour is very intelligent and that's why it's very pleasant and enjoyable. In the course of the movie you'll see various characters. Most of them will make you smile without saying a word!
3) Main characters. I don't know whether you've seen already "Tokyo Godfathers". If yes, then you know how quality drawn characters can be. The 10-year old Chihiro is so real here. Well, actually, my favourite character there is not Chihiro, but wonderful granny Yubaba!!! Oh, she is so cool and witty! Quite a special character I must say, but so lovely! She is so smart and funny that I wish she could be my grand mother!!!
4) Music. You know, with such an original score, you don't really need to watch anything. Just listen to this masterpiece of the famous Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi!!!! Splendid! You will not hear a single electronic sound, but what you'll hear are beautiful orchestral, piano and violin themes. This movie got rich and quality soundtrack.
5) English dubbing. I compared both English and Japanese dialogues, and I must admit that the version with English dubbing is far better than the version in original language. I noticed that characters' emotions and intonations do properly sound situation-wise in the English version of the movie. For example the loving caring voice of "English" Yubaba when she talks to her baby is much more convincing than the one of "Japanese" Yubaba...
Conclusion: this movie is a masterpiece. I am very happy I watched it and I am glad I got this DVD.
51 this is not younger child's movie
Sorry, but I have to agree with the other "disturbed" viewer. The images in this movie are very dark, disturbing and scary, even gory. I would not recommend this movie for most children under the age of at least 8. Sensitive children should NOT view this movie. Although I enjoyed parts of the movie, overall it seemed to me like a very bad dream.
52 Great Anime
This is one of Miyazaki's best works. The story is enchanting, the animation is great, and the character development is wonderful. Even though its meant for younger viewers, I can't help but become suspenseful at a few moments in the film. Definitely one to watch with the family, as it is adults and kids friendly.
53 Fantastic
I absolutely LOVED this movie! I have never seen anime before, and actually my little cousins were the ones who told me to see it. They are a 7 year old girl and a 9 year old boy, and were big fans of Spirited Away. My Aunt and Uncle too. I am 19 and am now crazy about it too! So, it's good for many different ages.
54 Truly an overlooked classic
It is mind-boggling that the biggest hit in Japanese cinema history is virtually unknown in the U.S. There are so many good reviews of this movie, yet I had to add my own because this movie is a quite literally a classic.
As a rule, American animated films are made for children. But this is for adults, or at least older kids. (It has imagery that could disturb young children.) That said, it is a visually gorgeous, richly layered film. It is sad that Disney has announced an end to their own traditional 2-D animated films (in favor of rendered 3-D a la Finding Nemo), because Spirited Away shows how powerful and effective the medium can be.
In an era of formulaic movies, it is wonderful to see a work of such blazing originality. One thing we tend to take for granted in most movies is how predictable the characters are. Good guys are purely virtuous. Bad guys are purely evil. But in this movie, the young girl who is the main character starts off rather shallow and self-absorbed. It's not clear for much of the movie whether mysterious apprentice who helps her early on is good or evil. Virtually all the characters have more depth than is needed to move the story along; that's one of the many elements that combine to lift this movie out of the realm of the ordinary.
It's no surprise why this movie is relatively unknown in the U.S.: it was underpromoted when it was released here, it's by a director few Americans have ever heard of (though he's a legend in Japan), it doesn't have voice acting by big-name stars, and it doesn't have a plot that lends itself to sound-bite descriptions.
But PLEASE do yourself a favor and buy it. It should be part of every film-lover's collection. My biggest regret about this movie is that it doesn't have a director's audio track (yes, I know it would have to be translated), since I would love to get deeper insights into what Myazaki was thinking in every scene.
Once you have seen for yourself how good this movie is, don't forget to check out other Myazaki films. They're not all works of genius, as this one is, but they're all quite good and well worth the price.
55 Made me a Miyazaki fan
This was the second movie I have seen that was directed by Hayo Miyazaki. The first was The Castle of Cagliostro (considered by many, including me, to be one of the greatest adventure movies of all time). This movie was easily on the same level of The Castle of Cagliostro. Miyazaki manages to develop realistic characters that refuse to be classified as either good or bad, like so many other Disney films.
That being said I find it hard to believe that Miyazaki intended for this to be a children's movie. It does incorporate the some of typical Disney children's themes into it but much of the movie I think would be too "scary" for children. For instance, the desperately lonely character No-Face seems compassionate at first but then proceeds to eat several people. No-Face later realizes that Chihiro only wanted to be his friend and joins her in her journey. Even Haku, the only person that wanted to help Chihiro in the spirit world, is revealed as a thief that was only using Yubaba to gain power. The images themselves are what nightmares are made of. One scene in particular after they bathe the "stink spirit" I found particularly creepy. In the scene a floating skull appears in the air and says "well done."
This is a must see for any fan of anime.
