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Spirited Away Actor: Miyu Irino Director: Hayao Miyazaki Number of Items: 2 Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Format: Animated, Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Running Time: 132 minutes Studio: Walt Disney Home Video Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2003-04-15 Buy from Amazon |
 ""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.  "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. "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! "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. ""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. |
