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Review by David Stratton Chihiro and her parents are moving house. But her father takes a wrong turn, and they wind up in a mysterious place that at first seems like an abandoned theme park. While her parents begin to gorge on food they find in a restaurant - with dire results - Chihiro explores - and, despite the warnings of Haku, a teenage boy, finds herself trapped in a strange palace inhabited by some very weird creatures - the palace is apparently a resting place for 80 million spirits and it's managed by the witch-like Yubaba who has an evil twin, Zeniba. Chihiro's adventures get curiouser and curiouser. This extremely accomplished animation film from Japan owes a great deal to Lewis Carroll, like Alice in Wonderland, Chihiro's mysterious adventures take her, and us, into a strange parallel universe. Writer-director Hayao Miyazaki, who previously made the impressive Princess Mononoke, has created a wonderfully bizarre world filled with a gallery of creepy, and some not so-creepy, characters. The visual design is extremely rich, and the level of invention prodigious - every element of the film, the storyboard, the animation, the music - is testimony to a considerable talent. You can see the film either in the original Japanese version, at a very limited number of city cinemas, or in the American dubbed version - I saw the original version, and that's the one I'd recommend. It's not a film for very small children, and the Japanese flavour should, if possible, be maintained.
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Director:
Hayao Miyazaki |
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The highest Japanese grossing film of all time, Spirited Away is an absolute charmer. Winner of Best Film at the Berlin Film Festival and Best Film at the Japanese Acadamy Awards, the film is a lavish mix of fantasy, forklore and social commentary that appeals to adults and children alike. Chihiro, a ten year old girl, is innocence personifed. When her family make a wrong detour, on their way to a new neighbourhood, they wander through an abandoned theme park before finding themselves lost in a ghostly world where her parents are transformed into pigs. In a bid to return to where she came from, and hopefully reverse the porcine spell, she embarks on a solo mystical adventure ala Alice in Wonderland, meeting talking toads, walruses, penguins, a triplet of heads, a sludge monster and a man with eight legs among other bizarre characters. Somehow in a world dominated by gods and demons, Chihiro's squeaky clean naivete saves the day. "It's almost impossible to do justice in words either to the visual richness of the movie, which melanges traditional Japanese clothes and architecture with both Victorian and modern-day artifacts, or to the character-filled storyline, with human figures, harpies and grotesque creatures. Its look is frequently astounding, with a feel of traditional animation that humanizes the movie in a way pure digital animation never can." Variety Winner Best Film (Golden Bear) Berlin International Film Festival 2002 Winner Best Film Japanese Academy Awards 2002 Winner, Audience Award San Francisco Film Festival 2002 Winner, Best Animated Film of 2020, National Board of Review |
Review by Megan Spencer Hayao Miyazaki will be known to hardcore anime fans as one of the legends in the business - the Japanese animated film and TV business that is - having spawned around four decades worth of anime, including the runaway success Princess Mononoke (1997). Miyazake's success has not been lost on the mob at Mickey Mouse land, American animation giant Disney Studios, who have this year brought Miyazake's latest epic Spirited Away to a wider Western audience. Spirited Away will appeal to the child in all of us - it is a nightmare and a dream all at once. In the English language version, The Ring's devil-child Daveigh Chase voices Chihiro, the little girl who finds herself trapped in a traditional bathhouse or resort for 'wayward' spirits. There is magic afoot, from grotesque old witches and weird ghosties to otherwordly heroes and villains - really, Spirited Away has got everything Harry Potter has got going for it, and more. Great writing and breathtaking artistry are just the cherries on top of this animated delight. Spirited Away is right up there with the best of Japanese anime and it also sits well next to the best of Disney features, such as last year's Disney box office blitzkrieg, Monsters Inc. From its backgrounds and action, to its ethereal story and conundrums, Spirited Away will take you to another world, whether you see the subtitled or the English language version, both released this Christmas. 4 Stars
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