56 Myazaki did it again!
You might remember Castle In The Sky or Kiki's Delivery Service. Spirited away has the same magical essence. A young Japanese (whiny, selfish) girl named Chiroh. They find a townwith no one in it. Her parents get transformed by spirits.
Who go to a special Spirit bathouse, do not like humans.
This movie twists and turns, you never quite know who'sgood or bad. With Spirit's help to get back home- a truly heartwarming and exciting (not to mention beautiful) Japanese Animation.
57 Concerning the Emotionally Disturbed Reviewer
You say you are a huge fan of anime and list 'Digimon' with clear conscience?
'Spirited Away' is among those animes that have a message, that go a bit...'deeper' than the usual anime that is shown on american TV and that have alot more seriousness than any Disney movie... There are alot of allusions to japanese mythology and gods in this movie. It's most definitely not 'robbed of any plot'.
Most probably, you haven't even heard of 'Princess Mononoke' (which is from the same director as the reviewed film), 'Neon Genesis Evangelion', 'X' or other serious anime?
In Japan, Miyazaki's film 'Princess Mononoke' was the biggest box-office hit of all time (bigger than Titanic was)...and when 'Spirited Away' came to the cinemas, it even topped 'Mononoke'. That could not happen in America, because in Japan, anime is not just considered 'childish' entertainment, but art. Many animes and mangas are not made for children. This one is, though. Maybe you should try 'Princess Mononoke'. I suppose if you don't like that one too you should maybe reconsider, if it is really anime that you are a 'huge fan' of.
58 Emotionally disturbing
Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge fan of Anime--I've watched Kiki's Delivery Service and Digimon: The Movie so many times, I can recite several scenes from each.
But believe me: this is crap. The first 15 minutes of the movie were fine, but after that, the director must have been on something; the story was totally robbed of any plot or explanation as to *why* what was happening was happening. Follow me?
There's strong emotion in the movie, no doubt, but that fails to make up for the rest of this film.
I made two major mistakes in watching this: 1) I convinced my two 10-year-old sisters to watch it with me, and 2) we watched it at night.
I for one am perplexed as to how this movie got away with a PG rating simply for "scary moments." Coming from the mind of a 15 year old who's used to battle and war movies: this thing is SCARY. My sisters and I actually screamed aloud during one scene, and it takes a lot for a movie to make me scream, you know?
So parents, watch it before you let your kiddies see it.
The only part I enjoyed was the end, which I reached only because I was determined that things would look up by then. Needless to say, they didn't. I can only be extremely thankful that we rented the movie instead of buying it.
So if you're looking for a good film with scenes to make you jump, but is less intense than this work, I highly recommend Van Helsing or The Lord of the Rings. I'm sure your kids will have a much less chance of developing a fear of the dark.
Or if you wanna stick with the Anime theme, get Kiki's Delivery Service or Digimon.
59 Easily my favorite animated feature
The title is fitting: I was spirited away by this masterpiece. I have never before seen a cartoon that swept me up in emotions and visuals so effortlessly. Even the classic Disney movies are cheesy, immature, and incomplete in some parts. This movie has a few flaws too, such as the rather unnecessarily gross and vicious scenes with No-Face, and while I understand the purpose for this, it's just not fitting with the rest of the movie. My favorite parts are the following dreamy sequences: the meadow scene at the beginning, the furnace scene with the little soot balls, the rainy day when the stink spirit arrives, and far and away my favorite animated scene of all time: the train on the water. These images will probably stick with me forever, they fulfill childhood fantasies I never knew I had, and utterly relax me.
Enough rambling, this is the one to get, from the legendary Japanese director Miyazaki. While other works of his are great, they just can't compare to Spirited Away. As the head of Pixar states at the beginning: You are lucky, you get to see Spirited Away. If you haven't seen it yet, do so, now, I mean it.
60 A work of art!
First of all,don't listen to people who give this masterpiece bad reviews... they probably think disney movies are the only animations worth watching!
This anime is fantastic... Miyazaki is truly a genius. Everything about it blew me away, from the animation and characters to its storyline! The characters have depth, and they show real emotion, and unlike disney movies, there are no annoying sidekicks or crappy songs... in fact, the music is very beautiful and heightens the feel of the movie.Even the dub is pretty good(at least in my opinion), but of course the original japanese with subtitles is best(as always)!
I HIGHLY recommend this one to everyone, anime fan or not!This is definitely worth your money! Don't hesitate!
61 Simply Amazing
I must admit that if it weren't for my friends, I probably would have never even given this title a second look, but after I watched it, I was amazed. Miyazaki has managed to create one of the most beautiful, not to mention entertaining, movies I have ever seen. The characters (especially Chihiro) are very true to life. I highly recommend "Spirited Away" even if you aren't an anime fan or, like me, are an otaku (you know who you are). I also encourage you to check out Miyazaki's other works, two of my favorites being "Princess Mononoke" and "The Castle of Cagliostro."
62 6 stars
This movie feels like a dream. There are not many works of art that can do this, but with this one I distinctively got the feeling that watching this film was the same as a really sweet dream. I love it.
63 Spirited Away
I ended up renting the movie from a movie store, don't ask me why... I didn't really expect much... I mean, I was thirteen years old, and I didn't think that anyone could make cartoons with any sort plot or captivating qualities. You watch Disney stuff too much, and it does that to you...
But THIS... THIS is NOT a cartoon. It showed more vision than any movie I'd ever seen. The characters had LAYERS, the setting was superb. It seriously made you think you were in a dream... or maybe a nightmare. The PG rating really shouldn't be on this movie, because some of the characters would be terrifying for little kids.
It's totally unlike anything you've ever seen... the plot is completely original. I mean, you can't tell me that you'd seen a movie before about a little girl going to work in a bathhouse for spirits.
This is on my top five for movies... acutally- scratch that. I think it might be the best movie I've ever seen.
64 Kept waiting for the good part. Then the credits rolled.
The only cool part in this three-hour eye-glazing inscrutable meandering unengaging overwrought plotless wad of celluloid is when the parents turn their heads to that whiny dejected bland one-dimensional bipolar waif what's-her-name after they've been eating at the table. What's three seconds divided by three hours? Answer: the movie was .000277 fun. That iota of satisfaction was dimmed by the resentment one of spending $25 on it, and two of all the glowing reviewers who are obviously unfamiliar with all the cool Anime that Japan has exported here for twenty-odd years. The act of composing my review is dredging up unwelcome images so absurd and stilted that they're laughable amidst the Homeric tragedy that they may remain lodged in my subconscious in remission for some time, perhaps forever.
65 Caution to those who watch
Friends - I agree this is one of the most captivating and wildly imaginitive movies ever, but we bought it based on how much my daughter loved Kiki's Delivery Service (she's 7). Beware - my child was scared to death. This is very powerful stuff. The creators of this movie must have done some real trippy drugs or something. There's an almost oppressive feel to the movie - this kid sees her parents turned to pigs and has to battle her way through some kind of bad LSD trip to rescue them. If your child is sensitive, and easily sucked into a world of imagination, this movie might blow thier minds. I'd give it a PG13 rating at least. If I'd watched it by myself I would have given it 5 stars because it is so wildly, vividly freaky. Think we'll be sticking to Barney for a while.
66 Spirited Away... It REALLY Takes you away!
This movie was the greatest movie ever! I've watched it over and over, and It's just fantastic! Perfect family movie, satisfies every age catagory! Sen's brave appeal yet squeakish youngter apperance is astounding! You've got to see this movie! It will touch your heart!
67 This movie was 50-50
I know that this was the most disturbing cartoon i have ever seen. That ghost really was freaky. I would probly say maybe see this film but I would not recommend it. It's really exiting but not very well on the "not freaky." I watched the other stuff on the Dvd and Mizaki had good ideas. A good plot has a good finish but I did not think that this movie had one. I mean turning perants into pigs is not bad its just disturbing. A good movie has more than this cartoon competitor, and I think so too.
68 Endless Imagination!
The sign of a good film is a film that lingers with you for weeks, if not months, if not longer. Spirited Away is the most imaginative film I have ever seen and I feel that life is ever so slightly sweeter for seeing it.
69 Beyond Wonderful!
I was transported by this DVD and am going to be giving it to all the children in my life! It is something that adults and children can enjoy together -- a combination of Alice in Wonderland and The Secret Garden, I highly recommend it.
70 So much to see, so little time
The reviewer who was disappointed with this movie confounds me. Too much going on? That's what I call wonderful! Having multiple layers to the story means that we can watch the movie again and again, and each time uncover something that before, went unnoticed. This is a movie that keeps on giving and because of it, it continues to entertain, give us pause for thought, and ultimately, rates high on the "good value for the money" scale. How many DVDs do you buy that never get watched again? I know we have dozens. This movie however, has been watched dozens of times and still continues to feed us. (When I say "us" I mean a family - Dad in his 50s, mom in her late 30s, a 9 YO and a 2 year old who is now nearing 3.)
When we rented the movie without any preconceived notions, I was skeptical that I would find it enjoyable. But we were bored with all of the usual family movies, which tend to be short on depth and long on stupidity, so I picked it up.
From the moment I saw the rippling of the water and wondered how on Earth anyone could produce animation that looked so real I was intrigued. The attention to detail in the art was simply mind blowing. And then as the story began to unfold, I was impressed not only with the inventiveness of the story, but how it was so rich in content on so many levels. By the end of the movie, which I watched with my two children, I wanted to watch it again. I knew there was more to see and learn. It was to me, a puzzle to unravel.
Since that first viewing, we purchased the DVD set, watched all of the extras, including each and every trailer in Japanese. We've purchased Kiki's Delivery Service and Castle in the Sky and are awaiting the release of more Ghibli films via Disney. Personally, I find the more straightforward nature of Kiki and Castle less appealing to me, though both my children love the stories. I guess it all depends on how you are built, whether you want something that spells it all out for you, versus something that reveals itself with time and thought. (Or hey, maybe I'm just thick! ;-) )
But for me, the entertainment value of Spirited Away from a mindless eye-candy sort of approach all the way to an intellectual experience, is simply way beyond any other movie I have ever watched. That doesn't make this movie the deepest movie I've ever seen, nor the most beautiful movie I have ever seen. It simply combines so many good things into a single package that I daresay I have not seen a movie to rival it.
I'm sorry I didn't cover the story in this review, but I think that's been done sufficiently by others.
71 stunning, riveting, fascinating
I pay compliments when they are due, so when I do it means that it soars far past excellence. Spirited Away is the most unique, beautiful, toching, creative, and plot-ladden, movie that has been created in ages. It 'spirited" me away on an adventure that will never be forgottan. More original then any movie I have ever seen, and put together beautifully. Great for kids and adults.
72 Overrated
I'm a huge fan of Miyazaki & Studio Ghibli, but I'm sorry this one is not as good (by far) as others he's done.
Animation is feeble and clunky at times, and the story... well, the story is not only mostly pointless (in the sense of not having a point) but also gets lost easily along the way with too many stuff going on. Most people won't even get what the movie is about.
I'm glad that he finally got some recognition, but it's a shame it had to be with this movie. You're far better off watching some of the older movies from Miyazaki. Laputa, Kiki, Totoro, Princess Mononoke or my personal favourite Porco Rosso... Even the quite old NausicaŠ holds better than this Spirited Away.
73 Into Another World
Take the Ghost of Walt Disney sit him down in a Tokyo bar paired up with Roger Waters, a couple of Saki's, and a night on the town and you have mish-mashed together Fantasia and The Wall. That would about sum up Hayao Miyazaki's visionary work in "Spirited Away."
Though it does trace elements of Alice and Wonderland, it left me wondering, who the audience really is...the child or the adult? Like great works of animation, I believe "Spirited Away" transcends age and crosses over to both audiences. It may be too deep and too dark in parts to truly appeal to the younger of age but there are fantastical threads all the way through that may not connect with those too far removed from childhood. There may be some cultural perspectives that some of those in American audiences may find unfamiliar, but for those willing to expand boundaries, "Spirited Away," is worth the stretching. Keep an open mind and imagination and you may find yourself caught up in the beautifully hand-drawn animation. It is the work of an artisan.
The story is centered around a young girl Chihiro, who is moving to a new house with her mother and father. Along the way they get spirited away to an alternate reality world in which Chihiro is renamed Sen, her parents are turned to pigs, and her redeemers are a river god and a six-armed curmudgeon that stokes the furnace. Sound unusual to you? Well it is. If you give it a chance, the story mixed with the animation will draw you in and enable you to celebrate the creativity that went into such a unique work.
I would say if you are a fan of anime or just animation in general, this is a movie you wouldn't want to miss. If you are a general movie fan, it's a good watch, but I wouldn't call it a "must watch." If you are looking for something different, liked Fantasia, The Wall, Heavy Metal, get "Spirited Away."
--MMW
74 A rare joy
It's not often that I enjoy anime dubbed in English. But Spirited Away was such a fine film, I enjoyed it in every language. I was captivated and drawn into this tale like the child I used to be.
75 Spirited Away recaptures lost magic of childhood
This film is my second favorite movie. Director Hayao Miyazake has truly reached his zenith with this classic. Whether you are an anime/animated film fan or not, this film will stir parts of your heart you thought were long jaded. It is enchanting and enthralling. There are important lessons about love, courage, and respect for nature, for people of any age. Chihiro, a typical ten year-old girl, is riding with her parents to their new home. She is pouting in the backseat. The parents are sidetracked and the family gets lost in the spirit world. Her parents are turned into swine. Chihiro must find a way to set her parents free from the spell.
Spirited Away made more money than the Titanic in Japan. That goes to show how Japanese people were moved by this tribute to their culture. I saw this film twice with a Japanese friend, once with subtitles, once in English. The dubbed version is just as good as the subtitled one.
There are certain aspects of Japanese culture one should know in order to fully appreciate this movie. The bathhouse Chihiro is employed in is for the kami, or gods, to rest and rejuvenate in. Bathing is an important part of Japanese culture, much more than it is in the U.S. Japanese Shinto beliefs believe there is a spirit in everything in nature. So trooping into the bathhouse and relaxing in the hot tubs are all kinds of spirits: chick kami, radish kami, and many more I couldn't make out. Spirited Away seeks to point out that though Japan is an ultra-modern culture, it is also ancient, with deep roots in the spiritual world that although Japanese may forget, the spirits remember you. Anyone from any culture can relate to this movie. Unfortunately, disrespect of nature is present in all cultures of the Western world.
But, as this film shows, nature has a way of finding YOU.
76 An Anime Film For Those Who Normally Hate Anime..
I had went into this movie with some apprehention. I am not an anime fan. I honestly detest the genre with a passion but this movie was nothing less than stunning. The art was still in the traditional anime style but it was so lush. This was one of the most surreal movies I have ever seen.
The characters were wonderful and were filled with a certain kind of depth. Daveigh Chase was amazing as the voice of Chihiro; the main protagonist.
But there were so many visuals that left an impression. I loved seeing trains that runned on water and flying oriental dragons. I like seeing babies as giants and a ghost that ate everything and became what he ate. Complete eye candy.
77 Possibly Miyazaki's Greatest Work
When I was 12, my mom suggested that she take me to see Spirited Away, the new Miyazaki movie. Now I had already had a bad experience with his earlier movie, Princess Mononoke, which was released when I was 8, and it was so gory that I was sick for days. I was sure that this movie would probably be the same.
Now there were some gory moments (with Haku bleeding and No-Face throwing up all over the place for instance), but the film was incredible. The story was fun, the characters were facsinating, and the animation simply blew me away. I have never been so impressed by an animated film in my life.
Spirited Away is probably Miyazaki's greatest film, and definetely a classic in animation history. I absolutely loved it, everyone I showed it to loved it, and after seeing it about 30 times, I'm still not bored of it. There are no words to describe how much I fell in love with this flick, and though other people's tastes may vary, I think anyone who likes a good story and fun characters will enjoy this film.
78 Pure Imagination
The first time i saw this, I wasn't sure what to think. I didn't know if I liked it or if I thought it was weird or what. After a bit i realized, this movie is one of the most brialliant things I've ever seen. That's how good it was; I didn't quite know how to comprehend its effect on me. It is know my favorite movie. The story and animation captures you and takes you to a distant world. It is a must see and must own DVD. I just loved it and recommend it to everybody. Along with this movie I recommend Millennium Actress.
79 Too empty plot.
I love Kiki's delivery service,but I don't think this one is as good.It's too slowly with many nonsense scenes.I admit that each character is very cute,especially the son of the witch,but I expect more than that.The story is also important though it's an animated film.Importantly,I don't think the girl has to face with the worst situation to help her parents because I saw her just working,and running nonsensely in the whole movie.I've just realized that an AWARD acheived cannot garantee whether good or bad.Spirited Away is not bad,but I had an expectation more than the performance.
80 Magical and imaginative tale will spirit you away
If Mononokehime got Miyazaki Hayao to a pinnacle in Japan, Sento No Chihiro takes him to even higher peaks. Clearly Miyazaki's masterpiece, it's wins in the Berlin Film Festival and the Oscars is very much deserved, as it shows that anime can be imaginative, intelligent, and inspiring at the same time.
Chihiro is a whiny and petulant spoiled pre-teen brat who is clearly not looking forward to moving to a new city, a far cry from the responsible Satsuki in Tonari No Totoro.
A presumed shortcut takes Chihiro and her parents to a tunnel, through which they pass into an amusement resort that the father presumes went bust when the bubble economy collapsed. The adventure begins when in a moment recalling Circe and Odysseus's sailors, Chihiro's parents are transformed into pigs, and she finds herself stranded in the spirit world. Her only help seems to be Haku, a boy sporting a Prince Valiant coif and is valiant. Humans are forbidden here and in order to survive, she must work for Yubaba, the giant-headed sorceress crone who runs the establishment. Chihiro survives, but at the cost of losing her name, which becomes Sen. Yubaba owns every employee here, body and soul. Nevertheless, Chihiro/Sen still must get her parents restored to human form and return to their car by the tunnel.
She is also befriended by Lin, one of the serving wenches initially reluctant to work with her, and from her, Chihiro/Sen learns good manners, such as saying thank you, and how to work hard. The way Lin and the other girls' eyes are drawn may be a reference to Chinese immigrants working unrewarding menial jobs in Japan, especially judging Lin's name. Haku though becomes the focus of her attention at one point, to which she risks her job and safety when he's injured and close to death.
The bathhouse is a posh and decadent establishment, a Las Vegas for spirits who relax in baths and eat lots of good food. Compared to other creature menageries seen in Star Wars or Return Of The Jedi, Sento No Chihiro features some imaginative, ghostly, and at times cuter creatures than anything from Jabba's palace. They range in form, shape, and size, such as the giant radish god who nearly takes up an entire elevator cubicle, down to the cute soot sprites who lug the coal nuggets to stoke the boilers that keep the hot water coming.
A high point comes when a stink demon enters the bathhouse and its true identity revealed when first a bicycle and then other kinds of metal garbage is pulled from its side, also recalling the fable of Androcles and the Lion, but serving as a sad reminder of how rivers are used for dumping.
As for Kaonashi, the transparent and mysterious black creature who mutters "uh", he seems to embody someone who wants to be useful or wanted to an impersonal and capitalist world. He is able to produce the herbal tags Chihiro needs for a tub, and all he wants in return is friendship. Chihiro recognizes that the bathhouse, with its greedy employees who abuse his powers, is bad for him and helps him get out.
The striking scene of the train filled with faceless spirit salarymen is the testament to the soulless and unrewarding corporate world. These spirits could be anybody, but does anyone care or think they are real individuals?
Joe Hisaishi's trademark melodic and swelling piano score is put to good use as he did in the films Kikujiro and Parasite Eve among others. And the soot sprites came out in Tonari No Totoro, but Yubaba and Kamaji are evolved characters from Castle In The Sky, where they were the sky pirates.
Miyazaki's masterpiece, in terms of story and animation, and with a character who really grows up to be a more responsible and loving person. A recent favourite of mine!
81 The best movie of all time
although this movie was made for kids, adults will love it too. I ve watched this movie 73 times. it never gets old. not once in 73 times. watch it once and get sucked in. the charming story of a girl lost in a spirit world and the cutest dragon in the saving her puts a freakin' twinkle in your heart and a burp in your belly.
THIS MOVIE IS THE BEST EVER!!!!!!
82 Miyazaki does it AGAIN!!!!!
The great Miyazaki has done it AGAIN!!! He has produced a film of wonderous vistas, depth and emotions that no other anime director can come close to. The characters are sympathic and draw the viewer into the story without making him/her feel like they are watching a "cartoon". I have been a fan of Miyazaki since I first saw "Warriors of the Wind" 20 years ago. Even though that film was butchered by Orion Pictures, the production values of the animation hooked me into the Japanime galaxy. It is refreshing to see such wonderful stories of life to come from the mind of such a amazing director!!! I put this in the top 5 of my list of my favorite anime features.
83 Where was this when I was growing up?
When this movie was released, in a perfect world, the entire board of directors of the Disney corporation should have sunk on their knees and committed seppuku. This is what innovation looks like, and, in spite (or because of) of its unrelenting weirdness, it's the sort of thing kids can really enjoy - I think, although not being a kid anymore myself, I can't be sure.
Spirited Away is a classic fable, mixing the conventions of European and Russian fairy tales with elements of Japanese folklore and contemporary culture. A young girl, Chihiro, somewhat bored and spoiled to begin with, loses her parents to a curse and is trapped in a world of gods and spirits, and undergoes a self-transformative journey which is rarely trite or dully moralizing. What sets it above many similiar animated fables is the sense of danger that is generated - things in this world are so drastic and bizzare that you actually find yourself wondering if the expected happy ending will result.
The grotesquery in the film is extreme, and I guess parents should be warned about it; the most striking things include a spirit which devours people (not fatally) and later vomits copiously, a scene in which the male lead in dragon form is badly wounded and bleeds from the mouth, and a scene that actually distrubed me in which a giant baby threatens to break Chihiro's arm. That giant baby is just plain creepy. I don't think kids, who are often more bloodthirsty than they are given credit for, would object to any of this; parents might be more effected.
The message - touching on the standard themes of true love and courage - is more convincing than usual, possibly because so much of what Chihiro accomplishes really does result from her own courage, and is not handed to her on a silver platter by a fairy godmother. A minor scene where she sprints down the length of a rickety bridge is especially effective. The romance, also, is not the overly sanitized kind you usually find in fairy tales; the male lead, Hako, has a dark side, and seems like an actual being rather than an impossible abstract.
Even those Americans who are hip enough to call Japanese animation 'anime' probably have a somewhat limited view of it. Most of these people (and I hope I don't offend anyone with this generalization) are male, between fourteen and thirty years of age, and addicted to stylized sex and violence (this is me). The anime which has been released in this country is generally targeted at them, and many of them seem to assume because of this that all anime is of that type. While I can't overstate by admiration for series like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Spirited Away is proof that the minds of contemporary Japan are capable of very different things. The most striking difference between this and other modern anime is in the character design - Chihiro is not particularly attractive. Hako tends more toward the classic bishounen, but many of the other characters are completley grotesque. This has always been Miyazaki's style, and makes the story much easier to believe.
The only way in which I believe I could have enjoyed this film more is if I had been fifteen years or so younger when I saw it. It's the quintessential family film, and far from being a Japanese oddity, deserves to be the staple of a new generation of American youth.
84 Simply wow....
There's only one word to summarise this movie, 'wow!'. It's a movie well done and is one of the best movies in the modern era. I've seen it for a countless number of times and still continue to do so, and each time I do, I watch it as though I am watching it for the very first time.
If you haven't seen this movie yet, I recommend you to buy it rather than rent it. I promise that you won't be disappointed =)
85 Miyazaki is a genius
If you have an open mind and are not afraid to give things a go this film will leave you speechless. The animation is simply beautiful, the music is fantastic, and the story is completely unlike anything you will have ever seen before -
Personally I recommend the Japanese speech version as I found it less childish, but nevertheless the English dubbing is very well done. Also the 2 disc set with special features is a much more complete package and well worth the extra few quid.
Go on, give it a go! Live a little!
I dare you to try Miyazaki's Spirited Away and not love it!
86 Tips For Non-Japanese Speaking Fans: This Is A Masterpiece
Released on July 20th, in 2001 in Japan, "Spirited Away" stayed in theaters for almost 10 months, breaking all the previous box-office records in Japan, including that of "Titanic" and "Princess Mononoke" by the same director Hayao Miyazaki. With this astonishing film about a girl's spiritual journey, Mr. Miyazaki again showed that he is one of the best directors living in the world. This animation film was also awarded prestageous Golden Bear Prize in Berlin Film Festival, and that is not a surprise at all, after you see this movie.
The story quickly is established, so don't ever be late for the show. It traces a girl's strange and fascinating life in another world, where her parents are accidentally magically transformed, and she has to survice herself and return to her own world. To do so, this pudgy-faced little girl Chihiro, now deprived of her name by a greedy witch Yu-baba, has to work at the baths where gods and sprites all over Japan come to take a rest. Chihiro's life is full of wonderful (and often hard, even terrifying) things, and through her experiences she learns how to live, gaining the true will and power, changing from a sulky girl languidly lying on the backseat of a car, into a lively and truely courageous girl.
That's all you have to know: you don't need to see its trailer (English version trailer is a bit misleading), and just watch this masterpiece. Though there is a character called "Kao-nashi" (meaning "Faceless"), who out of loneliness does something harmful to the place; and there is an episode about a very stinking monster who turns out something very different, there are no villains, no heroes, and no so-called actions. And another strength of the film comes from its designs of the baths. It is based on a mosaic of Japanese and Western traditions (the witch's office looks obviously Western while Chihiro and other female workers room is inspired from the texitle factory girls' residence 100 years ago) Incredibly, some part are even from Chinese style.
The story, some say probably rightly, goes slower in the latter half (of the film that runs more than 2 hours), but "Spirited Away" never lets you down. It's time for any American audience to know Miyazaki's name, and that animation films are not meant for only kids, but for adults.
[The following might hopefully help understand some part of the film. No spoilers contained, but you might read them after watching them. Al the names referred to are from Japanese original print.]
[1] The name "Chihiro" is, when written in Chinese letters, divided into two parts: "Chi-hiro." The first part "Chi" has another way of pronounciation, "Sen," which becomes her temporary name.
[2] Chihiro's real name is "Chihiro Ogino" which is briefly seen on the contract paper she signs.
[3] The handsome boy who offers a help to Chihio is called "Haku" which means in Japanese, "white."
[4] Haku's real name is "Migihayami Kohakusui." All the Japanese audience, as Chihiro in fact was, would be surprised to hear this long and old-fashioned name, which clearly suggests his ancient and aristocratic origin.
[5] The witch's spoiled baby is called "Bou" (and his name is written prominently in a Chinese letter on his clothes). This is shrewd naming because the word "bou-ya" (which is used to call, affectinately, to baby boys) implies too much fondness to the babies on mother's side.
[6] Chihiro's father, at the diapidated red gate, talks knowingly about the posibility of a disused theme park. It is true that Japan saw economic depression after the boom of the 80s, and his remarks, though half telling of his too much confidence, have some ring of truth.
[7] For Miyazaki's fans, there are some extra fun: see, for example, the re-appearance of "Susuwatari"s, tiny black speck-like creatures that carry coal in a boiler room. As fans know, they are also seen in Miyazaki's delightful film "My Neighbor Totoro." And check out one of the "guests" at the spa who looks and moves exactly like Totoro.
[8] And those harmless "Susuwatri"s eat Japanese traditional, very sweet confectionary called "Konpeitou" made from sugar. This is the part Japanese viewers smile because of the unexpected combination.
[9] In the same boiler room, the spider-like veteran master gives Chihiro "Kaisuu-ken," coupon-style tickets for train. This is also the part we would smile because we all somehow share the same experience of giving them to children who go somewhere by train or bus, or of finding very old ones somewhere in the desk.
[10] That same kind master, seeing Chihiro step on the crawling worm, makes a gesture of a knife with his hand, and touches Chihiro's hands in a unique way. This is a (now out-of-fashion) custom when touching something very dirty, symbolizing the total safety from the object in case, often accompanied with Japanese word "Engacho" (no more connection). This part is also funny to us.
[11] In the opening scene. behind the back of Chihiro, you can see the glimpse of half-hidden, red-colored package of chocolate bar, which looks like one famous brand. Probably, this is a small token of thanks for the company (famous for coffee, too), which joined in the tie-in campagin for the film's promotion in Japan.
[12] Finally, director Miyazaki says that the film is originally made for unnamed 10-year-old girls he and the movieproducer are both acquainted with, and hope that those girls are delighted to see the film. No doubt they are.
87 Superb animation, Superb English voice-acting
No need to repeat the praise that has already been heaped upon this film in general. From quality of animation, to depth of story, to fantastic otherworldly atmosphere, this is a must-see for anyone even the least bit interested in cinematic animation as a whole.
What does need to be emphasized here however is that the American-English voice-acting is superb and deserves even more than the often begrudging credit it already gets. Along with other recent productions such as Cowboy Bebop The Movie or The Big O series, the English voice-acting arguably supersedes the original language in acting and direction.
Daveigh Chase inhabits the character of Chihiro perfectly, while such prominent veteran actors as David Ogden Stiers and Suzanne Pleschette disappear into their roles perfectly.
The original langauge remains available to those so inclined as to academically compare different approaches and translation changes, which is something many of us do. However, when introducing anime to new audiences one no longer need cringe when listening to subpar/amateur English voice-overs and also need no longer impose subtitles on those friends and family that understandably prefer an unmarred visual experience.
88 Not your usual anime
I went to see this in the cinema last night, and although the style was very much that of Japanese Anime, the plot means that this really doesn't matter. Miyazaki has filled this with wonderful and exciting characters, who are all multi-faceted.
The central theme of the film is the emotional growth of a young girl. To begin with, she is the Japanese stereotype of a single child; weak, demanding and completely dependent on her parents. Throughout the film, she grows up to become effectively the strongest and most stoical figure among the characters of the story.
What is particularly refreshing about the plot is that none of the characters conform to the way one as a westerner would stereotype them - whether that is the result of differing traditions in Japanese writing or simply the skill of the director do not really matter. The result is a film which works on many different levels and so will appeal to both children and adults alike.
The reason I would reccomend this as a DVD is the splendid animation and story board drawing in it. It really is a feast for the eyes, and something that, if you are in any way interested in animation, you would defintitely want to come back to. Unlike regular anime, where all faces are based on a similar construct and use the same contortions for expressions, in this film the drawing of every character in some way describes them as an individual. Only the central character Chichiro / Sen displays the characteristics of regular anime figures, and this is actually very appropriate since she is the only one able to maintain consistently the her human identity.
All in all a good film and one that I would watch again - Buy it!!
89 A Great Movie from a Master in the Art
You can read the descriptions of the plot anywhere. But what is missing is the story behind the movie. I never heard of this director or his works before. It was in a review I read in Osaka that spoke of him. Later I caught his name when a Disney Animator talked about him in obvious awe. In the story I read in Japan Miyazaki-san did something I can only imagine. He would draw thousands of frames himself. His style is that of ancient Japanese art. This is a man who does so for the love of the works results rather than a box office take. So when I finally saw this movie with English subtitles I was not only caught up with the story, characters and rich beauty but I was in awe of the details and timing and work done by Miyazaki-san. Details you would never see even in the best that Disney can offer. Afterthoughts, things going on all over the screen. Things that no computer could do (Miyazaki-san disdains computers). Its an amazing thing when you realize what he had done. Even Maxim magazine, believe it or not, said they didn't understand it, but it was and I quote "beautiful". Talk about praise from an unexpected source. The efforts in this movie are only touched on when you see the Japanese special (especially informative on animation construction).
This movie came and went in one week showing in one theater in all of Syracuse. My family wasn't interested so they never saw it in the U.S. I saw it in Japan and told my wife about it. It came through town again and she took the kids to see it. They sat quiet for the whole movie and talked about it for a week.
Everyone who has seen it has been floored by it.
Remember when you see this movie that many things are said through silence and done so well that you get the message. Thoughts conveyed with eye movement rather than dialogs. The details you pick up whether you want to or not will amaze you. Also remember that Magic does not always makes sense.
The only thing I saw wrong with this DVD was not the movie itself but when the President of Pixar brought Miyazaki-san in front of the camera, pointed to it and presented him to the world. Miyazaki-san's obvious discomfort to this publicity was embarrassing. I cannot fault the Pixar's guy for his enthusiasm but I saw a man who did not do something like this for such publicity.
So skip that part and go right to the movie. Sit back by yourself or better with a crowd and enjoy. I also suggest you buy it if you can afford it. You will watch it again.
90 Only a genius could think this stuff up.
Wow. The second you see the first spirit, your eyes will fall out of their sockets and won't go back in until the credits stop rolling. This imaginative world full of amazing characters is the most beautiful, unique thing I have ever seen. To top it all off, the story will touch your heart, even if it seems a little corny at times. A must see.
